Archer Push-Ups

An archer push-up is a wide-hand push-up where you shift your weight over one arm and bend it while the other arm stays straight, reaching out to the side like an archer drawing a bow. Because most of the load lands on the bending arm, it is one of the best stepping stones on the road to a full one-arm push-up.

How to do an archer push-up

1. Set up in a push-up position with your hands much wider than your shoulders and your fingers pointing slightly outward.
2. Keep your body in a straight line from head to heels and brace your core.
3. Shift your chest and hips toward one hand as you bend that arm, lowering your shoulder down toward it.
4. Let the other arm stay straight, sliding out to the side so the palm stays flat and the elbow locks.
5. Press back up through the bent arm until both arms are straight again.
6. Repeat on the same side for your reps, then shift over to the other hand and mirror the movement. Alternate sides evenly.

Muscles worked

The bending arm does most of the work, so your chest, triceps, and front shoulder on that side take the bulk of the load. Because you are pushing on one side at a time, this is a unilateral exercise, and your core, obliques, and glutes fire hard to stop your hips from twisting or dropping. The straight arm still helps stabilise, but it is along for the ride more than it is pressing.

Benefits

• Builds one-sided (unilateral) pushing strength and evens out left-to-right differences.
• A realistic progression toward the one-arm push-up without needing to balance on a single hand yet.
• Trains anti-rotation core strength, since you have to keep your hips square while pressing off-centre.
• No equipment, no gym - just floor space and your bodyweight.

Common mistakes

• Bending the "straight" arm too much. If both arms bend, it becomes a wide push-up and the working arm gets an easy ride. Keep the far arm long.
• Letting the hips rotate. Twisting toward the working side takes load off the arm and strains your lower back. Keep your hips level and facing the floor.
• Sagging or piking. Dropping your hips or lifting them breaks the straight line. Squeeze your glutes and core the whole rep.
• Rushing the shift. Move your weight over the working arm under control rather than flopping to one side.

Difficulty and progressions

Archer push-ups are an intermediate-to-advanced move. Before you start, you should be comfortable with standard push-ups - aim for around 15 to 20 clean reps first so your chest and shoulders can handle the extra one-sided load.

Easier: Shift only part of the way over the working arm, keeping more weight on the straight arm. You can also bend the far arm slightly, or loop a resistance band under your chest for a little assistance out of the bottom.

Harder: Shift further so almost all your weight is on the bending arm, slow the lowering phase down, or raise the straight-arm hand onto a book or block so it can help even less. From there the next step is the assisted, then full, one-arm push-up.

Start with 3 to 5 reps per side and build up gradually. Keep the reps clean rather than chasing numbers - quality here transfers directly to the one-arm push-up.

Explore all push-up variations, brush up on proper push-up form, or follow the full 100 push-ups programme.