Diamond Push Up

1. Get into a push up position and bring your hands together under your chest so your thumbs and index fingers touch, forming a diamond.
2. Set your body in a straight line from head to heels, squeezing your glutes and bracing your abs.
3. Lower your chest toward your hands, keeping your elbows tracking back along your ribs rather than flaring out.
4. Descend until your chest is just above your hands, inhaling on the way down.
5. Press the floor away until your arms are fully locked, exhaling as you push.
6. Keep your hips level throughout; they should move as one unit with your shoulders.
7. If full reps are too hard at first, perform them from your knees with the same hand position and body line.

Common Mistakes

• Sagging hips: letting the midsection drop strains the lower back and hides how hard the triceps are actually working.
• Flaring elbows: pushing the elbows wide with a narrow grip is a recipe for elbow and wrist pain; keep them close to the body.
• Half reps: stopping well above the hands skips the hardest part of the range where the triceps do most of their work.
• Wrist collapse: dumping full bodyweight into extended wrists hurts; turn the diamond slightly or elevate the hands on a bar if you feel wrist pain.

Programming Tips

The diamond push up is the hardest common push up and the best bodyweight triceps builder: the narrow hand position keeps the elbows tracking along the ribs and shifts the work from the chest to the triceps and the inner chest. Program 3 to 4 sets close to failure on push days, either as a finisher after pressing or as the main triceps work when training without equipment. For most lifters that means somewhere between 8 and 25 reps per set, and the set ends when the hips sag or the elbows flare, not when the count gets impressive.

Progression runs in both directions. Too hard: do them from the knees, or with hands on a bench, keeping the same diamond and body line. Too easy: elevate the feet, slow the descent to 3 seconds, or add load with a weight plate on the upper back or a loaded backpack, treating 5 kg jumps like any other lift. If the wrists complain about the turned-in position, widen the diamond a few centimeters or do them on push up handles.

Common Questions

Diamond or close grip push ups?

They are nearly the same exercise; the diamond is simply the narrowest version. If the full diamond bothers your wrists or elbows, hands at shoulder width with elbows tucked delivers almost identical triceps work with friendlier joints.

Why do my wrists hurt on these?

The narrow, turned-in hand position puts the wrists at an aggressive angle under most of your bodyweight. Widen the hands slightly, grip the floor hard, or use handles or dumbbells to keep the wrists neutral.

What do I do when 25 reps get easy?

Stop chasing reps and start loading: feet elevated, a plate on the back, or a band across the shoulders. High-rep endurance sets stop building muscle long before they stop burning.