Push up progression
Everyone starts here, and strong athletes keep coming back. This chain runs from hands on a raised surface to one hand on the floor, with side roads into pseudo planche, ring and pike work.
- Realm
- The Planche
- Steps
- 26
- Grades
- White to Red
- Gear
- rings, floor
A push up is a plank that presses. Hands on the floor, body held as one solid piece, chest lowered toward the ground and pushed back to straight arms. Every harder step in this chain keeps that solid body and changes one thing: the angle, the hand position, the surface under you or the number of arms doing the work.
It is the most scalable press in calisthenics. Raise the hands and it gets easier; lean forward, turn out the rings or take an arm away and it gets very hard, so there is always a version that fits the day. The branches feed other skills too: pseudo planche push ups build the lean the planche needs, and pike push ups start the road to the handstand push up.
Chalk grades run White, the easiest, to Red. White covers the basics, from the Incline Push Up to the Diamond Push Up. Past the diamond the chain branches: Green opens the pseudo planche, pike and ring roads, and Blue brings archer push ups and turned-out rings. Yellow is the One Arm Push Up with its straddle and negative versions. Red is the Wall PP Push Up, the wall maltese push ups and the Ring OA Push Up.
The ladder
Every step has a standard. Own it, then climb. Grades run White, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red.
- 01Incline Push UpWhite3 × 8 reps
- 02Knee Push UpWhiteBody straight from knees to head; the classic first push-up.3 × 8 reps
- 03Push UpWhite3 × 8 reps
- 04Diamond Push UpWhiteFork point: after 3×8, choose Pseudo-Planche (default), the Ring path, or the wall-HSPU path.3 × 8 reps
- 05PP Push UpGreenYou won't run out of resistance, keep increasing the lean.3 × 5–8, track your lean: mark hand position with tape, measure feet-to-hand distance
- 06Incline Pike PUWhiteHands on the low bar, hips over the shoulders; the day-one pike. White volume of The Handstand.3 × 8 reps
- 07Pike Push UpGreenNot flexible enough? Slightly unlock the knees, or elevate the feet (box push-up).3 × 8 reps
- 08Decline Pike PUGreen3 × 8 reps
- 09Ring Wide PUGreen3 × 8 reps
- 10Ring Push UpGreen3 × 8 reps
- 11Archer Push UpBlue3 × 8 reps
- 12Ring Archer PUBlue3 × 8 reps
- 13RTO Push UpBlue3 × 5–8 reps
- 14RTO Archer PUBlue3 × 5–8 reps
- 15RTO PP PUBlue3 × 5–8 reps
- 16Incline OA PUBlue3 × 5–8 reps
- 17Straddle OA PUYellow3 × 5–8 reps
- 18Ring Straddle OA PUYellow3 × 5–8 reps
- 19OA Push Up NegYellowOne arm, 5s down, chest to the floor; reset with two.3–5 × 3–5 slow negatives (5–10s down)
- 20One Arm Push UpYellow3 × 5–8 reps
- 21RTO Maltese PUYellow4 × 3–5 reps
- 22Ring Wall PP PUYellow4 × 3–5 reps
- 23Wall PP Push UpRed4 × 3–5 reps
- 24Wall Maltese PURed4 × 3–5 reps
- 25Ring OA Push UpRed4 × 3–5 reps
- 26Ring Wall Maltese PURed5 × 2–3 reps
How to climb it
Own each step before you move: 3 × 8 clean reps for the early push ups, with the standard tightening as the chain climbs, down to sets of two or three reps at the very top. On BARCROSS, strength sessions run as supersets in the style of the Recommended Routine, with a ladder: 3 × 5 to start, one more rep each logged session, and at 3 × 8 you move to the next step.
At the diamond push up, let your goal pick the branch: pseudo planche push ups feed the planche, the rings make sense if you train on a pair, and pike push ups lead to the handstand push up. You can run more than one, but keep each to two or three sessions a week, with a rest day between hard pressing days.
After 3×8 Diamond: Pseudo-Planche (default), Ring path, or wall-HSPU path. One-arm road: stairs method or straddle → narrow.
Form cues
- Straight line head to toe, no sagging hips
- Protract at the top, chest nearly touches ground
- Elbows in, shoulders away from ears
Common mistakes
- Chasing high reps: fifty easy push ups build endurance, while moving to a harder step at 3 × 8 builds the strength this chain is about.
- Half reps: stopping a few inches down inflates the count and skips the bottom, the hardest part of every push up.
- Losing the lean mid-set: in pseudo planche push ups, letting the shoulders drift back over the hands quietly makes every rep easier.
- Twisting through the one arm push up: rotating the hips toward the floor turns the rep into a cheat, so widen the feet until your body stays square.
- Leaning cold: pseudo planche and turned-out ring push ups load the wrists and the biceps tendon, so warm both up and add lean in small steps.
Questions
What if I can't do a single push up?
Start with the Incline Push Up, hands on a sturdy raised surface, and lower the surface as you get stronger. The Knee Push Up works too. Get either to 3 × 8 clean reps, then take it to the floor.
How many push ups do you need before a one arm push up?
The gate is harder steps, not a bigger count. The chain asks for 3 × 8 on the Diamond Push Up and the Archer Push Up, then the Incline OA PU and the Straddle OA PU, before the full One Arm Push Up.
What is a pseudo planche push up?
A push up with your hands set low, near your hips, fingers turned out, and your shoulders leaning well in front of your hands. The lean loads the front of the shoulders the way a planche does, which makes it the standard strength builder for planche training. You make it harder by leaning further, not by adding reps.
Are ring push ups harder than floor push ups?
Yes. The rings move, so your chest and shoulders work to steady them on every rep, and turning them out adds more. The ring road runs from the Ring Wide PU and Ring Push Up at Green to turned-out and archer versions at Blue.
Further reading
The chain follows the r/bodyweightfitness progressions chart. Standards, grades and words: BARCROSS.