As one of the most popular bodyweight exercises, learning to do a push up is a key part of a fitness regime. And if you struggle to do push ups on the floor, learning how to do a wall push up is the place to start!
Wall push ups target the same muscles as a regular push up: the pectoral muscles (chest), arms, back, shoulders, and core. The difference is that a wall push up removes the load of gravity, thus making the exercise easier.
However, any push up requires a lot of upper body mobility to perform. So, don't let that be a limiting factor.
Whenever I talk to moms, push ups get brought up: "I've never been able to do them" is what I hear the most.
As moms we naturally train lower body when we have time, neglecting our upper body.
However, how many times do you hear "mama uppy" or "can you lift me on the monkey bars?"?
This is why I make it a priority to make sure upper body exercises are included in each month of the at-home SMASH Fit For Life workouts.
Because the look on your kids' face as you hoist them up to do the monkey bars is priceless. So... train your push ups!
Jump To
- Benefits Of Wall Push Ups
- Are Wall Push Ups Easier?
- How To Do A Wall Push Up
- Wall Push Up Form Tips
- Fast, crave-worthy snacks that hit your protein goals (without tracking or extra cooking time).
- How To Progress The Wall Push Up
- More Fitness Tips To Help You Get Strong
- Frequently Asked Questions About Wall Push Ups
Benefits Of Wall Push Ups
A wall push up is the first step in learning how to master push ups.
As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, wall push up benefits are immense. I believe they’re ideal for beginners because they allow you to:
- Learn proper form
- Tweak your stance
- Develop a mind-muscle connection
- Build up the muscle you need to scale your push ups
- Engaged the core which is especially important for females in a low impact way.
And all of this can occur because there isn’t as much resistance with a wall push up as there is with a push up done on the floor.
Wall push ups are great for females, especially because they're safe throughout all trimesters in pregnancy and postpartum. The light load also gives a lot of joint stability and can help improve mobility when scaled correctly.
Are Wall Push Ups Easier?
One of the benefits of wall push ups and why they're ideal for beginners, is because they’re easier!
They're a great upper body exercise for beginners.
The hard part of a push up (one of them!) is that there is a lot of resistance from your bodyweight + gravity. You have a long lever and without a baseline of strength and proper form goes to hell.
With a wall, this resistance on the upper body is removed which makes it easier to learn the movement.
How To Do A Wall Push Up
1. Begin with your feet shoulder-width apart and set them roughly an arm's length away from the wall.
2. Lean against the wall in plank position (a straight line) by placing your hands on the wall just outside of your shoulders and at roughly shoulder height.
3. Tuck your hips down slightly into a pelvic tilt, engage your glutes, round your upper back slightly, and come onto your toes.
4. Initiate the movement: slowly bend your elbows backward as you lower towards the wall maintaining a straight line.
5. Pause briefly close to the wall and reverse the movement by pushing back up into starting position.
Wall Push Up Form Tips
The tips below are crucial in ensuring that your form is on point during the wall push up. Nailing down proper form on the wall will transfer to better strength increases as you progress.
Make sure to keep the elbows tucked and facing backward. You want to create an “A” with your arms and back versus a “W”. The latter causes the shoulders to turn in and after a while cause pain. Not to mention it limits your ability to progress your push ups and develop strength. This is why the hands should be at shoulder height and not in line with your face.
Keep the abdominal muscles tight throughout the entire movement. You want to make sure your body comes down as a whole (and back up as one too!). This means that your hips and shoulders stay in one line. A common mistake is letting the core muscles slip and the low back arch.
Maintain a neutral neck. This will come into play more as you progress your push ups, but you want to make sure you’re not leading with your chin.
Foot position: it's okay if your feet are more narrow than shoulder-width apart in your starting position. Though the balance is more challenging, it's also more common on the floor to have your feet together. However, make sure that the feet are a full arm's length away from the wall so that you can get a good range of motion.
Fast, crave-worthy snacks that hit your protein goals (without tracking or extra cooking time).
How To Progress The Wall Push Up
Once wall push-ups start to feel easy (you can knock out 15+ reps with control), it’s time to challenge yourself further to keep improving:
- Step your feet farther from the wall to increase the challenge
- Add pause reps near the bottom for more control and muscle activation
- Slow it down with eccentric reps (lower for 3–4 seconds each rep)
When those training techniques feel comfortable, you want to start performing push ups on a lower surface (hands on a bench, chair, couch, or stairs). As you get better, you get closer and closer to the floor.
Once you're controller and feel ready to start training on the floor. Start working eccentric push ups before anything else. Learn how to do an eccentric push up
More Fitness Tips To Help You Get Strong
If your goal is to rock push ups, these are the steps you’ll want to follow to master them.
After that, below are some great resources on how to get strong working out at home!
- Benefits of resistance training
- 7 Exercises to improve your push ups
- Best triceps exercises for women
- Step by step shoulder workout no equipment
- The ultimate guide to working out at home
- How to progress the intensity of home workouts (without adding weight)
- The best at-home exercise equipment for small spaces
- Sweaty workout finishers
- Fitness tips for moms
- Follow along home workouts
Frequently Asked Questions About Wall Push Ups
Wall push-ups help master the form needed for more intense variations. It also helps develop strength and the mind-muscle connection without having to focus on overcoming resistance.
Begin by aiming for 8-10 push-ups each set. Over time you want to increase your repetitions. Once you can perform 15-20 wall push-ups easily, move on to a harder push-up variation.
While knee push-ups can help develop strength in the upper body, the movement doesn’t transfer to standard push-ups. This is because you’ve been training with a shorter lever. Wall push-ups, however, start you off with a longer lever and develop strength properly. Once you can do wall push-ups easily, move down to a bench or stairs. As you progress lower and lower, by the time you get to the floor you’ll be able to perform traditional push ups.
Yes! Wall push ups are a great way for beginners to develop the strength and proper form for traditional push ups. Since the push up is elevated it makes it easier while still targeting the muscles needed in a traditional push up. This makes it perfect for anyone getting started with upper body strength training.
Wall push ups can help build the chest muscles along with the shoulders, triceps, and upper body in general. They're the perfect way to start mastering push ups, building up strength, and fine tuning proper form.
Yes! Because the load isn't fully on the upper body/wrists, wall push ups are a great option for wrist pain. They're also safe in all trimesters of pregnancy because the belly is elevated, not hanging which can produce more strain on core muscles.
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