Dragon Push-Up

The dragon push-up is a bodyweightchestexercise that lowers from a plank into a push-up and presses up into an upward-facing dog arch, so the chest and shoulders work through a long range. Where a standard push-up keeps the body rigid, the dragon push-up lets the hips sink toward the floor at the top so the spine extends and the shoulders finish in front of the hands, stretching the chest and hip flexors on every rep. The return to plank is a pull of the hips back up through the abs. Intermediate lifters program it in bodyweight upper sessions.

What Muscles Does the Dragon Push-Up Work?

• Primary: Pectoralis major (chest), triceps brachii
• Secondary: Anterior deltoid (front shoulder), serratus anterior, erector spinae
• Tertiary: Rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, hip flexors

How Do You Set Up for the Dragon Push-Up?

Set up in a high plank with your hands flat on the floor slightly wider than shoulder-width, fingers pointing forward, wrists under your shoulders. Tuck your toes, straighten your legs, and squeeze your glutes so your body forms one line from head to heels. Push the floor away so your shoulder blades sit flat on your ribs, tuck your chin, and brace your trunk before the first rep.

How Do You Perform the Dragon Push-Up?

1. Lower your chest toward the floor by bending your elbows at roughly 45 degrees from your torso, body still one line.
2. Touch down lightly with your chest an inch above the floor, elbows stacked over your wrists.
3. Press up and forward, letting your hips sink toward the floor as your arms straighten and your chest rises through your hands.
4. Arch into upward dog: arms locked, shoulders in front of your wrists, thighs off the floor, gaze forward, hips hovering.
5. Hold the arch for one second, then draw your hips back up and over your hands with your abs while your arms stay straight.
6. Return to the plank with your shoulders over your wrists and your body in one line, ready for the next rep.

What Are the Key Form Cues?

• Slide the chest through the hands: think of pushing your sternum forward and up as you press, not just up, so the arch comes from the shoulders leading.
• Hips hover, never rest: keep the thighs and pelvis a hand-width off the floor at the top so the glutes protect the lower back.
• Pull the shoulders down away from your ears in the arch.
• Reverse the arch with your abs, dragging the hips back up rather than pushing with the arms.
• Breathe out on the press into the arch and in on the return to plank.

What Are the Most Common Mistakes?

• Collapsing the lower back into the arch: with the hips resting on the floor the lumbar spine hangs into extension under the weight of the trunk; squeeze the glutes and keep the thighs off the floor.
• Flaring the elbows out to the sides: the shoulder joint takes the press in a poor position and the chest does less; keep the elbows around 45 degrees.
• Skipping the bottom: pressing into the arch from a half-lowered plank cuts the chest range in half; touch the chest down first.
• Shrugging into the arch: the shoulders jam toward the ears and the neck takes the load; push the shoulders down and back at the top.
• Piking the hips on the return: the plank is lost and the next rep starts high; finish in a straight line before lowering again.

What Are the Best Dragon Push-Up Variations?

• Cobra push-up: knees and thighs stay on the floor through the arch, an easier regression.
• Dive bomber push-up: adds a pike at the start so the whole rep flows from downward dog to upward dog, the harder progression.
• Hindu push-up: the same flow but the return goes straight back to pike, for shoulder emphasis.
• Single-leg dragon push-up: one foot lifted for the whole rep, adding a trunk stability demand.
• Rings dragon push-up: hands on rings so the arch and press happen on an unstable base.

How Do You Progress the Dragon Push-Up?

• Bodyweight load progresses by leverage: raise the feet onto a step once 15 clean reps are easy.
• Build from 6 reps to 15 per set before changing leverage.
• Add one set at a time, from 2 up to 4.
• Hold the arch for three seconds, or lower over three seconds so the chest works through the full range.

How Should You Program the Dragon Push-Up?

Program the dragon push-up early in a bodyweight upper body session, after a shoulder warm-up and before rows. Two to three times per week is enough. Do 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 15 reps with 60 to 90 seconds of rest. Pair it with an inverted row or anisometric towel rowso the pull side of the shoulder gets equal work. Stop the set when the hips start resting on the floor.