# Shoulder Tap Push-Up: how to do it

- Main muscles: chest, abs
- Also works: triceps, obliques
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/shoulder_tap_push_up/3b61f29b1c/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Start in a high plank with your hands under your shoulders and feet hip-width apart.
2. Do one push-up, lowering your chest to about a fist from the floor.
3. At the top, tap your left shoulder with your right hand and put it back.
4. Tap your right shoulder with your left hand and put it back; that is one rep.

## Cues

- Hips level, like a glass of water on your back
- Brace before each tap
- Hands back to the same spot

## Common mistakes

- Rocking the hips side to side: widen your feet and brace harder.
- Rushing the taps: lift and place each hand under control.
- Sagging through the middle: squeeze your glutes the whole time.

## Starting position

High plank. Hands flat under the shoulders (a little wider than shoulder width), fingers forward. Feet on the balls about 30 cm apart (a wider base than a plain push-up, so the hips stay level when one hand lifts). Head, hips and heels in one line; abdominals and glutes braced.

## The movement

One push-up, then two taps. 1. Push-up: lower the chest to about a fist above the floor, elbows about 45° from the body seen from above, and press back up. 2. Tap right: at the top, the right hand lifts, passes under the chin by the chest and touches the top of the left shoulder, then goes back exactly where it was. 3. Tap left: the left hand touches the right shoulder and goes back. During the taps the hips stay level and square to the floor: no rocking side to side, no twisting towards the lifted hand. The support arm stays straight and the shoulder stays over its hand.

## Tempo

Push-up about 1.1 s down and 0.8 s up; each tap about 0.6 s up, a touch, 0.6 s down.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Feet apart | 30 cm | 25–40 cm |  |
| Elbows out from the body at bottom (from above) | 45° | 35–55° |  |
| Chest above the floor at bottom | about a fist | 10–20 cm |  |
| Support elbow during a tap (included) | 166° | 160–178° |  |
| Tapping hand | palm on the front-top of the other shoulder (wrist about 6 cm towards the head and 6–7 cm above the joint), resting on the shirt | not sinking into it |  |
| Hip rotation during a tap | 0° | under 10° |  |

## Sources

1. [[ACE: Push-up](](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/41/push-up/)
2. [[NASM: Push-Up](](https://www.nasm.org/resource-center/exercise-library/push-up)
3. ExRx.net, Push-up
4. NSCA, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed.

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/shoulder-tap-push-up