How to Do the Diamond Push-Up

Andrew Heffernan, CSCS, GCFP is a fitness coach, Feldenkrais practitioner, and an award-winning health and fitness writer. His work appears regularly in Men's Health and Experience Life. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. Learn more at andrewheffernan.com
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As exercises go, it’s hard to find fault with the push-up. It’s convenient, challenging, functional, and it builds muscle without beating up your joints. Among the countless variations of this classic move (e.g., T push-up, clapping push-up, archer push-up, decline push-up, offset push-up, etc.) the diamond push-up is one of the simplest and most accessible.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
“They’re safer on the shoulder joint,” says trainer Jolie Kobrinsky, RKC, TRX, owner of Prime Fitness in Monterey, CA. “They’re also tougher to perform.”
Want to work this classic upper-body builder into your program? Read on.
How to do Diamond Push-ups
How to Make the Diamond Push-up Easier
The diamond push-up is an intermediate-level strength exercise — harder than the traditional move, but not as hard as a single-arm or plyometric push-up. Before you attempt this move, you should be able to complete at least 10 regular push-ups in a row.
If you can pull that off but still can’t manage more than a rep or two of the diamond variation, you can make the move easier by performing it with your hands elevated on a table, countertop, bench or railing. As you become stronger, move your hands closer to the ground until you can perform the standard variation of this exercise.
How to Make Diamond Push-ups Harder
Once you can bang out 15 or more consecutive diamond push-ups with your hands on the ground, you can make the move harder in several ways, listed in ascending order of difficulty:
Muscles worked in the Diamond Push-up