Bird Dog Push-Up

The Bird Dog Push-Up combines stability and strength training. You engage your core while performing a push-up with an extended arm and leg.

  1. Start in a push-up position with your hands under your shoulders.
  2. Extend your right arm forward and your left leg back, keeping your body straight.
  3. Lower your body into a push-up while maintaining the extended position.
  4. Push back up to the starting position and switch sides.

How to perform the Bird Dog Push-Up

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Bird Dog Push-Up using your body weight.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your pectoralis major.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your pectoralis major rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

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