Start by lying on your side with your legs stacked and extended. Place your bottom hand on the floor directly under your shoulder, fingers pointing forward. Keep your top hand on your hip or extend it straight up towards the ceiling. Press through your bottom hand, lifting your torso off the ground while keeping your body in a straight line. Lower your torso back down towards the ground and repeat for the desired number of repetitions. Switch to the other side and repeat the exercise.

How to perform the Side Push-Up

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Side 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.

Build a free routine

Stage exercises here, then sign up to save them as a real Fitly routine — synced to web and mobile.

View staged routine (0)

Variations of Side Push-Up

Related exercises

0 exercises staged Save your routine — sign up free.