Book Your Session

Pushups With a Twist:

9 Variations to Build Strength and Core Power

Upgrade a classic move with these new pushup variations that challenge
your upper body, core, and overall athletic performance.
  • Architech Sports and Physical Therapy

Pushups are one of the first exercises most athletes learn, but for many, they get left behind as training advances. The truth? Pushups are still one of the most effective ways to build strength, stability, and control—especially when you add variety. With these twists on the old classic, athletes can improve upper body balance, challenge their core, and take performance up a notch.

Try this workout: perform 10 reps of each variation in a row for a complete challenge. Remember to stretch your shoulders afterward and modify if you have any history of shoulder pain (only go halfway down if needed).

1. Standard Pushup

  • Benefit: Strengthens chest, shoulders, triceps, and core.

  • How to do it: Start in a pushup position with hands just wider than shoulders. Keep your body in a straight line from head to heels. Lower your chest an inch above the floor, then press back up.

Standard Push-Up exercise demonstration showing athlete maintaining a straight body line while lowering chest toward the floor to build upper-body and core strength.

2. Leg-Kick Pushup

  • Benefit: Activates more chest and shoulder muscles while engaging hip flexors, glutes, and hamstrings.

  • How to do it: Lower your body, then kick one leg out to the side at a 90-degree angle before pressing back up. Alternate legs each rep.

llustration of an athlete performing a standard push-up with proper form to strengthen the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core.

3. Knee-to-Opposite-Elbow Pushup

  • Benefit: Adds rotation to target abs, hip flexors, and back along with chest and triceps.

  • How to do it: From pushup position, bring your right knee to your left elbow before lowering into a pushup. Repeat on the other side.

Illustration of an athlete performing a leg kick push-up, combining upper-body strength with lower-body activation for improved coordination and core control.

4. Corkscrew Pushup

  • Benefit: Engages quads, calves, and core while training rotation.

  • How to do it: With knees bent at 90 degrees and hips slightly raised, rotate your torso so one side lowers toward the floor, then the other, before pushing back up.

Corkscrew Push-Up exercise demonstration showing athlete rotating through the core while performing a push-up, emphasizing shoulder stability, oblique activation, and upper-body control.

5. Triangle Pushup

  • Benefit: Forces one arm to handle more load and stimulates muscles at a new angle.

  • How to do it: Lower your chest toward one hand, pause, and push back up. Alternate sides.

Triangle Push-Up exercise demonstration showing athlete lowering chest between hands in a diamond position to target triceps, shoulders, and core stability.

6. Twisting Pushup

  • Benefit: Improves core rotation and flexibility in hips and groin.

  • How to do it: Cross one leg in front of the other as you lower into a pushup. Keep hips off the floor. Alternate sides.

Twisting Push-Up exercise demonstration showing athlete rotating through the torso while performing a push-up, emphasizing oblique engagement, shoulder stability, and upper-body strength.

7. Uchi Mata Pushup

  • Benefit: Increases activation in the core, hamstrings, and shoulders.

  • How to do it: Lift one leg parallel to the floor, lower into a pushup, then raise the lifted leg higher before pressing up. Switch legs halfway.

Uchi Mata Push-Up exercise demonstration showing athlete performing a push-up with one leg lifted and rotated outward to enhance balance, core engagement, and hip mobility.

8. Alternating Grip Single-Leg Pushup

  • Benefit: Trains lower abs and the serratus anterior, a key posture muscle.

  • How to do it: Move one hand slightly forward and lift the opposite leg. Perform pushups, then switch sides.

Alternating Grip Single-Leg Push-Up exercise demonstration showing athlete performing a push-up with one leg lifted and alternating hand positions to challenge upper-body symmetry, balance, and core engagement.

9. Kettlebell Pushup

  • Benefit: Adds instability to challenge forearms, rotator cuffs, and core.

  • How to do it: Place each hand on a kettlebell, palms facing each other, and perform standard pushups.

Kettlebell Push-Up exercise demonstration showing athlete performing a push-up with hands gripping kettlebell handles to increase range of motion, shoulder stability, and core engagement.

Pushups don’t have to be boring—and they don’t have to stop at “standard.” Add these variations into your training for stronger shoulders, better balance, and extra core strength.

RELATED POSTS

Dr. Barrett Little | ACL Reconstruction and Shoulder Instability | OrthoCarolina Fort Mill

Dr. Barrett Little | ACL Reconstruction, LEAP/LET & Shoulder Instability | Empower MD Clinical Education

Dr. Barrett Little, orthopedic sports surgeon with OrthoCarolina in Fort Mill and Indian Land, discusses modern ACL reconstruction strategies, LEAP and LET procedures, graft selection, and shoulder instability management. This conversation focuses on reducing re-injury risk in high-risk athletes, addressing rotational instability, and strengthening early collaboration between PTs and surgeons to improve long-term return-to-sport outcomes.

Read More »

Take Your Recovery Further with Athletic Performance Therapy

Our Athletic Performance Therapy approach blends injury prevention, rehabilitation, and performance training. Whether you’re bouncing back from soreness, recovering from injury, or looking to move and compete at your best — we’ll help you get there.

Start Your Recovery Today
Tagged

Discover more from Architech Sports and Physical Therapy

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading