Push-Up Close-grip off Dumbbell

How to do the Push-Up Close-grip off Dumbbell

1. 1Set two dumbbells on the floor with their handles parallel and close together, so your hands will land roughly 6–10 inches apart — hex dumbbells are ideal because they will not roll.
2. 2Kneel behind the dumbbells, grip both handles firmly with a neutral (palms facing each other) wrist position, and step your feet back into a high plank so your body forms a straight line from head to heels.
3. 3Stack your wrists directly under your shoulders, brace your core, and squeeze your glutes to lock the plank in place.
4. 4Tuck your elbows so they sit roughly 30–45 degrees from your torso, pointing back toward your hips rather than flaring out to the sides.
5. 5Inhale and lower your chest toward the dumbbells under control, keeping your elbows tracking close to your torso throughout the descent.
6. 6Descend until your chest is level with or just below the handles, feeling a stretch through the chest and triceps at the bottom.
7. 7Press forcefully through both handles to drive your body back to the start, exhaling as you push, and extend your elbows fully without locking them hard.
8. 8Reset your brace at the top, complete the desired number of repetitions, then lower your knees to the floor to dismount safely.

Form tips

• Test the setup with one slow rep before each set — hex heads sit flat, but a slick or uneven floor can still let a dumbbell slide out from under you mid-rep.
• Lower at a deliberate 2–3 second tempo; a slow eccentric builds triceps time under tension and keeps the dumbbells from shifting.
• Widen your foot stance if the top position feels wobbly — a broader base steadies the side-to-side sway that raised hands amplify.
• Regress by dropping to your knees rather than by cutting the descent short; the bottom stretch is where this variation earns its extra range of motion.

Common mistakes

• Flaring the elbows out to the sides instead of keeping them tucked — wide elbows shift the load from the triceps to the chest and front deltoids, defeating the purpose of the close-grip variation.
• Setting the dumbbells too far apart, which widens the effective hand position and dilutes the triceps emphasis — keep the handles close enough that your hands stay well inside shoulder-width.
• Letting the hips sag or pike, which breaks the rigid plank needed to transfer force into the press and increases compression on the lower back.
• Gripping loosely or letting the wrists bend backward under load, which costs you stability on the dumbbells and can lead to wrist strain or a handle rolling out.
• Shrugging the shoulders up toward the ears at the bottom, which sacrifices upper-back stability and makes it hard to press evenly through both dumbbells.

Frequently asked questions