Bodyweight Exercise: Scapular Push Up

The scapular push up is an exercise designed to strengthen your shoulder blades, which is great for reducing injuries and providing more stability for tougher shoulder exercises.

Step 1: Start out in the top of a push up position. Your hands and toes should be touching the floor, and your body should form a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles.

Step 2: The main goal here is to squeeze your shoulder blades together. As you squeeze your shoulder blades together, your chest will move towards the floor, but your back should stay straight, and your elbows should not bend.

Each rep has you squeeze your shoulder blades together. Then you return to the starting position and repeat.

Tip: As with all push ups, you don’t want to let your lower back and hips sag towards the floor. It’s especially easy to do this inadvertently during the scapular push up, so pay close attention to keeping your body stiff and straight (mainly by contracting your abs and glutes.)

Scapular Push Up video:

[video coming soon]

See more exercise guides in The Bodyweight Exercise Collection.