Do wide push-ups work the chest more?

No. When narrow and wide were compared directly the narrow position measured higher in both the chest and the triceps, and in a separate comparison of standard, diamond and wide the wide position measured lowest. The idea that wide is the chest setting is one of the most repeated things about push-ups and it does not hold up.

What do wide push-ups actually do?

They press at a different arm angle and they shorten the range your chest travels, because wider hands put your chest closer to the floor at the start. That makes them easier for most people, which can be genuinely useful.

Do wide push-ups build chest width?

They do not, and nor does anything else specifically. There is no outer part of the chest muscle to target, and how wide a chest looks is mostly your shoulder and rib cage width, which training does not change.

How wide should my hands be?

About one hand-width outside each shoulder is a sensible upper limit. Beyond that you are mostly reducing the distance your chest travels, and your elbows have no option but to point straight out.

Why do wide push-ups bother my shoulders?

With the hands far apart your arms end up square to your body at the bottom, which is the position most people find least comfortable under load. Moving your hands closer in is the only real fix, since the hand position is what puts the elbows there.

Should my fingers point straight forward?

They do not have to. Turning them out fifteen or 20 degrees lets the forearm sit more naturally at a wide spacing, and it often takes care of wrist and elbow complaints on its own.

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Bodyweight · beginner · chest

Wide grip push up

Also called Wide push-up, Wide hand push-up, Wide stance push-up, Wide grip push-up, Wide arm push-up.

The short answer

A wide grip push-up sets your hands well outside your shoulders and lowers your chest between them. Your chest does the work, with your triceps pressing and your midsection holding the line. It is usually sold as the chest-focused push-up, and when hand positions have been measured against each other the wide one came out lowest for the chest, not highest. What it does change, reliably, is how far your chest has to travel, which is shorter.

How to do it

Step oneBegin in a push-up position with your hands placed significantly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Step twoKeep your fingers pointing forward or slightly outward and your body in a straight line from head to heels.
Step threeLower your chest toward the floor by bending your elbows outward.
Step fourPause briefly when your chest is just above the floor, then press back up to the starting position.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

You get to the bottom almost immediately and the rep feels over before it started.

WhyYour hands are so far apart that your chest begins the rep close to the floor. Spread the arms wide enough and there is barely any distance left to cover.

FixBring your hands in until they sit roughly one hand-width outside your shoulders on each side. You should have to travel a real distance to reach the floor. If you do not, the spacing is doing the work of shortening the rep for you.

At the bottom your arms make a T with your body and your shoulders feel exposed.

WhyThis is what a wide hand position does by default rather than something you slipped into. With the hands out wide there is nowhere for the elbows to go except straight out to the sides.

FixYou cannot fix this by thinking about your elbows, because the hands decide where they end up. Move the hands closer in until your elbows can travel backward at an angle. That is a narrower push-up, and that is the point.

Your wrists or elbows ache at the wide spacing.

WhyFingers locked straight forward while the hands are far apart twists the forearm into a position it does not have to be in.

FixTurn your hands out slightly, maybe fifteen or 20 degrees, so the fingers point a little away from each other. It is a small change that lets the forearm sit where it wants to.

Your head reaches the floor before your chest does.

WhyThe neck has poked forward to make the rep feel complete. The head is the closest part of you to the ground once the arms are wide, so it arrives first if you let it.

FixKeep your head in line with your spine and look at a spot on the floor a foot in front of your hands. The chest touching down is the bottom of the rep. The chin is not.

Wide hands or standard hands

The reason people set their hands wide is that wide is supposed to be the chest version. Where hand positions have been compared, that is not what comes out.

When narrow and wide were compared directly, in 40 people, the narrow position produced greater activity in both the chest and the triceps. A separate comparison of standard, diamond and wide, in 20 young men, found the diamond highest for both muscles and the wide position lowest of the three.

That leaves wide push-ups without the thing they are best known for. They are not useless, they are a slightly different pressing angle, and if you enjoy them there is no reason to stop. What they are not is the setting that gets your chest to do more.

Why the wide version feels easier

Most people find wide push-ups easier than standard ones and assume that means less resistance. It is simpler than that, and it is geometry.

Your arms and shoulders make a triangle. Move your hands further apart and the triangle gets flatter, so your chest starts closer to the floor and has less distance to cover before it gets there. Same bodyweight, shorter trip.

This matters because a shorter rep in a harder-looking position is an easy thing to mistake for progress. If your numbers jumped when you widened your hands, the reason may be that each rep is now smaller.

It also means wide push-ups are a reasonable option if getting all the way down with your hands in the usual place is not currently possible. Just call it what it is.

Chest width, and where it actually comes from

Wide push-ups are usually prescribed for chest width, and the phrase deserves unpicking, because two separate things get bundled into it.

The muscle has three parts and they divide from top to bottom by where they start: along the collarbone, along the breastbone, and lower down. All of them run out to a single tendon on your upper arm. There is no outer section with its own attachment, so nothing about your hand position aims at one. What people call the outer chest is the part of the same fibers that happens to be nearest the shoulder.

The second thing bundled in is your frame. How wide a chest looks depends heavily on the width of your shoulders and rib cage, which is bone, and no amount of any exercise adjusts it.

That leaves getting the muscle bigger, which is the part training controls, and the way to do it is to press hard through a full range for a long time. The measurements above suggest that hand spacing is not the lever people think it is, and that if anything wide is the setting that asks least of the muscle.

What it is for

The wide grip push up sets the hands wider than a standard push-up, targeting the chest. The wider position shortens the distance the body travels and changes the angle the arms press through, which makes it a different variation rather than a harder one.

Questions people ask

Do wide push-ups work the chest more?: No. When narrow and wide were compared directly the narrow position measured higher in both the chest and the triceps, and in a separate comparison of standard, diamond and wide the wide position measured lowest. The idea that wide is the chest setting is one of the most repeated things about push-ups and it does not hold up.
What do wide push-ups actually do?: They press at a different arm angle and they shorten the range your chest travels, because wider hands put your chest closer to the floor at the start. That makes them easier for most people, which can be genuinely useful.
Do wide push-ups build chest width?: They do not, and nor does anything else specifically. There is no outer part of the chest muscle to target, and how wide a chest looks is mostly your shoulder and rib cage width, which training does not change.
How wide should my hands be?: About one hand-width outside each shoulder is a sensible upper limit. Beyond that you are mostly reducing the distance your chest travels, and your elbows have no option but to point straight out.
Why do wide push-ups bother my shoulders?: With the hands far apart your arms end up square to your body at the bottom, which is the position most people find least comfortable under load. Moving your hands closer in is the only real fix, since the hand position is what puts the elbows there.
Should my fingers point straight forward?: They do not have to. Turning them out fifteen or 20 degrees lets the forearm sit more naturally at a wide spacing, and it often takes care of wrist and elbow complaints on its own.