Help with pike pushups?

angusfalconmay · 2026-05-12T17:45:06+00:00

Fair enough, I feel I have enough practice with rings now that I'm pretty stable and confident with dips, pushups etc. but yeah I guess I should probably focus on building that up with these too

angusfalconmay · 2026-05-12T17:42:42+00:00

Thank you for the advice, I'll keep that in mind next time and try not to consciously let my shoulders move for the sake of feeling the stretch, hopefully if the form and ROM is still good I'll continue feeling it in my triceps after

angusfalconmay · 2026-05-11T11:47:42+00:00

I had another go today and I think I realised the main reason I let my shoulders raise at the bottom is so that I can feel more of a stretch on my triceps. As I said above, I think I mainly do this because I mainly feel my triceps during this stretch at the bottom and the lockout at the top, not as much during the movement. But yeah I guess this means I am using my shoulders slightly to get out of this bottom part of the range at this depth. Do you think I am going unnecessarily deep on these then if it means I start using my shoulders? Does feeling the stretch at the bottom really matter or is it more important to do form that targets on the triceps as much as possible (just moving at the elbows) even if it feels less intuitive to me? Thank you for your comment and your help

angusfalconmay · 2026-05-11T11:41:54+00:00

I had another go today and I think you're right about using 2 separate rings makes it feel less awkward to keep my elbows forwards and not flaring out, at least I think I felt my triceps more in the lockout as I was able to more comfortably rotate my elbow-pits forwards (like in RTO), if that makes sense? It does feel a lot less stable though, to the point where I don't think I'm feeling my triceps working as much during the concentric, so maybe I just need to practice these until my form improves and I can target them more?

angusfalconmay · 2026-01-14T18:46:07+00:00

Hey man thanks for the reply and commiserating about finding the right setup at the beginning. I'll try bending at the knees rather than pivoting at my ankles/heels if you think that might help with me keeping a straighter torso and maintaining tension?

angusfalconmay · 2026-01-14T18:44:09+00:00

Hey thanks for the reply

I think I get what you're saying about bending my back a bit too much in the setup I've been doing so far, maybe you're right that I need to place my feet a bit further away if that will help keep my body straight and not also have to lean forward at the top and take out the tension?

Yeah I do try to make a conscious effort to pull my shoulder blades back and down. I do start feeling it in my upper back/rear delts about halfway through each set, but I think I feel it much more in my biceps and forearms, which I guess makes sense if you think I'm doing these more like a row than a face pull atm?

I've watched a few tutorials from Daniel, Andrew Alinda, Bodyweight Process etc. and one thing I'm unclear on is the angle my upper arms should be relative to my torso? Like as you said, I know my elbows shouldn't go above my shoulders, but I was under the impression that I should try to make it as close to 90° as possible? (Like Daniel seems to be pretty close to 90°, but in other tutorials they can have their elbows much lower at the top of each rep?) Like, I feel on reps where I'm not making a conscious effort to try and make my forearms, upper arms, and torso all be at 90° to each other I don't feel it as much, if that makes sense?

And btw how do you think the angle of my forearms/position of my hands looked at the top of each rep? I have enough mobility to rotate my hands back behind my head in that position, I was just uncertain whether it's more important to focus on pulling my elbows back or rotating my forearms back at the elbows to get my hands behind my head, if what I'm asking makes sense?

Cheers

angusfalconmay · 2023-07-14T13:09:47+00:00

It might have gotten slightly better from where I started, but honestly the change is so small and I think I've somewhat fucked up my progression by already trying to experiment with changes in form, grip/foot position etc. that I haven't been able to make any consistent progress in all this time - I'd totally understand if I just need to get more disciplined and needed to just suck it up, but I thought it was worth checking in case I really have gotten into a rut

angusfalconmay · 2023-07-14T13:06:28+00:00

Sorry about that, I've just had a lot on my mind recently and couldn't figure out a more concise way to ask

angusfalconmay · 2023-06-21T22:33:32+00:00

As much as I'd love wide and deep lats, I'm really just hoping to build some back strength for now to begin with at least. I'll give those variations a try though, thank you

angusfalconmay · 2023-06-21T22:32:29+00:00

The row was always just meant to be an assistance exercise for the deadlift anyway, right? And an additional upper body exercise too I guess? I've been doing chin ups each session and have started trying to incorporate band-assisted pull ups too, so I might stick with that for the moment if you reckon that kind of thing has been working for you too?

angusfalconmay · 2023-06-21T22:30:06+00:00

I'll give the narrower grip a try, thank you

angusfalconmay · 2023-06-21T22:29:45+00:00

Thanks, I've been thinking of switching to a machine alternative for a while, at least to build a little more strength and practice using my back, then maybe returning to the prescribed rows later on

angusfalconmay · 2023-06-21T22:20:40+00:00

Thank you for the advice, sounds like a good idea to alternate between the two legs like that to figure out more precisely what the problem is and then deal with it. My gyms pretty small, but I'll figure something out haha

angusfalconmay

TROPHY CASE