Downward Dog Push Up

Combining the yoga pose of downward facing dog and a traditional push-up, a downward dog push up is a fun push up variation to work your arms and challenge your body! Watch this quick video as Chris Freytag demonstrates how to do a downward dog push up. Whether you do push ups regularly or have been hesitant to try, this is just one of many push up variations that are a great way to mix up your routine and challenge your muscles. In fact, you don’t need to know anything about push-ups (or yoga, for that matter) to do a downward dog push up.

You’ll start your downward dog push up by placing your palms on a mat or soft surface, tucking your toes under, and lifting your hips to the sky to come to downward dog pose. Dig your heels down into the earth as you dive forward, keeping your shoulders over your wrists and dropping down into a push up. Your elbows should be slightly behind you and your shoulders should stay relaxed away from the ears as you push back using the strength of your chest to back to your downward dog.

As you pull forward and dive back down, you’ll complete multiple repetitions of your downward dog push up! That’s all there is to it. Get ready to sculpt lean, beautiful biceps and triceps with this fun variation. As a bonus, if you keep your abdominals engaged throughout the exercise, you’ll also work to strengthen your core! You can return to this video whenever you need a refresher on form. Different push-up variations help to target different upper body muscles and can keep you challenged, which helps to continue building muscle and burning calories. Give this downward dog push up a try whenever you need a new move to work into your weekly workouts!