Diamond push ups – How to-do, muscle worked, & 3 variations

diamond push ups

Push-ups have been well-known go-to exercises whenever we want to get fit but there are more than 80 different types of push-ups like archer push-ups, typewriter push-ups, etc. each variation might target different muscles or they might be an easier version for one of the variations. Today our center of focus will be on diamond push ups.

Just doing normal push-ups as your workout after some time will start to get easy for you and will give you a monotonous feeling and to avoid that feeling you should pick up other bodyweight exercises too like chin-ups, pull-ups, etc. Once you add these bodyweight exercises to your workout you won’t get bored and the intensity of these exercises will help you achieve muscle hypertrophy.

What are diamond push-ups?

Diamond push ups are well known as triceps push-ups as the triceps is the primary target in this exercise. It is a variation of push-ups a known bodyweight exercise. The name diamond push ups are given to the exercise because of the hand position unlike many other push-ups variations, in these variations, the thumb and the index finger of both arms touch each other to make the shape of a diamond hence diamond push ups.

Compared to the normal push-ups and many other variations diamond push-ups are on another level making it hard for a beginner to do but the benefits of doing diamond push ups make it worth the struggle. This exercise is often used as a warm-up exercise by many athletes.

Muscles worked

While the usual muscles that are worked during various push-ups variations are chest (pecs) and core but in diamond push-ups, the primary muscle targeted isn’t your chest.

Primary muscle worked – Triceps.

The name triceps is derived from the Latin meaning three-headed muscles. It is a large muscle that is situated behind the back of your arm, just above the elbow. A three-headed muscle name was given to the part because it consists of 3 parts – the long head, the lateral, and the medial. The triceps helps you with the extension of your elbow joint and also keeps your shoulder in a stabilized position.

Secondary muscle worked – Pectoralis Major (Chest) and Deltoids (Shoulders).

The pectoralis major is a fan-shaped or triangular-shaped muscle, it extends from the upper part of the chest to the rear of the humerus (Upper arm bone). The major function of this muscle is the adduction and the depression of the arm.

The Deltoids muscles are in the shape of an equilateral triangle and it is also responsible for giving the round shape to our shoulder. The deltoids muscles carry an important task of preventing shoulder dislocation and any kind of injury to the humerus while carrying a heavy object.

Stabilizing muscles – Glutes, Rectus abdominus, and Quadriceps. They act all together to keep your body in a straight line and keep your from in check so you can get the best outcome from performing diamond push ups.

The rectus abdominus muscles are also known as the core/Abs. These muscles run vertically on each side of the anterior wall in the human abdomen. The main function of this muscle is to move your truck forward, backward as well as sideways also it stabilizes your spine.

The glutes muscles is formed up of 3 muscles –  the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. The function of the glutes is to help you extend and laterally rotate your hip joint.

The quadriceps consists of four muscles – the rectus femoris and three vastus muscles, these muscles make up for the most part of the thighs. It is also known as one of the most powerful muscles in our body. The quadriceps muscle is essential for running, walking, squatting, and many other movements.

How to do diamond push-ups

Diamon push ups

Getting into the diamond push ups form isn’t the hard part but successfully doing one repetition is, in the end, it will all fall down on your own strength. Before you begin with exercise it’s necessary to warm up your muscles. It will help you avoid injuries and boost up your body strength.

  • Get into the normal push-ups positions, core and glutes engaged, and spine in a straight line.
  • Bring both of your arms under your chest and position your hand in such a way that the index finger and the thumb of one arm are touching the index finger and thumb of the other arm, making a shape of a diamond.
  • Now with the core and glutes engaged and start lowering your chest towards your hands.
  • Make sure that your elbow’s don’t flare out and keep your back straight.
  • Stop as soon as you reach close to the ground, then return to the starting position.

Avoid mistakes

The common mistake that you will see most people make while performing diamond push-ups is that they flare out their elbows. It may make your exercise easy but it’s just an open invitation to injuries and will not get you the correct output. Try to keep your elbows positioned at 45 degrees.

Don’t do this exercise with your hands positioned in a narrow way that will put an unwanted load on your elbow making it even harder and eventually leading you to an injury.

Don’t focus too much on forming the diamond shape, I have seen many people who focus too much on the hand position and compromise on the form, the objective of the hand position is to keep them closer than the normal push-ups so that you can engage your triceps muscles more directly.

Diamond push-ups variations

For a beginner successfully performing one rep of diamond push-ups is a hard task so to build up that strength try these variations they are easier than the diamond push ups and will help you build the upper body strength that is required.

On the knees – The basic progression exercise of any exercise is to reduce the lead and the good way to reduce the weight on your arms will be, Instead of staying on your feet in the starting position drop on your knees that will reduce the load and making it easier for you to then your goal will be to do more reps.

Another way to make diamond push-ups easier would be to elevate the surface, In simple words incline diamond push-ups.

Decline diamond push-ups – If you’re someone who has enough strength to do a good amount of reps and wants to intensify their workout. Put your feet on the elevated surface, for example, a bench to make it even harder pick an unstable platform like a gym ball.

Benefits of diamond push-ups

If you’re trying to build strength and definition in your triceps through bodyweight exercises this awkward movement exercise will be a good choice for you. This exercise will target your lateral triceps head not only triceps there are also many other benefits of doing diamond push ups such as…

Triceps activation – Due to the form and hand movement of this exercise, it isolates your triceps and puts pressure on them. Doing continuous repetitions will help you achieve muscle hypertrophy. Some studies also indicate that diamond push ups are one of the most effective triceps exercises.

Progression – Many bodyweight exercises look cool for example, one arm push-ups, muscle up, etc but fr that you need to build your strength to a whole new level. Doing diamond push ups can be a good stepping stone for you in that direction.

Body balance – When compared to the normal push-ups in diamond push ups your hand is positioned narrow providing you less base for support that combined with your feet close it will turn this into a balancing exercise making your core engage more that in turn will increase your overall body balance.

Final words

Diamond push ups maybe an effective exercise for your triceps but it doesn’t mean that this is the only bodyweight triceps exercise that should be in your arsenal. I hope this article got rid of your every question related to the diamond push ups. Just keep doing them and you will get better by the time.