How To MASTER Diamond Push Ups – VIDEO TUTORIAL [2023] 


According to the calisthenics community; diamond push-ups can build a massive chest and triceps. 

But, there is an exercise far superior than diamond push ups are building size and strength.  

In this article, I’m going to show you: 

  1. How to do the PERFECT Diamond Push Up 
  2. Why Diamond Push Ups SUCK For Building Muscle Mass 
  3. The #1 Alternative To Diamond Push Ups  
  4. Bonus – My Secret Triceps Finishing Exercise 

So let’s get started! 

How To Do Diamond Push Ups With PERFECT Form 

Diamond push ups are variation of push ups done with palms placed close together in a diamond shape. Beginner’s are better off perfecting their regular push up form as diamond push ups are considered an intermediate level exercise. 

To do the perfect diamond push up: 

  1. Get onto your knees.  
  2. Bring your palms together in a diamond shape and place them on the floor. 
  3. Place the middle of your chest above the middle of the diamond shape formed by your palms. 
  4. Straighten out your elbows, and knees and get into the high plank position. 
  5. Push your shoulder blades toward your back pocket and the ground (scapula depression and protraction). Then squeeze your glutes, and quads at the same time. This is the starting position for diamond push ups.
  6. Take a deep breath and squeeze your abs before descending to the ground. 
  7. Bend your elbows and bring the shoulder blades toward each (scapular retraction) other until your chest touches makes contact with your palms. This is the bottom position in the diamond push up. 
  8. From the bottom, push the ground away from you by straightening your elbows and pushing your shoulder blades toward the ground, until you reach the starting position again. 
  9. You can now exhale, then inhale again before performing your next rep.  

Common errors while performing diamond push ups: 

  1. Flaring the elbows out too much – your elbows can flare out to about 60 degrees (with individual variability). But flaring your elbows beyond 60 degrees can lead to shoulder pain. 
  2. At the top position push your shoulder blades toward the ground (scapular protraction). Don’t allow your chest to sag beneath the level of the shoulders (scapula retraction). Instead
  3. Sagging at the hips results from not squeezing the glutes and can cause back pain.
  4. Bringing the hands too close to each other can cause wrist pain. Increasing the distance between your palms will help alleviate the pain.  

That being said, I would NEVER do diamond push ups. Here’s why: 

Why Diamond Push Ups Suck For Building Muscle 

The 3 reasons why diamond push ups SUCK for building muscle mass are: 

  1. Diamond push ups have a reduced range of motion:

Exercises performed with shorter ranges of motion produce inferior results.  

Diamond push ups cut the range of motion at the bottom by restricting your chest from touching the ground.  

Reducing the range of motion kills overall muscular development in the long run. 

Regular push ups on the other hand allow your chest to travel an extra couple of inches before touching the ground.   

Doing so increases range of motion, thereby increasing muscular development.

  1. Diamond push ups DO NOT work the triceps effectively: 

To build massive arms, you need massive triceps. Your triceps make up roughly 60% of your arm size. Neglecting your triceps will make your arms look smaller.

Triceps consist of 3 heads:

  1. Lateral head 
  2. Long head 
  3. Medial head 

The lateral head makes the arms look big when viewed from the front.

While the long and medial heads provide a sweep to the arm, making it look larger when viewed from the side.  

Finding an exercise that fully develops all heads of the triceps is of paramount importance. 

Unfortunately diamond push ups don’t develop the long and medial heads of the triceps effectively.  

That’s because the medial and long heads of the triceps get worked the most during shoulder extension.  

Diamond push ups do not have an effective range of shoulder extension, therefore they neglect the long and medial heads of the triceps. 

This means that diamond push ups neglect 2/3rd of your triceps development! Not a good look for an exercise that’s supposed to be good at building the triceps.  

  1. Diamond push ups can cause wrist and shoulder pain: 

Diamond push ups place your wrists and shoulders in an awkward position to push from. 

The diamond shaped placement of the wrists forces the elbows to flare out, placing the shoulders in internal rotation.

The internally rotated shoulder position and awkward wrist placement in diamond push ups can cause injury.

#1 Diamond Push Up Alternative

As you see, the diamond push up is only an average chest and triceps builder. Diamond push ups also place far less emphasis on the shoulders than other push up variations.

If you’re looking for a variation to diamond push ups, look no further than the deficit close-grip push up.

Deficit close-grip push ups will build a massive chest, ripped triceps and boulder shoulders in one movement.

Deficit close grip push ups outdo diamond push ups in several ways, they: 

  • Place equal emphasis on your chest, shoulders and triceps. 
  • Increase the range of motion of the exercise, allowing for optimal strength and size gains. 
  • Reduce injury on the shoulders and wrists. 
  • Carry over well to other pressing exercises. 

Deficit push ups can be done on rings or books, or cinder blocks.

Gymnastics rings make the exercise harder to perform due to the stabilization aspect and involve more abdominal activation.  

Thus, terms of overall muscle building capacity and lower risk for injury, deficit close-grip push ups win hands down. Pun intended.

Bonus Alternative To Diamond Push Ups – Bodyweight Skull Crushers 

You might be saying; “Suhail, I do diamond push ups for my triceps, not for my chest or my shoulders.”

Well, then let me introduce you to my secret weapon for building massive triceps – the bodyweight skull crusher. 

This exercise will annihilate your triceps while building all heads of the triceps when compared to diamond push ups.

Bodyweight skull crushers done on rings are a also safer on the wrists and shoulders than diamond push-ups.  

Conclusion: 

While diamond push ups are known as chest and triceps builders, a simple analysis of the biomechanics of the exercise says otherwise.  

The shortened range of motion and the high risk for injury make diamond push ups a novelty, rather than a highly recommended exercise.  

If you’re looking to build muscle just your bodyweight, close-grip deficit push ups are far superior, especially when done on gymnastics rings. 

Recent Posts