Chest · Leverage Machine
Lever Push-up with Towels
How to do the lever push-up with towels, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Leverage Machine
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Weighted reps
- Movement
- HorizontalPush
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Grip the leverage machine handles, or place towels under your hands on the floor, and set into a push-up position. Lower your chest with the handles tracking your body, then press back up, using the towels to glide your hands smoothly through the range.
- 1The chest, shoulders, and triceps driving the press
- 2A tight core and level hips holding a straight body line
- 3The shoulder blades drawing together at the bottom, then a full press
Common mistakes
- Letting the hips sag or the head crane forward
- Flaring the elbows wide; keep them near 45 degrees
- Letting the towels slide apart out of control
Muscles worked
The lever push-up with towels mainly works the mid chest, with the triceps, upper chest, lower chest, upper abs, and front delts assisting.
- Mid ChestPrimary
- TricepsSupport
- Upper ChestSupport
- Lower ChestSupport
- Upper AbsSupport
- Front DeltsSupport
- ForearmsMinor
- Lower AbsMinor
- ObliquesMinor
- GlutesMinor
Kovo programs the lever push-up with towels for you and tracks it every session.
We build your whole program, drop the right lifts into each workout, and adjust your weights as you get stronger. Free on iOS and Android.
More chest exercises
- How to do the archer push-up
- How to do the assisted dip
- How to do the resistance band chest flyes
- How to do the resistance band push-up
- How to do the barbell bench press
- How to do the paused bench press
Last reviewed June 2026.