Chest · Medicine Ball
Push-up Medicine Ball
How to do the push-up medicine ball, the muscles it works, and the mistakes to avoid. Pulled straight from the Kovo app's exercise library.
- Equipment
- Medicine Ball
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Reps
- Movement
- HorizontalPush
- Mechanic
- Compound
How to do it
Set up in a push-up position with one or both hands on a medicine ball under your chest. Keeping your body in a straight line, bend your elbows to lower your chest toward the ball, then press back up while fighting to keep the ball steady.
- 1Your chest, shoulders, and triceps driving you up off the ball
- 2Extra core and shoulder tension fighting the ball's instability
- 3A tight straight line from head to heels throughout
Common mistakes
- Do not let your hips sag or pike as you fatigue
- Avoid letting the ball roll or shift under your hands
- Do not flare your elbows wide; keep them around 45 degrees
Muscles worked
The push-up medicine ball 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
Kovo programs the push-up medicine ball 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.