Shoulder Press VS Pike Pushups

Gabe Johansson
2 min readNov 27, 2023

Over the last several weeks, I’ve been changing up my push day workout to find efficient yet powerful exercises I can do from home.

With 2 sets of dumbbells and 25lbs and 30lbs each, as well as a 15lbs kettlebell, my options are fairly limited.

But recently, I remembered I have a floor and my own body weight so I started doing pike pushups for shoulder development.

(For those who may not know: Pike pushups are pushups with your feet much closer to your hands so you end up looking like an upper case letter A)

Prior to this change, I was doing single arm shoulder press for upwards of 17 reps per set and to be frank…

It wasn’t enjoyable doing all that.

I’d much prefer doing heavier weight for fewer reps, which I’ll go back to when I move into a house in March, but in the meantime…

Pike pushups will more than suffice.

In fact, they’re more challenging than I thought and my form isn’t all that good yet.

Shoulder press is great because:

It’s simple, straightforward, and effective at strengthening and growing your shoulders.

And there’s lots of options such as seated, standing, barbell, dumbbell, machine, and so on.

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Gabe Johansson

Man. Husband. Father. Black coffee enjoyer. On a mission to help 1000s get in shape. Get free newsletter + fat loss guide + community: https://GainsWithGabe.com