Incline Push-up (BOSU Ball)
The BOSU ball incline push-up is an intermediate upper-body exercise that targets the lower chest and triceps while challenging core stability. By placing your hands on the unstable dome surface, you increase rotator cuff engagement and demand greater balance than a standard bench push-up.
Iridium treats this unstable variation as a lower chest accessory, often programming it when your mid-chest shows high fatigue accumulation from recent flat pressing. Because performance fluctuates with body mass, the algorithm scales progression targets based on your current weight and previous RPE trends to ensure accurate overload detection.
Form Cues
- Grip the sides or top of the dome firmly with neutral wrists
- Squeeze your glutes and quads to create a rigid straight line
- Lower your chest slowly toward the center of the dome
- Exhale forcefully as you press away to full extension
- Keep your elbows tucked at roughly a 45-degree angle
- Don't let your hips sag toward the floor
- Don't flare your elbows out sideways to 90 degrees
- Don't bounce your chest off the BOSU ball
- Don't allow your shoulders to shrug up toward your ears
Common Mistakes
- Sagging hips or lower back arching
- Incomplete range of motion
- Excessive wrist rolling
- Fast, uncontrolled tempo
- Flaring elbows too wide
Muscles Worked
This exercise primarily strengthens the pectoralis major, with a specific emphasis on the lower fibers due to the incline angle. The unstable surface forces the triceps, anterior deltoids, and rotator cuff stabilizers to work intensely to maintain balance, while the core must fire constantly to prevent spinal extension.
Primary
Secondary
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