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Exercises

Bodyweight tricep exercises: push-ups and dips that train the back of the arm

Published October 19, 2026

The best bodyweight tricep exercises are the close-grip push-up, the bench or chair dip, the floor dip and, once you are strong enough, the parallel-bar dip. Narrow hands and tucked elbows move the push-up's work from your chest to your triceps, and every dip is a press where the triceps straightens your arms under your full body weight. Make them harder by raising your feet, slowing the lowering or moving to a one-sided version, and stop each set 0 to 2 reps short of failure.

  1. Close-Grip Push-Up Triceps, Chest
  2. Bench Dip Triceps
  3. Floor Triceps Dip Triceps
  4. Chest Dip Chest, Triceps
  5. Kneeling Push-Up Chest
  6. Pike Push-Up Shoulders
  7. Archer Push-Up Chest

Narrow push-ups: the main triceps builder

A push-up with your hands under your shoulders and elbows brushing your ribs puts the triceps in charge of the press. These three are the same movement at three difficulty levels: from your knees, full, and with your hands raised on a counter for when full reps run out.

Triceps, main bodyweight press

Close-Grip Push-Up

Triceps, Chest

Bringing your hands in under your shoulders and keeping your elbows tight to your sides turns the push-up into a triceps exercise. It is the one move on this page you can load through a whole program by changing hand height, tempo and reps.

How to do it

  1. Set your hands on the floor directly below your shoulders, fingers forward, and walk your feet back until your body is one straight line.
  2. Bend your elbows straight back along your ribs and lower until your chest is a fist's height from the floor.
  3. Push the floor away until your arms are fully straight, squeezing the backs of your arms at the top.
  4. Keep your hips level with your shoulders for every rep.

Cues

  • Elbows brush your ribs
  • Lock out every rep
  • Hips in line

Common mistakes

  • Letting the elbows flare out: that hands the work back to your chest.
  • Stopping short of straight arms: the last few degrees are where the triceps does the most.

Swap for: Kneeling Push-Up, Incline Push-Up, Archer Push-Up

Build a session with Close-Grip Push-Up

Triceps, entry-level push-up

Kneeling Push-Up

Chest

Pressing from your knees cuts the load to roughly half your body weight, so you can still get 8 to 20 good reps if full push-ups fail early. Keep your hands narrow and your elbows in, and it trains the triceps the same way.

How to do it

  1. Kneel on a mat and place your hands below your shoulders, then shift forward until your body forms a line from knees to head.
  2. Lower your chest toward the floor with your elbows traveling back, not out.
  3. Press back up until your elbows are straight.
  4. Keep your hips forward, not folded behind you, through the whole set.

Cues

  • Knees to head in one line
  • Elbows back
  • Full press

Common mistakes

  • Sticking the hips up in the air: that shortens the range and takes load off the arms.
  • Using it forever: once you pass 20 reps, move to the full close-grip push-up.

Swap for: Incline Push-Up, Close-Grip Push-Up

Build a session with Kneeling Push-Up

Triceps, adjustable push-up

Incline Push-Up

Chest

Putting your hands on a counter, table edge or sturdy box lowers the load, and the higher the surface, the easier it gets. It is the way to keep training to the right RIR after your floor push-ups give out mid-set.

How to do it

  1. Place your hands shoulder-width or a little narrower on a stable surface at waist to thigh height.
  2. Step back until your body is straight and leaning toward the surface.
  3. Bend your elbows back past your sides until your chest nearly touches the edge.
  4. Straighten your arms fully and repeat.

Cues

  • Narrow hands
  • Chest to the edge
  • Straight body

Common mistakes

  • Using a chair that can slide: brace it against a wall or use a kitchen counter.
  • Dropping the head toward the surface: lead with your chest.

Swap for: Kneeling Push-Up, Close-Grip Push-Up

Build a session with Incline Push-Up

Dips, from the floor to parallel bars

Dips load the triceps through a long range with nothing in your hands. Start on the floor, move to a chair or bench, and use bars when bench dips pass 20 clean reps.

Triceps, dip with no furniture

Floor Triceps Dip

Triceps

Sitting on the floor with your hands behind you and lifting your hips gives you a dip anywhere there is floor space. The range is short and the load is light, which makes it a good first dip and a high-rep finisher.

How to do it

  1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat, hands on the floor behind your hips, fingers pointing toward your feet.
  2. Push down through both hands so your hips rise a few inches off the floor.
  3. Bend your elbows straight back to lower your hips until they nearly touch down.
  4. Straighten your arms to lift back up, keeping your hips off the floor between reps.

Cues

  • Fingers toward your feet
  • Elbows point back
  • Hips hover

Common mistakes

  • Pushing with your legs: keep your feet light so the arms lift you.
  • Letting your shoulders shrug up to your ears: keep them pulled down.

Swap for: Bench Dip, Close-Grip Push-Up

Build a session with Floor Triceps Dip

Triceps, dip off a chair or bench

Bench Dip

Triceps

With your hands on a bench or a sturdy chair behind you and your legs out in front, you lower more of your body weight through a longer range than on the floor. Straighter legs make it harder.

How to do it

  1. Sit on the edge of a bench or chair that will not tip, hands gripping the edge beside your hips.
  2. Move your feet forward and straighten your legs, then slide your hips just off the seat.
  3. Bend your elbows to sink your hips until your upper arms sit roughly parallel to the floor.
  4. Press back up until your arms are straight.

Cues

  • Back close to the bench
  • Elbows straight back
  • Stop at parallel

Common mistakes

  • Dropping far below parallel: that strains the front of the shoulder without adding triceps work.
  • Drifting away from the bench: keep your back just in front of the edge.

Swap for: Floor Triceps Dip, Chest Dip

Build a session with Bench Dip

Triceps and chest, full body weight

Chest Dip

Chest, Triceps

On parallel bars your whole body weight hangs from your arms, which makes it the heaviest triceps exercise you can do without weights. Stay upright to keep the triceps in charge; leaning forward shifts it toward the chest.

How to do it

  1. Hold parallel bars, a dip station or two sturdy chairs set back to back, and press up to straight arms.
  2. Keep your torso fairly upright and sink down as your elbows bend back.
  3. Stop once your upper arms reach roughly parallel to the floor.
  4. Drive back up to straight arms.

Cues

  • Tall chest
  • Shoulders down
  • Lock out at the top

Common mistakes

  • Bouncing out of the bottom: pause briefly so the triceps starts each rep.
  • Starting here before you can do 15 bench dips: build up on the bench first.

Swap for: Bench Dip, Close-Grip Push-Up

Build a session with Chest Dip

Harder presses once push-ups get easy

When close-grip push-ups pass 25 reps, you need more load, not more reps. Shifting your weight onto one arm or pressing upside down raises the demand on each triceps without any weights.

Triceps, one arm loaded at a time

Archer Push-Up

Chest

With your hands set wide, you lower toward one hand while the other arm stays nearly straight, so the bending arm carries most of your weight. It is the step between a two-arm and a one-arm push-up.

How to do it

  1. Set your hands much wider than your shoulders in a full push-up position.
  2. Shift your weight to one side and lower your chest toward that hand, keeping the other arm long.
  3. Press back up through the working hand to the middle.
  4. Alternate sides, or do all reps on one side before switching.

Cues

  • Chest over the working hand
  • Other arm long
  • Elbow tight on the working side

Common mistakes

  • Bending both elbows equally: then it is a wide push-up, not an archer.
  • Rotating the hips: keep both hips facing the floor.

Swap for: Close-Grip Push-Up, One-Arm Push-Up

Build a session with Archer Push-Up

Triceps, hardest push-up

One-Arm Push-Up

Chest

One arm presses your whole upper body, so each triceps works against far more load than in any two-arm push-up. Start with your hand on a raised surface and lower the surface as you get stronger.

How to do it

  1. Spread your feet wide for balance and place one hand under your chest, the other behind your back.
  2. Brace your trunk and lower your chest toward your hand with the elbow tucked in.
  3. Press back up to a straight arm without twisting.
  4. Finish all reps, then switch arms.

Cues

  • Wide feet
  • Hips square
  • Elbow tucked

Common mistakes

  • Twisting your chest toward the ceiling to finish: raise your hand on a bench instead.
  • Feet too close together: widen them until you are stable.

Swap for: Archer Push-Up, Incline Push-Up

Build a session with One-Arm Push-Up

Triceps and shoulders, overhead press

Pike Push-Up

Shoulders

Raising your hips into an upside-down V turns the push-up into an overhead press. The shoulders do much of the work, but straightening your arms overhead also works the triceps, and it gives the sessions a press at a different angle.

How to do it

  1. From a push-up position, walk your feet toward your hands until your hips are high and your body is an upside-down V.
  2. Bend your elbows and lower the top of your head toward the floor just in front of your hands.
  3. Press back up until your arms are straight.
  4. Raise your feet on a step or chair to make it harder.

Cues

  • Hips high
  • Head toward the floor
  • Press to straight arms

Common mistakes

  • Letting the hips drop: that turns it back into a regular push-up.
  • Flaring the elbows straight out: keep them angled slightly forward.

Swap for: Close-Grip Push-Up, Handstand Push-Up

Build a session with Pike Push-Up

A finisher that keeps the triceps working

Moving from forearms to hands and back makes each arm straighten from a bent position dozens of times. It is lighter work, best at the end of a session.

Triceps endurance and trunk

Plank to Push-Up

Abs, Shoulders

Climbing from a forearm plank up to straight arms and back makes each triceps straighten the arm from a deep bend, rep after rep, while your trunk resists rocking. It suits the end of a session when you want a few more minutes of triceps work.

How to do it

  1. Start in a forearm plank with your elbows under your shoulders.
  2. Place one hand flat where its elbow was and press up, then the other, until both arms are straight.
  3. Lower one forearm back down, then the other.
  4. Switch the leading arm each rep.

Cues

  • Hips still
  • Hand where the elbow was
  • Switch the lead arm

Common mistakes

  • Rocking the hips side to side: widen your feet.
  • Rushing: smooth, controlled reps keep the arms working.

Swap for: Close-Grip Push-Up, Floor Triceps Dip

Build a session with Plank to Push-Up

Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

Floor space only, no furniture to use

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets19 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentBodyweight

You train in a small room, hotel or park with nothing to push off but the floor.

With only the floor, the close-grip push-up is the main lift, done from the knees for a back-off set when full reps fail. The floor dip adds a second triceps movement with no setup, and the pike push-up covers pressing overhead. Push-ups stop at 1 to 2 RIR because form breaks down quickly near failure; the floor dip goes to 0 because the range is short and safe. Each session is 9 to 10 sets.

Floor A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Close-Grip Push-UpHands under shoulders. 4 × 6–20 2 90 s
Floor Triceps DipHips hover between reps. 3 × 12–25 0 1 min
Kneeling Push-UpNarrow hands, elbows in. 2 × 10–20 1 1 min

Open Floor A in the session builder

Floor B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Pike Push-UpHips high. 3 × 6–15 2 90 s
Close-Grip Push-Up3 s down. 4 × 8–20 1 75 s
Floor Triceps Dip 3 × 15–30 0 1 min

Open Floor B in the session builder

How to run it
Run Floor A and Floor B on two non-consecutive days. Both take about 20 minutes.
How to progress
Add reps until every set reaches the top of the range. Then lower over three seconds. When the close-grip push-up passes 25 reps, swap it for the archer push-up.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

A sturdy chair or bench and a kitchen counter

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets16 a week
  • Per workout~15 min
  • EquipmentFlat Bench

You are at home with ordinary furniture, and full push-ups are still hard or you can do only a handful.

The bench or chair dip becomes the main lift because it trains the triceps through a long range at a load most people can manage for 8 to 15 reps. Incline push-ups on the counter let you press with narrow hands at a load you can control, and plank to push-ups finish the session. With fewer exercises and reps kept 1 to 2 short of failure, you can recover between sessions and add reps each week.

Home Triceps
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Bench DipChair against a wall. Stop at parallel. 3 × 8–15 2 90 s
Incline Push-UpHands narrow on the counter. 3 × 8–15 1 75 s
Plank to Push-UpCount each switch as one rep. 2 × 8–16 1 1 min
How to run it
One routine, twice a week, with at least two days between. Brace the chair against a wall before every set of dips.
How to progress
On the dip, straighten your legs further as reps climb. On the push-up, move from the counter to a lower table, then to the floor.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Dip bars or a park station, push-ups already easy

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~25 min
  • EquipmentDip Bar

You can do 25 or more close-grip push-ups and have access to parallel bars or two solid chairs.

At this level, extra reps no longer add much, so each pick raises the load per arm: full body-weight dips, archer push-ups that put most of your weight on one side, and one-arm push-ups on a raised surface. Rep ranges are lower than in the other plans because these are heavy. Dips and archer push-ups stop at 1 RIR to keep the shoulders fresh, and the session ends with close-grip push-ups to 0 for volume.

Dip Day
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Chest Dip1 warm-up set firstStay upright. 4 × 6–12 1 2 min
Archer Push-UpPer side. 3 × 5–10 1 90 s
Close-Grip Push-Up 2 × 12–30 0 1 min

Open Dip Day in the session builder

Push Day
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
One-Arm Push-UpPer arm. Hand raised as needed. 3 × 4–8 1 2 min
Pike Push-UpFeet on a chair. 3 × 6–12 1 90 s
Chest Dip3 s down. 3 × 8–15 0 90 s

Open Push Day in the session builder

How to run it
Two sessions a week: Dip Day and Push Day, at least 48 hours apart. Warm up with one easy set of close-grip push-ups.
How to progress
When dips pass 15 reps, slow the lowering to four seconds. Lower the hand surface for one-arm push-ups a few inches at a time.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

How do I get bigger triceps without weights?

Pick bodyweight exercises hard enough that you fail between 6 and 20 reps, take sets close to failure, and make them harder as you improve. In practice that means close-grip push-ups and dips, moving to archer and one-arm push-ups or bar dips once you pass 20 to 25 reps.

What is the best bodyweight tricep exercise?

The close-grip push-up for most people, because you can scale it from a counter to the floor to raised feet. If you have parallel bars and can do 15 bench dips, the bar dip puts more load on the triceps.

Can I train triceps every day?

You can do light push-ups daily, but the triceps grows best from hard sets with a day or two of rest between. Two or three sessions a week, about 8 to 16 hard sets in total, is enough for most people.

What are the most effective tricep workouts at home without equipment?

Pair one push-up and one dip in every session: close-grip push-ups with floor or chair dips. Add a third exercise, like the pike push-up, when you want more volume. The plans above are built that way for three setups.

Can flabby triceps be toned with bodyweight exercises?

Yes, in the sense that triceps exercises build the muscle under the skin, which makes the back of the arm firmer. How much fat sits over it depends on overall body fat, not on which exercise you do.

Are bench dips bad for your shoulders?

Not for most people if you stop with your upper arms parallel to the floor and keep your back close to the bench. Going much deeper is what usually causes pain.

How do I build triceps with only dumbbells?

Use overhead extensions, skullcrushers and kickbacks, and keep close-grip push-ups in the mix. Our dumbbell tricep page covers those with three plans.