Overview
The Reformer Push-Up turns the footbar into a press platform: a full-body plank that travels with the carriage, combining shoulder stability, trunk control, and upper-body strength. It is the pressing counterpart to the pulling work (Seated Row, Arms Pulling Straps) and belongs late in a session once the core can hold a long line.
Setup
- A lighter setting to start (in our reference ladder: 1 Green or 1 Red); footbar down.
- Face away from the footbar in a long plank: hands on the footbar shoulder-width apart, feet on the carriage, body in one line from head to heels.
Key Teaching Cues
- Keep one long line from head to heels — no sagging or piking.
- Draw the shoulders away from the ears and spread the fingers wide.
- Exhale to press the carriage away into full extension, inhale to lower the chest toward the footbar with control.
Common Faults
- Sagging the hips or piking at the top of the press.
- Flaring the elbows and losing the shoulder-over-wrist stack.
- Craning the neck to watch the carriage.
- Rushing the press and bouncing off the footbar.
Variations
- Regression: lower the knees to the carriage to reduce the load through the shoulders and trunk.
- Progression: press with the feet in the straps (Long Stretch) or add a pike on the press-out.
- Safety: widen the hands and stop below a pain-free depth for shoulder impingement.
Programming Notes
Place the Reformer Push-Up late in the session, after the core can hold a long line and after the pulling block has prepared the shoulders. Five to eight presses with a controlled tempo are enough; pair it with Seated Row or Chest Expansion so the pressing never outweighs the pulling.