Jeff Cavaliere’s goals in fitness extend beyond muscle building and power. In a recent YouTube video published on May 18, 2025, he broke down how to perform six push-up variations for upper body strength, flexibility, and mobility.
“There are variations of the push-up that I know you’re not doing right now that can have far-reaching benefits beyond just building up your upper body strength, meaning more flexibility and mobility.”
Cavaliere has become a trusted authority in the fitness sector. His science-based approach to fitness and bodybuilding, powered by his knowledge of biomechanics, makes his content both unique and effective. He’s leveraged years of experience helping others, bringing actionable advice and guides to his popular YouTube channel.
Jeff Cavaliere Shares 6 Push-Up Variations to Boost Strength, Flexibility, and Mobility
Find his push-up variations below, which were featured in his latest YouTube video:
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- Traditional Push-Up
- Superman Hand Release Push-Up
- Mike Tyson Push-Up
- Back Widow
- Divebomber Push-Up
- Teastand Push-Up
Traditional Push-Up
First, Cavaliere explained how to execute the traditional push-up more effectively, sharing how to engage the rotator cuffs with a hand release.
“Instead of just going halfway down or even three-quarters of the way down and guessing how far down you should go, go all the way down to the ground like this and perform a simple lift of the hands, what we call a hand release. That will take away the momentum that you might be using to your advantage.”
“If you engage those rotator cuff muscles with a simple hand release at the bottom, you can actually start to balance out the musculature of the shoulder to make sure you’re not developing bad posture,” he explains.
Superman Hand Release Push-Up
To reap benefits outside of upper body work, Cavaliere advocated for the Superman hand release push-up.
“Down, lift the hands up, build off that benefit of the first exercise, out in front of you, come back down lower. This hand release version in this superman position builds off the first exercise and gives you another option for more benefits besides upper body work.”
Mike Tyson Push-Up
For shoulder mobility, Cavaliere recommended the Mike Tyson push-up, which incorporates more of the lower body.
“You get into this position where you’re as deep into a squat as you can possibly be, whatever your hip joints will allow you to be, and you shoot your body out, straighten your legs out, and come down.”
“You’re going to push yourself back into this hip flexed position. What you’re getting at the same time, if you focus on the arms, it’s a flexed shoulder in this position with extension through that thoracic spine, which is that really important area of shoulder mobility.”
Back Widow
He likened the back widow variation to a supported crunch and explained that it can help engage all of the back muscles.
“While face-up, bend your knees and get your elbows just about 45 degrees away from horizontal. Tuck it down to about here. Push up with your elbows to try to engage all the muscles of your mid and upper back, a little in the low back too. You’re essentially doing a supported crunch, so you’re certainly going to engage the core too.”
“You’re almost going to rock your hands forward to help engage those muscles and lift and squeeze your body off the ground,” he adds.
Divebomber Push-Up
He said to start in a downward dog position for the divebomber push-up, emphasizing that it requires adequate hamstring and calf flexibility.
“Start in this downward dog position, which is going to require good hamstring flexibility and calf flexibility in order to keep your knees straight and get into this initial starting position.
Swoop yourself down to the ground and pretend there’s a fence [in front of you], your goal is to get your head under the fence peak at what’s going on the other side and try to sneak out without touching that fence.”
Teastand Push-Up
He outlined the difference between a regular push-up and a teastand push-up.
“We’re going to come down to do a regular push-up, the option to do a hand release is there, as we come up, we rotate to the top and try to point our fingers up to the sky,” he explains. “We’re not letting this sag, Keep this [the midsection] lifted.”
Cavaliere is dedicated to providing his fans with useful workout demonstrations. In a previous effort, he unpacked his ‘perfect’ science-based biceps blueprint to help his fans build bigger arms. It was an extensive project that involved two different workout setups.
As one of YouTube’s most popular fitness educators, Cavaliere’s content is packed with value. He believes these six push-up variations not only build the upper body but also lay the foundation for improving mobility and flexibility over time.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Shares His Most ‘Effective’ 100-Rep Science-Based Workout for a Wider Back
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