Exercise library

How to do the Butt-Ups

A beginner compound exercise using bodyweight, working the abdominals.

Primary musclesAbdominals
Secondary musclesNone recorded
EquipmentBodyweight
LevelBeginner
TypeCompound
ForcePull

Steps

  1. Begin a pushup position but with your elbows on the ground and resting on your forearms. Your arms should be bent at a 90 degree angle.
  2. Arch your back slightly out rather than keeping your back completely straight.
  3. Raise your glutes toward the ceiling, squeezing your abs tightly to close the distance between your ribcage and hips. The end result will be that you'll end up in a high bridge position. Exhale as you perform this portion of the movement.
  4. Lower back down slowly to your starting position as you breathe in. Tip: Don't let your back sag downwards.
  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the butt-ups to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.