Exercise guide · Intermediate · Compound

Push-Up Inside Leg Kick: How to Do It & Muscles Worked

The push-up inside leg kick is a dynamic bodyweight exercise that combines a standard push-up with a lateral leg kick, targeting the glutes and engaging the core, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. It requires coordination, balance, and strength.

Primary muscles
Glutes
Equipment
Body Weight
Level · type
Intermediate · Compound
Demonstration of the push-up inside leg kick
Front view: muscles worked by the push-up inside leg kick. Primary: glutes. Secondary: hamstrings, abs, quads, obliques and calves.
Back view: muscles worked by the push-up inside leg kick. Primary: glutes. Secondary: hamstrings, abs, quads, obliques and calves.
Primary Secondary

How to do the push-up inside leg kick

  1. Step 1: Start in a push-up position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your feet together.
  2. Step 2: Lower your body towards the ground by bending your elbows, keeping your back straight and your core engaged.
  3. Step 3: As you push back up, lift one leg off the ground and kick it out to the side, keeping it straight.
  4. Step 4: Lower your leg back down and repeat the push-up, then switch to the other leg.
  5. Step 5: Continue alternating leg kicks with each push-up repetition.

Sets, reps and programming

Suggested sets, reps and rest for the push-up inside leg kick by training goal
Goal Sets Reps Rest Effort
Strength 3–5 3–6 3–5 min 1–3 reps in reserve
Muscle growth 3–4 6–12 2–3 min 1–2 reps in reserve
Muscular endurance 2–3 12–20 1–2 min 1–3 reps in reserve

Ranges follow the ACSM position stand on progression in resistance training. Muscle grows across a wide range of loads when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), longer rests between heavy sets support strength and size (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and stopping a rep or two short of failure works about as well as training to failure (Grgic et al., 2022). Estimate your working weights with the strength calculators.

Push-Up Inside Leg Kick alternatives

More exercises that train the glutes as their main target:

More glutes exercises

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Sources

  1. American College of Sports Medicine. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(3):687-708.
  2. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs. high-load resistance training. J Strength Cond Res. 2017;31(12):3508-3523.
  3. Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, Benik FM, et al. Longer interset rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(7):1805-1812.
  4. Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Orazem J, Sabol F. Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sport Health Sci. 2022;11(2):202-211.

Step-by-step instructions and demonstration media are from the ExerciseDB exercise dataset.

This guide is general fitness information, not medical advice. Stop if an exercise causes pain and speak to a doctor or physiotherapist about injuries or health conditions before starting a new programme.