Back in Navy Dive School the instructors used these pushups to burn our arms out at any given time during a PT session. Doing any kind of pushup (especially Dive Bombers!) after a long set of Diamonds brought a whole new level of discomfort to the experience. It was something that I learned about in Dive School and it's something that the participants in my classes get to experience as well.

The only problem I had when doing these was that our instructors wanted us to make "diamonds" with our hands, which meant that thumbs and first fingers were touching (so it looks like a pyramid). Keeping my hands in this position forced my elbows straight out from my body and I felt it more in my shoulder joint than anywhere else until I tucked my elbows in towards my body. Of course, this caused my hands to break open and I just continued to do them in this manner ever since.

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Here is the hand position for Diamond Pushups (pic. 1). Look closely at the picture because that is where your hands go! For some reason when I say "hands directly under your chest!" people put their hands directly under their face and flare their elbows out. My thumbs will touch my bottom rib and my elbows will stay in tight to my ribs.

Do not flare your elbows directly away from your body!

This is the Start Position (Pic. 1) for the Diamond Pushup. My hands are directly under my chest, head is up looking forward, legs are flexed, and my feet are spread to help maintain balance.

It's important that you keep your head up and your torso rigid while doing these. If you allow your core to relax and your head to drop, your abs will sway down towards the ground and over time that can lead to pain in your lower back. Try to imagine that you are laying on a plank of wood and that should keep everything from your shoulders to your heels in a straight line.

To execute the pushup, simply tuck your elbows back towards your hips. At the bottom position, the insides of your biceps should be touching your ribcage and your triceps should be just below parallel (Pic. 3). The bottom position is a good time to check the placement of your hands to make sure there is no discomfort in the wrists.

The action of tucking your elbows in to your body extends the triceps range of motion (as opposed to a regular shoulder-width pushup) and this gives the feeling of "isolating the tri's". Try different hand spacing until you feel it in the right "spots".

From the position in Pic. 3 simply push the Earth away from your chest and rise up to the Start Position.

You can find Diamond Pushups in my videos and in some of the free workouts.