Do pike push-ups work the lateral delts?

Pike push-ups are my favourite shoulder builder when I don’t have any equipment at hand!

Shoulder flexion is the movement on which there is most of the tension when pressing overhead.

When you think about it, an overhead press is like a front raise assisted with an elbow extension followed by an elbow flexion.

As a result, the main muscle that is being worked is the anterior deltoid such as for the overhead press.

The triceps and upper traps are also going to assist the anterior deltoid during the exercise.

The lateral deltoid is going to receive some work but pike push-ups are far from being the best movement to build this head.

Your lateral deltoids are active isometrically to maintain a stable position!

However, isometric contractions are the least hypertrophic type of muscle contractions:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00004/full

“We conclude that DRT was more effective than IRT on increasing cross-sectional area, but not muscle strength, in parallel to improved blood glucose, inflammatory status, and redox balance.”

The good news is that the lateral deltoid is not a very strong muscle and there is no need to use really heavy weights to develop this head.

Consequently, you can fill a bag with books or other objects and perform one-arm lateral raises.

This would be more effective at building the lateral deltoid than pike push-ups!