Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Health & Fitness
  3. News

TikTok’s Left-Right Push-Up Challenge Has User Cores Burning

Fitness can be a motivational challenge. Morning are mornings and evenings are, well, evenings. Just getting out of bed or just easing down from work, many people find it challenging to drive to a gym or suit up to play sports. Need a push? How about a challenge? Specifically, how about a TikTok challenge that already has 900 million views?

What is this ultra-popular pop-up? Why the Left-Right Push-Up Challenge, named after the song that inspired it. How do you do it? Does it work? Read on to find out. 

Recommended Videos

Traditional push-ups are beneficial for building upper body strength. They work the triceps, pectoral muscles, and shoulders. When completed with proper form, push-ups also strengthen the lower back and core muscles by engaging (pulling in) the abs. The problem with typical push-ups, however, is twofold. One, practitioners tend to plateau, thus reducing the efficacy of the exercise. And two, the traditional up-down of a push-up lacks diversity and thus fails to engage critical micro-muscles.

An alternative to normal push-ups, the push-up challenge allows you to work additional muscles in order to achieve a full-body workout. Paired with the song, Grab Da Wall & Rock Da Boat — created by 504 Boyz and Weebie — the challenge also engages participants by asking them to break a sweat to the music’s beat, thus providing a perfect distraction from exercise to focus on actually completing the challenge. 

To begin, simply set yourself up into a push-up position. Then, once the lyrics say “left, right,” release one arm and touch your other shoulder, and repeat that on each side two times. Next, as the rhythm speeds up, do a set of mountain climbers (running from left-to-right foot in a push-up position — a killer workout for your entire core, abs and obliques included. Finally, once the chorus drops, do push-up jacks — push-ups with arms and upper body combined with a jumping-jack motion with the feet. Got you sweating just thinking about it, right?

Related Guides

The Left-Right Push-Up Challenge offers an excellent full-body workout that works a diversity of muscles that can level-up (or down) and differentiate as people want. Check out the now thousands of TikTokkers flipping the push-up challenge on its head. 

Whether it’s doing them while inverted against a wall, hopping between boxes, or simply with beer cans, there’s something in the Left-Right Push-Up Challenge for everyone. Putting your push-up challenge results out for the social media/TikTok world to see is, of course, up to you. Check out the video below if you’re looking for some inspiration and/or direction. 

Watch Now

Read More: Walmart Is Practically Giving Away These Adjustable Dumbbells

Matthew Denis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Tired of shaky workouts? Meet the MERACH UltraWalk W60 Plus – a walking pad built to last
Animal, Canine, Dog

Finding time to exercise is hard enough. The last thing you need is fitness equipment that feels unstable, sounds like it’s about to fall apart, or struggles to keep up with your pace. Yet that’s exactly what many budget walking pads deliver. Lightweight frames, noisy motors, and limited performance often turn what should be an enjoyable workout into a frustrating experience.

The MERACH UltraWalk W60 Plus aims to change that. Instead of simply offering another compact walking pad, MERACH has built a treadmill-grade under-desk fitness machine designed for long-term reliability, stability, and everyday convenience. Whether you’re walking while working, squeezing in a quick cardio session, or looking to stay active without leaving home, the W60 Plus is engineered to make movement feel effortless.

Read more
From wheelchair to walking: The power of mindset, movement, and never giving up
Steph Zee Christmas Secret Music Video Steph Green

I never expected I’d have to learn how to walk again. That journey took me from writing for doctors and magazines to spending thousands of hours researching health and autoimmune disease. When we have excellent health, many of us don’t give it much thought until those sneaky symptoms start to show, and one day it all comes crashing down. Now, our health becomes one of the most important priorities. When we feel good, we can be more productive and chase our dreams. When our health declines and we don’t feel so good, one of our biggest dreams is just to feel better. 

I became a health writer 12 years ago, shortly after graduating with my creative writing degree and getting a diagnosis of the autoimmune bone condition, ankylosing spondylitis. In an effort to improve my health, stay mobile, and help prevent my bones from calcifying and fusing, I spent thousands of hours studying everything from nutrition and naturopathy to conventional medicine and holistic healing. I heard this somewhere, so I can’t take credit, but I like to say I went to “save my ass university”, because pain and illness are some of the biggest motivators.

Read more
I tried Magic Mind for a month and here is what happened to my productivity
Furniture, Business Card, Paper

I am proudly an all-brown beverage man. I say it often: I am coffee in the morning, bourbon in the evening, and Pepsi/Coke in between. I know what you’re thinking: What about water? Well, all of those are mostly water. And who wants to drink the same thing they bathe in? That sounds gross. All jokes aside, the coffee addiction is real, and I am not alone. Who thinks they can truly conquer a day without a hard shot of caffeine? I would get it in an IV if it were feasible to do on the subway instead of a cup to go. But that doesn’t have to be the only way you develop your productivity. Instead, you can look to the more natural and healthy methods to maintain and increase your effectiveness. I got my hands on some Magic Mind recently, one of the many different products that claim to elevate brain health, increase mental performance, and, of course, replace the coffee without losing the energy boost. But does it work?

The scientific hoolah

Read more