Push-ups vs squats in the morning: which should you choose?

If you want to move first thing in the morning, two bodyweight exercises need no kit, no gym and almost no space: the push-up and the squat. They're also the two movements Wakeletics counts. So which one should be your morning move?

The short answer

Choose squats if you're starting out, if someone is still asleep in the room, or if your bedroom is dark when the alarm goes off. Choose push-ups if you want to work your upper body and you have a bit of floor. And if you can't decide, alternate: the two cover different halves of the body.

The best morning exercise is the one you'll actually do while you're still half asleep. Everything below is about making that choice well.

What each one works

The push-up is an upper-body push. The main muscles are the chest, the front of the shoulders and the triceps at the back of the arm. Because you hold a plank the whole time, your stomach muscles work too. A lab study comparing push-up variations with the bench press measured all of these, and found that the chest, the front of the shoulder and the serratus muscles along the ribs worked hardest in the stable versions, such as a push-up on the floor (Calatayud et al., 2014).

The squat is a lower-body movement. The thighs and the glutes do most of the work, and your back and stomach keep your upper body upright on the way down and up. It is the movement you use every time you sit down and stand up again, which is part of why it feels manageable early in the day.

Neither one covers everything. The WHO recommends muscle-strengthening activity that involves all major muscle groups on two or more days a week (Bull et al., 2020). Push-ups on some days and squats on others gets you closer to that than either one alone.

Push-ups

Chest, shoulders, triceps, and the core holding the plank

Needs a body's length of floor

Harder for most beginners: 5 good reps is a fair start

Phone on the floor, in front of your head

Squats

Thighs and glutes, with the back and core keeping you upright

Done standing, in about a square metre

Easier to start: 10 to 15 is a fair first target

Phone at waist-to-chest height, about 2 m away

Five things that decide it at 6 AM

1. How hard it feels when you're half awake

Most people can do more squats than push-ups. That's why the rep targets in Wakeletics start lower for push-ups (5, 10, 15 or 20) than for squats (10, 15, 20 or 30), and why Wakeletics starts you on squats: 15 of them, unless you change it. A first morning that goes well is worth more than an ambitious one that doesn't happen.

2. Space and noise

A squat needs the floor space you're already standing on. A push-up needs room to lie out at full length, which in a small bedroom can mean moving something first. Squats are also the quieter choice: there's no getting down to the floor and back, which matters if someone else is still asleep.

3. Your back in the morning

Your spine is a little different just after a night lying down: the discs between the vertebrae hold more water, and in a classic study, forward bending stressed them noticeably more early in the morning than later in the day (Adams et al., 1987). Neither exercise is a forward bend when it's done well. In a push-up your body stays straight, like a plank. In a squat, keep your chest up and your back straight rather than folding forward. If your back is sensitive in the morning, that's the thing to pay attention to. More on this in how many push-ups every morning.

4. Where the phone goes

If you use Wakeletics, the camera has to see you, so each movement has its own phone position:

• Squats: stand the phone at waist-to-chest height, about 2 m away, facing you. A shelf, a chest of drawers or leaning against a wall all work.
• Push-ups: put the phone on the floor in front of your head, screen facing you, about an arm's length away. You can watch the count go up as you go.

A standing person two metres away is also easier for a camera to follow in a dim room than someone close to the floor. If your room is still dark when the alarm rings and you don't want to switch the main light on straight away, squats are the more forgiving choice.

5. What you want from it

If you want visible upper-body strength, push-ups are the obvious choice. If you want something you can do on any morning, in any room, in any state, squats are hard to beat. Both are equally good at the job that matters most here: getting you out of bed and moving.

Or do both

You don't have to pick one for good. Each Wakeletics alarm has its own exercise, so you can set squats for weekdays and push-ups for the weekend, or switch now and then. One of the weekly challenges, Double Up, asks for exactly that: squats and push-ups in the same week. This week's challenges are here.

The short version

• Squats: easier to start, quieter, need almost no space, and the phone can stand on furniture. Thighs and glutes.
• Push-ups: harder for most people, need floor space, and the phone goes on the floor. Chest, shoulders and arms.
• Both: the WHO recommends working all the major muscle groups. Alternating gets you closer.
• In the morning, keep your back straight in both, and start with a number you're sure you can do.

Sources

Calatayud J, Borreani S, Colado JC, Martin F, Rogers ME. Muscle activity levels in upper-body push exercises with different loads and stability conditions. The Physician and Sportsmedicine. 2014;42(4):106–119. doi:10.3810/psm.2014.11.2097

Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2020;54(24):1451–1462. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2020-102955

Adams MA, Dolan P, Hutton WC. Diurnal variations in the stresses on the lumbar spine. Spine. 1987;12(2):130–137. doi:10.1097/00007632-198703000-00008