diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-current-testthat-dev-versions.yaml b/.github/workflows/check-current-testthat-dev-versions.yaml
index 4899143bb..ea4bc6f04 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check-current-testthat-dev-versions.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-current-testthat-dev-versions.yaml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
 on:
   push:
-    branches: '**'
+    branches: [main]
   schedule:
     # also run a schedule everyday at 1 AM.
     # this is to check that all dependencies are still available (see R/zzz.R)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-old-tinytest.yaml b/.github/workflows/check-old-tinytest.yaml
index 4ad26b4b3..f6f97c3a5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check-old-tinytest.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-old-tinytest.yaml
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@
 
 on:
   push:
-     # only run after a git push on any branch in this repo
-    branches: '**'
+     # only run after a git push on the main branch
+    branches: [main]
 
 name: check-old