Random thought: One armed pushups

**Steel_UK** · January 9th, 2009, 07:18 PM

I've just given one armed pushups another try, I'm still a bit confused on how people can do this.

I can do deep suspended pushups on chains and with my body in a steep decline position, same for incline and on the flat. This is even after suffering fatigue from bench and other chest/shoulder exercises. So I would have thought that I'd have been able to at least control a descent on the one arm pushup if not push back up?

One very confused Englishman!

page19 · January 10th, 2009, 03:10 AM

I can not figure out how to balance such a movement no matter what I do

**TommuGuns** · January 10th, 2009, 08:44 AM

mate no matter how strong u are... u have no chance in doing it.

**Steel_UK** · January 10th, 2009, 08:59 AM

What's that supposed to mean? Because people obviously do it.

Or is mostly down to balance and gymnastic style stuff?

**A1food4U** · January 10th, 2009, 09:12 AM

The tendency is to set up like a natural push up then widen the space between feet and then lift up one arm. You must shift the torso and roll the shoulder so that the arm thats down is roughly under the center (not to the side) of the weight being moved (you) you need to form a triangle (imagine a line connecting points, from toe to toe to hand back to toe) the more developement you have in the shoulders, the harder this gets. Guys with track type bodies (muscled, lean but not massive) have the best odds for success. If you've been lifting a long time and have built mass through the shoulders this is gonna be really tough.

I agree with Tommu, it's not necessarily strength ....

**Steel_UK** · January 10th, 2009, 09:22 AM

That might explain some of it then, given that I have relatively developed shoulders given that I've been in powerlifting for a while now...

Is it down to flexibility then if the muscle mass has such an effect on a person's ability to perform the one armed pushup?

**TommuGuns** · January 10th, 2009, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel_UK

What's that supposed to mean? Because people obviously do it.

Or is mostly down to balance and gymnastic style stuff?

Yeah, its all about balancing body weight. You have to be really skinny to do a one arm push up. If your over 170 Lbs you pretty much have no chance in doing it.

I cant even control the decent of a one arm push up.. let alone push up.

**Steel_UK** · January 10th, 2009, 06:40 PM

I'm almost 200lbs, so by the sounds that rules me out too. Oh well.

**TommuGuns** · January 10th, 2009, 06:58 PM

yeah... eg. u could bench 400Lbs but i bet my balls u still would not be able 2 do a one arm push up.

**torofuerte** · January 10th, 2009, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommuGuns

Yeah, its all about balancing body weight. You have to be really skinny to do a one arm push up. If your over 170 Lbs you pretty much have no chance in doing it.

I cant even control the decent of a one arm push up.. let alone push up.

Dude, where do you get these numbers from?

Seriously dude.

I'm 170lbs and I have been able to do 15 to 20 one arm push ups on a good day, either with the hand or with the knuckles. Obviously the further the number of reps the lesser the quality on technique. I might have a video somewhere of this so that I can up'ed on youtube or something. I can do 7-8 now, but with some warming up and a few days I can get back to my previous numbers.

Furthermore, I've seen heavy weights in jiu jitsu, judo or wrestling doing one-arm push ups... with their fingers or knuckles. We are talking about mastodons athletes that walk over 200-250lbs. Gymnasts of all weights can do them as well. Some practitioners of Ashtanga/Power Yoga do them as well.

It's not a matter of weight. It is is a matter of strength and technique. A one-hand push up is nothing magical or strange. It's an exercise like any other. It just happens to be unilateral and that, like most gymanstic tricks, it recruits everything, from your neck to your groin.

People can't do them in general because they don't have the technique and also because, besides being a really cool feat of strength, it's not something that will have great payback outside of very specific sports. It does have its benefits, thought.

A person can be very strong, but suck with the bench press or squat for lack of technique. Same with the one-hand push up. Remember, strength is specific to the movement it gets trained to. You can have a good bench with elbows flared out but a sucky one with elbows tucked in (and viceversa). You can be good with 1RM squats, but mightily suck trying to squat for reps with what should be your 10RM (and viceversa).

So, weight is not a factor. That's a myth, like the myth that people over 220lbs cannot do pull ups (as if there weren't pple in the military of over 200lbs doing them by reps with 60+lbs of gear strapped on their backs.)

It is a matter of strength, and technique. More precisely, it is a matter of specificity. For bodybuilding, one-arm push ups won't do much, if we look at them strictly from a hypertrophy point of view. However, they build up your front delt and core strength to obscene levels. They have a lot of carry over to grappling and throwing sports like olympic put shot or disk throwing.

They are not necessary, but they are helpful for specific goals. Also, they are cool, and you can get those pesky "volunteering" exercise form critics that pester "health clubs" to shut the fuck up by dropping on the floor to do a set of them.

It is easier to train the ascend that the descend. It is counter intuitive, but it has to do with stress due to too slow a deceleration. If you look at powerlifters, you see them dropping on their squats and benches explosively. They save energy (and save their ligaments) by minimizing the negative as much as possible.

A one-hand push up might not be a power exercise, but it can be CNS intensive. So the same principle applies. Drop into the rep rather than controlling a slow descend. Better yet, use a gradual increase in ROM and perform the rep from the bottom up, without the negative.

Gradual One-Hand Push Up How-To

- Position yourself as if about to do a push up, with feet shoulder-width separated.

- Put a medicine ball right underneath your chest.

- Drop your weight on the ball, while keeping a straight body, as if doing planks.

- With your weight on the ball, put one arm behind your back... and push.

- With the push, push not only with your arm, but also with your core, your guts, your hips. If you are pushing with your right arm, twist your hip, just slightly and without moving your feet, twisting it against the floor. Put the hips into it, like a boxer would with an upper cut or a hook to the ribs.

The last part is what makes this exercise the good shit it is. It gets your guts to work. When doing the push, contract your guts, your glutes, your butt as if you were going to take a dump, and curl your toes if you can, pushing your body slightly forward.

Once you can do a few nonstop, then start by descending into the med ball. The descend should be quick, but it should not be like dropping your bodyweigth on the ball without control. Once you get the descend and ascend, replace the ball with something smaller, and then just the floor and you.

Unless you are suffering from a serious shoulder/shoulder blade injury, or have a serious muscular imbalance/weakness, you should be able to crank several one-arm push ups in a week or two. Seriously.

Repetition and frequency are king with this exercise. But also, be pragmatic with your time. If you have a busy schedule and are training with very specific goals, don't fret too much about getting this exercise down. It's just a nice physical trick.

**TommuGuns** · January 11th, 2009, 07:16 AM

strength has nothing to do with one armed push ups.

torofuerte u claim to be able to do 15-20 one arm push ups... video tape urself doing ten one arm push ups with a sign on your back saying "tommuguns"... and ill never post on this site again and transfer u $2000.

Deal??

Dont talk crap on this site mate... we are all here to help ppl.

page19 · January 11th, 2009, 09:43 AM

I'll be watching this thread to see where this goes.

**pliny_2001** · January 11th, 2009, 11:13 AM

Well, I come in at 215 lbs and can knock out at least 5 one-armed pushups. Is that good for $1000? (US or AUS - I'm easy

)

They aren't tough - if there's any trick, it's that placing your non-working arm on your leg can take some of the stress of your core from holding a plank position. I've seen a number of lifters fail miserably at them, but it's generally because they have no actual strength through their core, as well as no ability to fire their muscles in anything resembling non-weight-lifting athletics (i.e., guys who lift, but don't play sports).

My $.02

**tooncesthecat** · January 11th, 2009, 11:42 AM

YouTube - 25 one-arm push-ups after a "killer...

**tooncesthecat** · January 11th, 2009, 11:43 AM

This one is just incredible!

YouTube - 36 handstand 152 regular and 5 one...

**torofuerte** · January 11th, 2009, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TommuGuns

strength has nothing to do with one armed push ups.

torofuerte u claim to be able to do 15-20 one arm push ups... video tape urself doing ten one arm push ups with a sign on your back saying "tommuguns"... and ill never post on this site again and transfer u $2000.

Deal??

Dont talk crap on this site mate... we are all here to help ppl.

Deal. You'll have it in a few hours from now (13:01 Eastern Time).

ps. There are some other plyo push up variations I've done in the past to share with other MA afficionados at Bullshido.net (where I post by the user name of "Teh El Macho". Expect a video following the similar format with the same individual doing what you requested, on my knuckles (on a padded surface of course).

YouTube - jumping jack push ups

YouTube - explosive star push ups demo

**Steel_UK** · January 11th, 2009, 01:16 PM

This be getting interesting...

page19 · January 11th, 2009, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torofuerte

Deal. You'll have it in a few hours from now (13:01 Eastern Time).

Thread is about to deliver.

**torofuerte** · January 11th, 2009, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pliny_2001

Well, I come in at 215 lbs and can knock out at least 5 one-armed pushups. Is that good for $1000? (US or AUS - I'm easy

)

They aren't tough - if there's any trick, it's that placing your non-working arm on your leg can take some of the stress of your core from holding a plank position. I've seen a number of lifters fail miserably at them, but it's generally because they have no actual strength through their core, as well as no ability to fire their muscles in anything resembling non-weight-lifting athletics (i.e., guys who lift, but don't play sports).

My $.02

^^^ What he said in bold. Your $0.2 are worth a million.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel_UK

This be getting interesting...

Indeed my friend, indeed. The video is taking a bit longer. I have to disengage from this internet battle since I need to take care of my wife and my newborn baby.)

YouTube - My newborn daughter right out of Mom's...

I will have the requested one-hand pushups video sometime tonight, but I'll say this: I won't be magnanimous. I know that there is no way to enforce this bet, but I will take it seriously. I'm gonna rub the shit out of this on this dude until he learns not to make bets like this.

I have lots of diapers to buy, and $2000 US or AUS will do fine. It will also be a nice icying on the cake to see tommu departs as he promised, taking his retarded, illiterate postings with his highschoolish texting writing style with them. I will expect that he requests the mods of this website to perma-ban him so that he follows his promise.

Another way for him to pay on his debt without forking $2K or leaving this site is to create a new thread, titled "I talk crap", with the following text, verbatin, as-is and without any alterations therein:

"I'm tommuguns. I'm a retard. No. I'm a fucktard and a lump of bodybuilding nonsense steroidal shit-talking. I post shit that makes no sense. I don't know what I talk about. I can't tell the difference between "you're" and "your" using highschoolish "ur" as a shortcut for either.

Furthermore, I make challenges and bets that I cannot back up.

I'm making this thread to say I cannot pay $2000 dollars as promised, nor I'm willing to sign off this website because I lack the balls to do so.

Posters should link to this post whenever I post a retarded statement. The creation of this thread is a way to pay the bet without forking money nor signing off this website."

If he fails to deliver in either manner, I will fucking hunt every single fucking post he ever makes again on this website, regardless of the validity of its content. Furthermore, I will create a yougotowned.ytmnd.com page for him and registered with his user id as key to every single search engine I can think off. By the balls of Baal I'll do this.

My part of this bet: If I fail to deliver the video as requested by tommuguns, I will alter my sig to link to this thread and the bet I lost. Then I'll ask the mods to perma-ban my account so that I can never post again here. Also, I will alter my signature in bullshido.net (where I'm a forum moderator) linking to this failure of mine to deliver on a bet) so that everyone over there will see I talked shit and did not deliver.

Outside of this bet, besides the promised video, I promise I will attempt two other videos. One doing the same knuckle one-hand push ups either without padding or with several metal chains hanging to my neck.

The second video will be a description of the limited ROM-method I previously described to build one's arm push up. This second video I will do to answer tommugun's assertion that everyone here, and him in particular, post stuff to help people. This will be far more tangible help than anything he has done as of late.

Now that I've posted this caffeine-fueled testament, I'm off to take care of diapers and later to make the video(s) I've just promised herein.

Tommuguns, get ready to fork $2000 for my diaper expenses.

**JoeBAR** · January 11th, 2009, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pliny_2001

Well, I come in at 215 lbs and can knock out at least 5 one-armed pushups. Is that good for $1000? (US or AUS - I'm easy

)

They aren't tough - if there's any trick, it's that placing your non-working arm on your leg can take some of the stress of your core from holding a plank position. I've seen a number of lifters fail miserably at them, but it's generally because they have no actual strength through their core, as well as no ability to fire their muscles in anything resembling non-weight-lifting athletics (i.e., guys who lift, but don't play sports).

My $.02

I'm pushing the 224 lbs and can knock a couple of reps too, either side. My favourite is to start off the floor, to make sure it actually count as a full rep

I agree it has more to do with balance than sheer strength: I can't bench 405lbs.