Can anyone here do a one-arm push up?

[The_Reaper]

I can't. I can lower myself down...but I just can't push myself back up.

What's the best way to train for this?

[skarotum]

I'm pretty sure most of us are ok with the lowering portion. lol I've never failed at hitting the ground.
Never been able to do it, even when I had an amazing strength to weight ratio. Sure as hell couldn't do it right now.

[jxd]

I can do it if I spread my legs wider than shoulder width, otherwise I just fall over.

[microrahsheen]

Depends on your definition. I can do one the same as jxd, though. Legs wider than shoulders

[Avila]

I can't. I can lower myself down...but I just can't push myself back up.

What's the best way to train for this?

its a combination of balance, coordination and some strength.
Spread your legs wider, strengthen your shoulders and triceps. Work with dumbbells.

you could try to do knee pushups with one hand, aka girl pushups with one hand... and when you can do it, advance to regular 1 hand pushups.

I personally do not see the benefit or the point of one handed pushups besides showing off to weaker friends or at parties... but some may disagree.

good luck with the pushups.

[kev120782]

its a combination of balance, coordination and some strength.
Spread your legs wider, strengthen your shoulders and triceps. Work with dumbbells.

you could try to do knee pushups with one hand, aka girl pushups with one hand... and when you can do it, advance to regular 1 hand pushups.

I personally do not see the benefit or the point of one handed pushups besides showing off to weaker friends or at parties... but some may disagree.

good luck with the pushups.

I think everyone pretty much answered ur question. I also have to widen my leg stance further than my shoulders. Also, I dont see any benefit from it either, unless you can do both your right and left, it may be a good tricep exercise, otherwise its just showing off.

[DontRevMe]

I can, and the only reason i know is because i was dared at a party. Id guess the best exercise to achieve this is heavy DB press, or try single arm pushups on a bench.

[tmacadam]

Much like everyone else said, I can do it, but only with my legs wider than my shoulders.

[hockeyplaya13]

From everything I've read about them, they are really bad for your shoulders because of the incredible amount of stress put on them. I can't seeing it doing any harm if you do it once and awhile to show off, but I wouldn't advise doing them regularly or as part of your workout.

[Fluery]

You can start doing them on an incline, ie lean against the bar so you make a 45 degree angle with the floor.

[THE_TRUTH86]

i can if my legs are spread wide like a Rocky push-up

[UTMatt]

As far as the strength, yes, easily. But I can't hardly balance myself, so I just fall over.

[Quarter Nelson]

With my feet touching each other, I can do 3 or 4. If I spread them just a bit it becomes so much easier, I can do 20+ Hard as hell though, they really make you feel out of breath.

As far as shoulder problems, I've actually done a lot of 1-handed push-ups in the past, and I had no problems. Bench is worse for my shoulders than 1-handed push-ups.

[Coppatop]

Yes, several. Try spreading your feet out a little -- my biggest issue was balance and this helped a lot.

[The_Reaper]

Is anyone else having trouble with bb.com??

This post, and 2 others, are the only ones I can access!

[rock201]

What's more impressive is a one arm pullup!

[xXxoSNOWoxXx]

It is more about form than anything. You have to know how to do one. Go to youtube and look it up, there are plenty of videos out there explaining how to do it.

[The_Reaper]

Is anyone else having trouble with bb.com??

This post, and 2 others, are the only ones I can access!

bump

[ericatkent2]

nah i cant.....but when i do push-ups i push off the ground and land my hands in a different position. I saw some dude at my gym doin that and its pretty intense. youtube calesthenics kingz and youll see some dudes who are crazy at pushups.

My buddy got back from marine boot camp and I asked if he had to do a million pushups like you see in movies and whatnot and he said "No, instead they made us hold the pushup position for as long as 45 minutes sometimes." I was impressed by that.....that is much harder than one handed pushups IMO

[pickupstix60]

one-handed pushups are primarily technique. I have a **** upper body and can do a few of them.


Putting your feet out wider makes it easier.

[Anatomic]

I'm pretty sure most of us are ok with the lowering portion. lol I've never failed at hitting the ground.
Never been able to do it, even when I had an amazing strength to weight ratio. Sure as hell couldn't do it right now.

fatass.

[ericatkent2]

fatass.

eat ****.

[lostdaytomorrow]

When I do them my body curves quite a bit to the side but they don't seem to difficult when you get down the leverage angle the right way. Also, my feet are wider than shoulder width of course. It does wreck your shoulders though so I wouldn't recommend high reps or high frequency.

[Grimalkinboy]

I can't. I can lower myself down...but I just can't push myself back up.

What's the best way to train for this?

The best way would be working on body coordination. The bench press is just your arms and chest, the one handed pushup involves more muscle groups, which makes it awkward for the body because it isn't used I doing it.

like a lot of people said before, spread your legs out a lot and do it then you can gradually get strong enough to bring your legs together and preform a true one handed pushup ( feet together, straight body, one hand and no twisting in any way while going down and up)

If you can't do a pushup with spread legs, then you should do diamond pushups with weight on your back and move up to doing a one handed pushup

[WillGoesBoing]

I can do 3 good ones with my legs spread apart farther than my shoulders. You have to put your non-dominant hand behind your back when you do it. It takes a tremendous amount of tricep strength.

Seeing how in another thread a bunch of bros were claiming they can do weighted dips with +90 - 135lbs I don't see why so little people are able to do a one handed pushup.

[-Lucifer]

Probably. What's the point of it, though? You trying to impress some chick/your friends?

[GeneralSerpant]

Probably. What's the point of it, though? You trying to impress some chick/your friends?

He was trying to impress you.. Apparently, it didn't work.

[cdegn]

Can do 3-4 per arm on a good day (in a row)

The way I trained for it was by keeping one arm close to my body (where I would later place my single hand) and move the other out wider and wider (progressively)
This helps to place more weight on the single arm, and works even better when you make a conscious effort to lean on the single arm.
It also helps to make a very tight fist with your other hand to aid in the tension created in your body. Tensing abs, glutes and legs with proper breathing will go a long way in helping you in the 'upward' phase of the movement.

I'd recommend reading The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline (hope I spelt that right); he teaches principles of creating tension in your body for the purpose of strength, especially in one-arm pushups and pistols (one-leg squats). Definitely helped me a lot.

[Schuyler13]

I can't. I can lower myself down...but I just can't push myself back up.

What's the best way to train for this?

Dear Reaper.

One hand push ups are more a problem of balance and coordination for someone with better than average strength and a good power-to-weight ratio (which you obviously have as evidenced by your statistics). One-hand push-ups involve VERY different muscles than regular push ups. While the pectoralis and triceps are worked, they mainly work the transverse abdominals, serratus, deltoids and other shoulder muscles and so require totally different muscle memory to become routine. CAUTION: The only people who should NOT do them are those with shoulder injuries as the asymmetrical position forces the shoulder into an unstable position. However, they are worth doing because they strengthen and tone the shoulders and waist which helps give you that "V" shape body builders want PLUS, because serratus protects the ribs and assists in respiration, you get that ripped look that boxers have which helps them take a punch to the ribs. You can avoid shoulder injuries by doing a warm-up set of partial one-hand push ups as mentioned below.

If you can CONTROL your descent when lowering yourself to the floor with one hand now, you'll have no problem doing complete one hand push ups. So Reaper, you just need to upload some muscle data to your brain.by doing the following:

PARTIAL one-hand push ups.

Start in the regular two-hand push-up position with both arms fully extended.

Next slightly flex one arm (the one that feels strongest) and lower your torso only as far as you can while still being able to raise yourself back to your starting position. If that's only a quarter of the way down or less don't worry! Remember it's all about balance and coordination because you already have the power.

Now repeat with the less strong side and do partial push ups alternating side-to-side doing 10 reps or more if you can. Each rep will input data into your brain and soon you will be able to lower yourself much further. Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

After 2 or 3 sets over a week or two you will be able to lower yourself all the way. You should start each session of 3 or more sets of 10 or more with a warm-up of 10 to 12 PARTIAL one-hand push-ups or three or fewer complete movements. It's best to do them on on days you don't work your chest. They go well with your aerobic work out since they are build endurance and help respiration.

Best of success.

Dr. Richard Schuyler, DC

[Zenshi]

Don't do them well but since I am doing bodyweight exercises as well as lifting, its part of the routine. Yeah, I have my legs wide as well or else I fall over.