This years fitness goal was to be able to do a one-leg squat (or pistol squat). After much work on this I am now proud to say that I can do 2 full reps on both legs. It’s still tough as guts though. I’ll write a separate post on how I achieved this later.

My next goal is to do something that I have also wanted to do for a long time, a one arm push up. Just one good solid repetition and I would be happy.

I’ve done a bit of research and so far I’ve found 3 good methods for learning the one arm push up.

The days of 2 arm pushups are numbered

Method 1: Pavel Tsatsouline

The Naked Warrior is one of my favourite books in my fitness book arsenal. It’s very simply laid out with plenty of pictures and great exercise descriptions. Pavel’s witty sense of humour about Soviet training techniques also make this book a good read.

Inside this book Pavel shares his technique on the one arm push up. He suggests adjusting the inline of the pushup. So start off doing a one arm pushup on the wall, then a desk, then a bench, then a low step and then the ground.

Each time you increase the difficulty start by just performing the exercise through the eccentric (or negative/lowering) portion. Include isometric holds at regular intervals. For example, on the way from the top of the motion to the bottom, stop at five sticking points and hold for 10-20 seconds. Relax, reposition yourself at the beginning again and repeat. Check out The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline if you’re interested in learning more bodyweight resistance exercises.

Method 2: Rusty Moore

I’m not sure if Rusty came up with this method of progressing to the one arm push up himself or if he found it elsewhere. Either way it looks like a solid technique.

Rusty recommends first being able to master close grip push ups. This gives you the tricep strength to be able to begin learning one arm push ups. For the next step I’ll quote him directly:

One Arm Assisted Push Ups With Basketball: You can use a medicine ball if you have that available as well. What you are going to do here is put as much weight as possible on the hand that is on the ground and another hand on a basketball. Use the had on the basketball to assist you on the way up and the way down. As you get stronger, place that basketball further out to the side of your body away from the center. The further out the ball gets from your body, the less you can assist that working arm. Once you can do 2 sets of 15 reps per arm with very little assistance, it is time to move on to one arm push ups unassisted.

That is without a doubt one of the more clever exercise progressions that I have seen. You can always swap out the basketball for a medicine ball or even something as simple as a step.

Method 3: Peter Carvell

I’m pretty sure this guy is selling something, but this quick 2 minute video gives you full progressive exercises on your way to one arm pushups. Definitely worth a look.

Here is another video I found on Youtube that made me laugh. The guy is in great shape but he spends the full 3 minute video catching his breath from a few 1 arm pushups. This is not how we want to be guys!

I think I’ll use a combo of all three to take small yet often progressions to my ultimate goal. Can you do a one hand pushup? How did you get there?

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