One Hand Push Ups: You Can Do This

If you grew up in the 70’s like I did, you probably watched Rocky in a movie theater while eating a monster bucket of popcorn. And what do you remember about that movie? You remember Sylvester Stallone doing those explosive one hand pushups. And you thought, Man I wish I could do that.

Well you can. If you’ll stop wishing and get to work.

Push Up Plank
So what if you’ve never cranked out a single decent pushup? Or you haven’t attempted one in years? How are are you ever going to reach one hand Stallonedome? You can begin by mastering the push up plank. This fundamental exercise will strengthen your core and start to engage all the muscles that are involved in doing a good form push up.
To start, get on hands and knees with your feet together and your hands just a little wider than your shoulders. Now lift your knees off the ground and lock your arms. Your shoulders, butt, and feet should form a straight line to the floor. You’ll need to flex your abdominals to keep your back straight. At the same time, you’ll feel your shoulders, triceps, and chest working to keep your torso elevated. All of these muscles work together in the pushup. By practicing your plank, your strengthen those muscles and improving the mind/muscle connections necessary for good form push ups.
Now here’s your first assignment: practicing holding that plank position until you stay rock steady for at least 30 seconds. Once you’ve hit that milestone, you’ll be ready to move on the next exercise in your progression.
The Push Up
You've been working on your push up plank. And you can hold it steady without shaking and wobbling for 20 to 30 seconds. It's time to move into a good form push up. Let's go over the basics. You start with the push up plank. Then lower your body by bending your elbows. Be careful not to flare your elbows out to the side. Keep them pulled in tight, go straight down, touch the floor, and push back up. That's one good form push up. If at the beginning you can't complete the full range of motion, at least try to bend your elbows 90 degrees and come back up. But your goal is 20 to 30 reps with good form. And then you'll be ready to move on to the next exercise in your progression.
The Diamond Push Up
The next movement in your progression is called the Diamond Pushup. You start by putting your hands in a diamond shape - thumbs and forefingers touching. Place your hands on the floor directly beneath your chest. Begin the movement by balancing yourself right over top of your hands. Keep your feet a little bit of a wider than you would in a standard push up in order to maintain balance. And, once again, bend your elbows, trying to touch your chest to your hands, and then drive back up.
The Side to Side Push Up
You're getting much closer to the goal of one hand push ups. Once you can do a 20 second plank, 20 to 30 good form push ups, and 20 to 30 diamond push ups, you have one more movement to master before attempting the one hand push up: the side to side pushups.
Once again, start in the push up plank position, but move your hands wider than your shoulders. Then you will roll your body down on your right hand, drive back up until your body is centered over both hands and roll down on your left hand. Work until you can complete 10 pushups on each side of your body.
The One Hand Push Up
Cue the Rocky music. It’s time to move to one hand push ups.
The plank you’ll use for is much different than your standard pushup plank. Because, number one, all your weight is going to be bearing down on one arm. Number two, the legs have got to be wider than your shoulders to maintain balance.
Once you’re comfortable in this pIank positions, slowly roll your body towards your right arm, push back up, reverse arms, and then slowly roll your body towards your left arm, and drive back up. And that is how you achieve the one hand push up.

Stick with It

Bruce Lee said that Long term consistency trumps short term intensity. Stick with this plan, you'll hit your goal. I’ve embedded a video in this post as well.

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