1 Hand Pushups.

Are 1 hand pushups any good for you? I know it is sort of showing off, but it puts alot of weight on one side and its not too entirely ‘heavy’ so it could be a good workout. A few weeks ago I tried and finally got 1 one hand pushup. And a few days later i just tried it again and it was so easy i put out 10 and probably could have hit 15+ if i fought through it. I think my body adapted and programmed itself somehow and i could do it.

I was wondering if its dangerous for the back? Im not sure if i do it right, because everytime i do them, I can hear my lower back crack. Also, a few weeks ago i hurt my back, and im not sure what did it. But that was the same day i did those 1 hand pushups, but it was also the day i did box squats, for the first time off a bench but decently low weight.

What do you guys think? dangerous, good for you, show off, dont waste your time?

good for you…if you do them right.

about your back…do the pushups with your butt slightly sticking up/out and have entire body totally flexed (especially gut and back). this will eliminate the back problem.

if you can learn to do 1 leg, 1 arm pushups you’ll be working mainly tris and delts.

dont underestimate bodyweight exercises (how do you think animals get so beastly).

so when you are doing one hand pushups… is your body parallel to the ground as if you were doing regular pushups?

i think when i do then. i am twisted with the unsupported arm twisting under my body.

how do you do them?

Start with your feet wide.Go to 90 degrees of elbow flexion. Do not go deeper;bad for the shoulder. Like the others stated,it is an exercise in TOTAL body tension. If you cannot keep perfect form,then start on a stairway,4 or 5 stairs up. After you can do 5 comfortably for a week,5 days a week or so, then descend to a lower step. Stop 1 rep short of failure. Failure isnt always bad,but it is not neccessary for this exercise.1 arm push-ups, pistols and their like are perfect to practice as “skills” instead of as a regular part of a workout. Pavel Tsatsouline’s Naked Warrior and Power to the People books explain how to practice bodyweight and weighted exercises as skills. This way,you can “save” your normal hypertophy type training for normal workouts. If you dont want to buy those books,lemme know and I will tell you the protocols; you can find most of it on line for free. These are the kinds of combo routines I will use with clients. For example, GTG (synaptic facillitation) with 1 arm push ups,pistols, and pull ups almost daily and Staley’s EDT 3 days a week ,hard. Works for everybody so far. Good luck! zachariah