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Old Forum Progressions for the One Arm/One Leg Push UP

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Kelvin_D_Smith

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Hello Strong First Community.  I have a 10 week window to prepare for the Bodyweight Instructor Certification.  I wanted to know if anyone could recommend any books or dvd's I could purchase, that would outline and demonstrate the proper progressions for the One Arm/One Leg Push Up requirement?
 
Naked Warrior. I have the book, but I hear the video is really good, and offers some helpful nuances.
 
I worked up to the OAP by starting them on a wall and moving down inclines (back of a chair, back of a sofa, etc...) until eventually I was on the floor. I did this gtg style from naked warrior and found the progress ridiculously quick.
 
The best use for a smith machine is practicing one arm push-ups. You can lower the elevation to make them harder as you go. Of course, like Jon said there are other ways too, stairs are a good one, because they have consistent heights. If you start by doing push ups on the third stair, and work down to the first, you've gotten stronger.

Never saw the Naked Warrior DVD, but the book is superb. Also good tutorial over on <a title="tutorial" href="http://www.beastskills.com/one-arm-pushup/">Beast Skills</a>.
 
Lever pushups--i.e. your non working arm extended. Start with your hand flat on a block or low stair step, and progress to your fingers, then fingertips, then start taking fingers away. A solid set of 3-5 with 2 fingers assisting will give you at least one good one-arm pushup.

In my experience, this is more specific than using an incline and decreasing over time. There are plenty of other progressions as well... partials, band-assisted, etc.

If you can get close, chances are you'll nail your first good one at the cert itself.

 
 
The lever push up is a great suggestion. They work really well if you have access to a ball, any kind; medicine ball, basketball, soccer ball etc. You place the "off" hand on top of the ball and allow the ball to roll off to the side while keeping that arm straight, as you lower down. Placing most of your weight on the bent arm, press yourself back up while returning the ball. Sort of hard to describe, <a title="Lever Push Up" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgS-SRHS7wI">HERE'S</a> a video.

The one problem with lever push ups is that they are much, much more stable than true one arm attempts, I've known people who can do 20 lever push ups, but don't have the necessary tension to perform even one arm negatives. They are good for volume, but you want to make sure to include other progressions too, negatives and ISO holds definitely helped me to work on the groove.
 
^That's true. Now that you mention it, I did a lot of one arm and one arm/one leg planks in addition to the lever PUs to get my first solid one-armers.

Also, something that was stressed at the SFB--specificity. You have to practice the exact OAPU groove even when doing a progression that is much more stable.
 
Great advices here!

I did lot of mixing one-arm and one arm/one leg pushup planks, with some izoholds at bottom position with finger assist on other hand. That was day one. On the second day did few sets of lever pushups and one-arm/one leg with hand elevated.

By the way i notice that when i am trying to do strict OAP, the leg have tendency to rise to OAOLP. Is it normal?
 
If you're doing a strict OAP then almost all of your weight is going to be on that contralateral leg, due to the cross-tension. Not at all uncommon for the other leg to leave the ground. OAOLP are a lot flashier, but not that much harder than standard OAP. IMHO that is.
 
This Aleks Salkin article helped me get the OAPU. The 5 second one arm plank at the bottom position was the key.

http://www.strongfirst.com/from-bodyweight-to-heavy-weight-part-1-mining-the-one-armone-leg-pushup-for-a-heavier-military-press/
 
^ Yeah if you do them right OAOLPU isn't all that much harder... Jon Engum actually said that OAOLPU was easier than OAPU for him for a while, and I've experienced the same thing.
 
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