Bodyweight One-arm Divebomber Pushups

[David Whitacre]

The one-arm divebomber pushup seems to be sort of the redheaded stepchild of the bodyweight family here; why is that?

Is it made obsolete by handstand pushups, or is there a particular niche that it uniquely fills?

I’d love to hear peoples’ thoughts & opinions on this drill, its uses or lack thereof, or anything else!

 

[pet']

Hello,

@David Whitacre
This is a very difficult push up because you have to strongly engage your lats to avoid twisting. Plus, you also have to be very flexible and coordinated at the same time. It is also more demanding for the shoulder than the regular push up (or even the OA / OAOL PU). This is why this is such a difficult skill.

IMO, it is not obsolete because it rerquires strength, balance, flexibility.

Kind regards,

Pet'

 

[User 7569]

I haven't done the divebomber but I can do the one arm hindu pushup and often times I prefer it to the regular one arm pushup.

The start position is easier in my opinion, the hardest part being the part where you "go under the fence". Most people will splay their legs out into the divebomber position for normal OAPU anyway

also provides a great stretch to the side of your body whilst performing it.

I found that I have to corkscrew my hand more than normal with the OA hindu push up.

The twist aspect is always there, but the one arm hindu is pretty forgiving until you go under the fence

I like to do a couple of normal hindu pushups to get my hands positioned right and then i just take away a hand and tense up a bit more. Tensing your legs is even more important for this variety imo

 

[Inky]

Sorry, probably (slightly) off-topic, what is the difference between the hindu and divebomber pushups? All (my) searches show they are the same........

 

[David Whitacre]

@Inky In the hindu pushup you go straight back from the finished cobra position to the starting position. In a divebomber, you go back "back under the fence", retracing the same path backwards that you went forward.

 

[Steve Freides]

I’d love to hear peoples’ thoughts & opinions on this drill, its uses or lack thereof, or anything else!

I think the reason you don't hear more about it is because the hindu and divebomber pushups are often done for high reps, sometimes very high reps, while the one-armed version takes away that aspect of them. So it's rather a high-strength, low-rep version of an exercise usually done for high reps, and thus not on many folk's radar.

-S-

 

[Inky]

@Inky In the hindu pushup you go straight back from the finished cobra position to the starting position. In a divebomber, you go back "back under the fence", retracing the same path backwards that you went forward.

@David Whitacre Hmmm, most videos showed the 'going back under the fence' as the harder version of the divebomber. Oh well, two names, same thing.....

 

[User 7569]

in my experiences

divebombers are harder to do per rep and build more strength

hindu pushups can be done for more reps and build more flexibility / endurance

 

[Marc]

The one-arm divebomber pushup seems to be sort of the redheaded stepchild of the bodyweight family here; why is that?

Is it made obsolete by handstand pushups, or is there a particular niche that it uniquely fills?

I’d love to hear peoples’ thoughts & opinions on this drill, its uses or lack thereof, or anything else!

I think it is not the most popular exercise just because it is crazy hard. Folks who can do these are real beasts and even among strong OAPU practitioners these are rare.

 

[pet']

Hello,

Here's a demo:


Pretty hard not leaning sideways or twisting a little
This is, IMO, an incredible move: interesting variation of the OA push up. It works on flexibility and "no tension", but in also work on terrific control. In both cases, body has to work as a single unit. I just enjoy doing 1 rep or 2 on each side when I do my mobility routine

Kind regards,

Pet'

 

[DavThew]

That push back looks beastly

 

[pet']

Hello,

@DavThew
Yes it is, especially for the shoulder. HSPU and OA / OAOL PU training can give you enough "raw strength". However, the combination of flexibility / mobility + strength (so let's called it coordination) is a specific skill

It tooks me extensive amount of time working on OAOL PU + standard diver PU + free. HSPU to get the first one (with proper breathing, avoiding leaning sideways as much as I can), with a total way up and down.

Plus, a natural tendency can be to do a "real" diver push up for the way down, but a "simple OA push up" for the way up.

Kind regards,

Pet'

 

[elli]

It is the bonus move when you are done with the other bonus moves.

 

[305pelusa]

The one-arm divebomber pushup seems to be sort of the redheaded stepchild of the bodyweight family here; why is that?

Is it made obsolete by handstand pushups, or is there a particular niche that it uniquely fills?

I’d love to hear peoples’ thoughts & opinions on this drill, its uses or lack thereof, or anything else!

Personally speaking, I find it significantly harder than a OAPU. So if your OAPUs are solid, it could be a useful progression. That's the niche it fills in TNW and I think that makes sense.

I hadn't thought about them in a long time and went back and found a video about 2.5 years ago. That's back when I worked up to them:


As someone mentioned, the hard part is staying angled during the press upwards. Otherwise, you compensate by staying more horizontal and it ends up looking like a weird OAPU. Here's an example of one I think could use some practice:


It's rather harsh on the elbow and shoulder though so personally speaking, I've stuck to the OAPUs and Wall HSPUs instead.