all posts post new thread

Bodyweight One arm pushup programme

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
@Marty Lynden, it can work to apply the same program to different lifts but the odds are against you. The lifts have to be comparable for you, and the version you do as well.

Welcome to the StrongFirst forum!

-S-
 
To those who do the program as described - what do you use as elevation? How do you change the elevation from day to day?
 
Steve Freides said:
@Marty Lynden, it can work to apply the same program to different lifts but the odds are against you. The lifts have to be comparable for you, and the version you do as well.

Welcome to the StrongFirst forum!

-S-
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve, could you elaborate regarding this? I am not 100% sure I understand. Also to clarify, I don´t use the same elevations for all lifts, that is one arm push ups and pistols follows their own specific progressions based on what are comfortable elevations for the light/heavy/medium days. I probably didn´t explain that very well in my original post.

So basically what I took from Karens programme was the bodyweight approach to a light/medium/heavy day and appliead it to all 3 lifts. So monday for instance is medium, which means I do 3 sets of 3 for oapu. pistols and pull ups on elevations or with weights (for the pull ups) that allows me to get 3 solid reps and leaving 2 reps or so in the bank, for all 3 sets. After this I call it a day, wednesday is 5x2 and friday is 1x5. Rougly this equates to my 5/7/3 rep max elevations for each lift.

Program design is not exactly my strong suite, so would be happy if someone could point me to any apparent flaws of this approach.

Marty
 
IonRod said:
To those who do the program as described - what do you use as elevation? How do you change the elevation from day to day?
Click to expand...
In Korea they had pushup bars if that's what they were supposed to be, of different heights, outside in parks everywhere. I used those quite a lot for the one arm pushup.
 
@Steve Freides: I followed naked warrior GTG style when I first learnt the one arm push up and pistol. However that doesn´t really fit with my lifestyle at this moment. I also used a version of Dan Jonhns 40 day program, but since then realized I tend to need a day off between workouts (mainly because I never seem to learn to pace myself in a responsible way during training...) Hence I landed on training 3 days a week, which is were I usually feel at my best.

So, nothing against using an existing program, just not sure were to look for it though?

cheer
Marty
 
The Rite of Passage is a 3x/week pressing program - would that do what you want?

-S-
 
Marty Lynden said:
Thanks Steve, could you elaborate regarding this? I am not 100% sure I understand. Also to clarify, I don´t use the same elevations for all lifts, that is one arm push ups and pistols follows their own specific progressions based on what are comfortable elevations for the light/heavy/medium days. I probably didn´t explain that very well in my original post.

So basically what I took from Karens programme was the bodyweight approach to a light/medium/heavy day and appliead it to all 3 lifts. So monday for instance is medium, which means I do 3 sets of 3 for oapu. pistols and pull ups on elevations or with weights (for the pull ups) that allows me to get 3 solid reps and leaving 2 reps or so in the bank, for all 3 sets. After this I call it a day, wednesday is 5x2 and friday is 1x5. Rougly this equates to my 5/7/3 rep max elevations for each lift.

Program design is not exactly my strong suite, so would be happy if someone could point me to any apparent flaws of this approach.

Marty
Click to expand...
No flaws in your approach. It's solid. Steve's concern is that if different exercises are different difficulties, the same reps/sets wouldn't work. However, you've clearly given that some thought already and have chosen variations of similar difficulties. I think Steve didn't notice that (he has to read a lot of other threads also!).

Also fyi, I have used the ROP for Pistols, and it was miserable. There's no need to be doing so many weighted Pistols in one day.

I recommend you try Karen's lower volume approach for all three and after the program, assess whether you should move up to something higher volume like ROP. No reason to do more when less accomplished things :)

Just my 2 cents
 
Last edited:
My approach to my supplemental bodyweight moves is 100% GTG. I guess the ideal would be 5X5 of one arm one leg pushups, but for now it's GTG that I do, and it's both fun and does the trick. I went up from 4 chinups in a set to 7 in 2 weeks since starting them again seriously, following only an ad hoc GTG method. I can do one 1 arm 1 leg pushups per side in a row. I can do sets of 5 one arm 2 leg pushups. I do these sets whenever I feel like them.

I really think that once you can do the 1 arm 2 leg pushup you are into the "Naked Warrior" programme. I could really feel the strength happening while in Korea using those puhshup bars with one hand. It reminded me a lot of the bench press. Anyhow, it felt like a really serious very cool
"professional" weight lifting move. The fact that I can take this move with me anywhere in the world is VERY liberating for me! I remember as a youth carrying my chinup bar around with me everywhere I traveled, sometimes taking weights with me too - kind of burdensome! 1 arm pushup and 1 leg squat - I can take these everywhere! Maybe some isometric variations on the back bridge wouldn't hurt either, but I haven't tried them out.
 
305pelusa said:
No flaws in your approach. It's solid. Steve's concern is that if different exercises are different difficulties, the same reps/sets wouldn't work. However, you've clearly given that some thought already and have chosen variations of similar difficulties. I think Steve didn't notice that (he has to read a lot of other threads also!).

Also fyi, I have used the ROP for Pistols, and it was miserable. There's no need to be doing so many weighted Pistols in one day.

I recommend you try Karen's lower volume approach for all three and after the program, assess whether you should move up to something higher volume like ROP. No reason to do more when less accomplished things :)

Just my 2 cents
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for helping out mate, I know you have a wealth of experience so any advice from you is solid. I´ll report back with the results after having done a 6 week stint of it.

cheers
Marty
 
Marty Lynden said:
Thanks a lot for helping out mate, I know you have a wealth of experience so any advice from you is solid. I´ll report back with the results after having done a 6 week stint of it.

cheers
Marty
Click to expand...
Hehe kind words Marty. Tag me with your thoughts after the program is done. I'm excited to hear how it goes.
 
305pelusa said:
you've clearly given that some thought already and have chosen variations of similar difficulties. I think Steve didn't notice that (he has to read a lot of other threads also!).
Click to expand...
What he said. :) Yes, I do actually read everything new on the forum except for the training logs, so I sometimes don't recall the context of a lengthy thread.

-S-
 
@Marty Lynden
You can use the same approach for all the body weight skills. It is low volume but it works wonders in my opinion. Look forward to hearing your progress.
The sliders (gliders) can work also as a progress and I do teach them at the certification. However for the purpose of the blog program, I wanted to pick something that anyone could do anytime anywhere. Ex. Wall, counter top, chair, floor and any varying heights in between. I also teach at the course and certs to hold planks and varying sticking points through out the full ROM - OA and OAOL pushup.
 
Karen Smith said:
@Marty Lynden
You can use the same approach for all the body weight skills. It is low volume but it works wonders in my opinion. Look forward to hearing your progress.
The sliders (gliders) can work also as a progress and I do teach them at the certification. However for the purpose of the blog program, I wanted to pick something that anyone could do anytime anywhere. Ex. Wall, counter top, chair, floor and any varying heights in between. I also teach at the course and certs to hold planks and varying sticking points through out the full ROM - OA and OAOL pushup.
Click to expand...
I was shocked being a guy who can do 5 sets of 5 one arm pushups (with rest between of course though!) and I could barely get through the second set of 15 feet elevated standard two arm pushups!
 
I am taking on Karen's program as I can't do one arm pushups and need to change that. I am finding that like the OP I have to completely chill out on the turkish get ups as well. They were something I was particularly proficient in (even taking more than a week off I was able to get all 10 with 32kg in under 9 minutes). I tried doing them the day after and it was clearly not going to happen.

I am fairly conservative the first time I try anything so I want to give this first six weeks an easy mode experience. Monday is a raised platform, wednesday is the wall, and friday is on the floor but I am using my free hand extended out on a heavy KB for stability (the hand is raised significantly so I don't have much, if any, leverage to assist in the pressing).

I started the middle of last week but I consider this to be week one. Here is what I am discovering.

One Arm Pushups currently beat me. I get to feel weak again. I have fallen several times from lack of tension (I was ok). As I force greater tension and slow the movement down I feel my abs going into overdrive, to the point where my abs, and really the whole front side around the rib cage is sore from contraction. My arms are also a tad sore from the tension as well. Something pretty humbling, I am not pressing anywhere near to failure with ample breaks and going into the cobra position between sets.

I have never divided up weight loads by the days of the week (never did ROP) so this is a new concept for me to really do. I am looking forward to seeing how I can do in six weeks. After that I will probably do S&S for 2-4 weeks and then go at it again.
 
So, I went and did 3 cycles of my version of Karen's programme as I outlined above. I trained 3 days a week as per the medium/light/heavy formula. Starting with doing one arm push ups on various elevations, pistols to boxes of various heights and neutral grip pulls ups with added weights.

I liked this program a lot. It allowed me to train 3 times a week, which fits perfectly with my work and social commitments. And, most importantly, it delivers. I finally got my full one arm push up (which was the main goal), I am about 10 cm away from reaching a rock bottom pistol, these are very tough for me I realized as I have very long limbs and a really short torso and quite franky really weak legs... My neutral chin ups went from being able to do 2 reps with 24kg added to doing 3 reps with 30 additional kg (bar to collarbones). This progress might not seem like alot, but I´m quite happy with how things turned out after 4 months of training. I would not recomend adding deadlifts or anything like that if you do my version of the program. Oapu´s, pistols and weighted chins were more then enough, at least for me. Doing 5 set of 3 reps in week 6 for all lifts were decidedly atrociuos.

I´m setting a new goal for the next couple of cycles and that is achieving a full handstand push up. Eventhough I really want to get to a full pistol squat I feel a need to take a break from these and one arm push ups as well, quite fed up with them after focusing on them for 3 full cycles. I am not sure yet how to structure training for the handstand push ups, also I feel the need to do maintanence work to keep my newly achieved one arm push up up to par, though not sure how to fit that in. Any suggestions from guys and gals with more experience would be greatly appreciated.

Also thanks to Karen Smith, 305pelusa and everyone else that chimed in with advice in the thread.

cheers
Marty
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom