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Bodyweight Personal challenge: 100 one-arm pushups (per arm) in one day.

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As someone currently unable but working towards achieving a strict OAPU, thought I'd just say congratulations, that's a very impressive feat!
 
@Harry Westgate you said you finished the challenge with relative ease (in terms of muscle fatigue anyway). Just curious at such a high volume of OAPUs what muscles do you feel would have been your limiting factor, if you had pushed your volume to the point of form breakdown/unacceptable fatigue? I'm sure I've read somewhere that the core musculature can prove limiting at high OAPU volumes as opposed to the 'push' muscles (e.g. pectorals, anterior delts)
 
@Nickwba I'd probably agree with @23rdwave ... Having said that, I've not yet got to the point where I feel it is remotely ineffective as a pressing move (and I plan to make it my press of choice for the foreseeable future), but by the same token, since upping my OAPU volume and intensity more than ever over the last few weeks, my core/abs are the most solid/hard/dense they've ever been... But then so are my arms and shoulders... Hahaha.

In short, I'd say it's roughly a 50/50 split between the midsection and pressing muscles; if either fail, the whole movement will break down. Period. It doesn't matter how strong your abs are, if your pressing muscles aren't up to the task, you won't complete the rep, and vice versa.

I consider it an awesome full-body move, and I'm not worried about isolating my shoulders/tris/pecs in order to have a 'pure' press, so to speak. Other people's priorities/goals may vary though, thus opting for MPs, bench, dips, etc. which may be less dependent on the midsection.

Hope this helps somewhat. :)
 
@Nickwba and @23rdwave just a quick update to add to my last message there... This morning I've been doing my OAPUs with my feet together (as in, ankles touching), and this definitely adds to the difficulty, but for both the abs and for the pressing muscles in my opinion, so still roughly the same 50/50 split I mentioned previously.

For a bit of context regarding difficulty, I'd say that doing OAPUs with my feet shoulder-width apart, I could do about 10-12 reps if I went to failure, but with my feet together, I'd say about 6 reps (I've been doing comfortably tough sets of 3 this morning).

In summary, feet-together-OAPUs* are definitely a worthwhile goal if you really like your bodyweight training, and as a bonus, there's probably no 'stricter' way to do them. I plan to keep my feet together when doing them from now on, including when I elevate my feet onto a box, chair, etc.


*What do we think of 'FTOAPUs' as an abbreviation for this everyone..? @Steve Freides a possible addition to the list in the welcome section perhaps? ;)
 
@ That's interesting. I find the OAPU with feet together to be at around a similar difficult to a OAPU with feet shoulder-width. When your feet are shoulder width apart, you can't put much pressure on the non-working leg anyways, or you'll just topple over.

It feels a bit like a military press with feet together, versus feet shoulder width apart. It just feels like you have to kick the hip to the side a bit more.

If the OAPU is conquered, as well as its one legged cousin, perhaps a more useful course of action is to elevate the foot (should high is a good goal), or to work up to the elusive OA Divebomber. The latter is particularly brutal. Personally speaking, I never really understood the whole idea of bringing the feet closer together ever so slightly that the calisthenics community went crazy over after Convict Conditioning came out. To me, it never changed things too much and it didn't feel that much more legit. A TNW OAPU the way Pavel teaches is already pretty strict by most standards. I like the routes Pavel suggests to increase difficulty a lot more. Clearly ahead of his time! hehe.
 
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@305pelusa I see what you're saying, and I must admit, having been doing feet-together OAPUs for the last couple of days, I'd still say it's a fair little bit harder than with the feet shoulder-width apart, though more than anything due to balance; now that I feel more balanced in the feet together position, it doesn't feel as tough. Your comparison to the military press is spot on though; the hip does need to go a bit further out to the side.

My goal for the mid- to long-term however is still to elevate my feet higher and higher (with my feet together - simply out of personal preference), with a 'simple' goal of being able to comfortably do sets of 5 reps with my feet on a chair (to be more specific - said chair being about as high as my lower thigh/just above my knee when I'm standing up).

With that achieved, I may look at pursuing OA divebombers. Still, one thing at a time!
 
Thanks for everyone's thoughts on different OAPU variations, they have simultaneously made me feel very weak and inspired to work hard on my OAPUs ha
 
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