Ladies and gentlemen,
Congratulations to the following strength professionals on joining our Teachers of Strength or advancing within! Honored to have you on the team. |
| Masters
Alexey Senart
Derek Toshner
Seniors
Maggie Burrows
Victor Carrillo
Mira Gracia
Tony Gracia
Benjamin Mayer
Steve Milles
Analisa Naldi
Guido Posante
Mike Sousa
Andżelika Stefańska-Kowalik
Mike Torres
Darius Walus
Team Leaders
Carlos Alberto Guendulain Lopez
Os Aponte
Raul Baca
Alexei Bordas
Catherine Buck
Anna Cannington
Thomas Cerboneschi
Alanna Kauffman
Melissa Templeman
Luis Del Toro
Antonín Tůma
Vic Verdier
Nicole Yu
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| | Today’s one-arm pushup training tips come from one of our new StrongFirst Certified Master Instructors, Alexey Senart. In his own words:
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| 1. How to stay tighter and not let your back arch.
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| Practice basic two-arm hard style pushups—but with your feet spread as wide as they would be in the one-arm pushup, 1.5-2 times your shoulders’ width.
With such a wide stance, the pelvis tends to tilt forward, arching the back, and disengaging the abs. To prevent that, practice the following static stomp deadlift adapted from our kettlebell curriculum.
Pick up a light kettlebell as you would for a goblet squat. Assume a 1.5-2 times shoulders’ width stance with your feet facing forward and pull your toes towards the ceiling—pretend you are doing pushups.
Pull up your kneecaps, clench your glutes, pull your shoulders down. Flatten your ribs and slightly tuck in your chin. Now slowly push the kettlebell forward while keeping your shoulders “anti-shrugged.”
You will feel enormous tension in your entire body, especially your abs. Don’t let your glutes disengage, push your hips forward even harder. Stop when you feel you’re about to lose your posture and bring the kettlebell back to the starting position.
After 3-4 reps, put the kettlebell down, shake off the tension, and then do a set of wide stance hard style pushups trying to find the same feeling of tension you had when standing. Then apply what you have learned to the one-arm pushup.
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| 2. How to make the one-arm/one-leg pushup even harder and more effective.
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| The one-arm/one-leg pushup (OAOLP) is a wonderful exercise. One of the hardest as well. The difficulty, but also the greatest benefit of the OAOLP, is not so much in the pushing action of the arm, as in the trunk muscles’ effort to maintain symmetry.
As our brain always tries to make things easier for the body, its first action is to break that symmetry. Usually, we see the whole body rolling over sideways.
Although, the StrongFirst testing standard gives you some leeway in adapting your position, maintaining a better symmetry is an excellent long-term goal for your OAOLP training. It will provide you with trunk muscles ready to withstand any beating and the training effect will show in many other exercises and activities.
The following tip will help you keeping your body square. Find a straight line on the ground. Or make one with a duct tape. Do your one-arm/one-leg pushups while keeping your midline over the line on the floor.
If you are shifting, adjust your feet and hand and try again. Drive the base of your toes hard into the ground and pull your hand to the opposite foot.
As said before, some shift is allowed by the standard, but you’d better use it as your trump card, not as your go-to technique. Remember that the main training effect of the OAOLP comes from keeping your body square. |
| | One-arm pushup power to you!
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