No matter who you are or how strong you think you are, you can’t deny that it’s always pretty impressive when you see someone do a one-armed pushup, I’m talking about a REAL one-armed pushup. There are probably a bunch of you out there who say you can do a one-armed pushup, but really you’re twisting your back and raising your shoulder and hips and flopping all over the place and probably going down a total of 2 inches. A true one-arm pushup is a great workout though, it builds up your pecs, does a number on your triceps and shoulders, and is great to strengthen your core muscles. I personally can’t to do a good one-armed pushup, and I know I can’t, but it’s always something I’ve wanted to work on, so I found a few good exercises that will really help you build up the muscles and motions you need to do a proper one-armed pushup. For the record, it should look exactly like a perfect regular pushup, just with one arm, you can see a good example here.

Triceps strength is a must when attempting a one-armed pushup, so the first couple of exercises would work on would be close grip and triangle pushups. Close grip is the same form as a standard pushup, except you bring your hands very close together. A triangle pushup is similar to close grip, but you form a triangle with your two pointer fingers and thumbs. Once you can throw down three sets at 20 reps each then you should be good on those.

Next, stay in the straight arm, close grip pushup position. Bring your feet together and lift one arm out to the side, parallel to the floor and perpendicular to the body. The hand which is on the floor should stay under your chest. Hold this position for as long as possible and switch sides. Go for three attempts with each arm before you take a break.

There are a couple more pretty unique exercises I tried which worked pretty well. To set up for this next one, grab a chair and stack some books up about 6 inches. Put your feet on the chair and hands on the books and just do pushups. This is nice because it gives you a little more range of motion on your arms.

This last one is pretty crazy. Get into your close grip position with your feet together. Put either hand behind your back, so now you’re supporting yourself with one hand. Next, try to turn your torso 90 degrees in towards your support arm, or as far as you can. Switch arms, and keep working on this until you can turn the whole way without too much trouble.

These are just a few exercises I found helpful in working towards the one armed pushup, but really if you find any pushup variation that really works the shoulders, triceps, and pecs in an unusual/hard way, then go for it and you’ll be making people think you’re jacked in no time.