ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Commencing operation . . .

I am a big fan of isolated bodybuilding techniques. Of course, holistic training exercises are essential for a martial artist also but being able to target a specific group of muscles allows me to see what areas are weaker and need to be worked on. With more holistic exercises that more or less work the whole body, any particular weakness within your body can potentially be compensated by other areas of the body.

I suppose before going into more detail on the single arm push-ups; it would be best to cover the bog standard push-up. I have an embarrassing confession to make. I got graded to black belt in Shotokan Karate when I was nineteen years of age. A few months down the line, I went to Australia for a holiday, and while I was training over there, one of the warm-up exercises was to do fifty each of sit-ups and push-ups. The sit-ups were okay, but I could barely get to five push-ups before my body succumbed. I was the last one in the class to finish the full fifty push-ups, behind people of lower rank (including white belts) and people much older than me (even people who must have been over forty years old). Another exercise we did was a partner drill where one person had their legs held up by the other, and you had to use your hands to walk across the dojo. I don’t even think I made it halfway across before my arms buckled. I distinctly remember at that point, the Sensei came over to me and pointed to a green belt who was well into his forties, and he had made it all the way to the end.

“See that guy over there? He’s over forty years old and a green belt”.

I was ashamed. Deeply so. I was weak as hell. The Sensei wasn’t trying to be demeaning; he was simply stating the facts. I walked out of that class with the determination to never feel that kind of humiliation ever again. I started doing some push-ups at home every single day after that. My progress was indeed slow, but I did develop from five to ten to twenty and thirty in a row. A couple of weeks passed, and I encountered another karate class focusing on upper body strength. I smashed those fifty push-ups, and the Sensei came over to me and said.

“You’ve gotten stronger, and your fitness is much better too.”

There have only been a very few instances in my life where praise or acknowledgement had made me feel so good. That was one such occasion. Ever since the push-up has almost always been a part of my workout routine. I recently started incorporating the single arm push-up into my arsenal, and it wasn’t until I started doing them did I realise how much weaker my right arm is in comparison to the left. I dislocated and broke my right elbow when I was in primary school, and while it has healed, I have forever lost the full range of motion in my right elbow and probably the full strength it could have wielded also. It eluded me how much more effort my left arm was compensating for my right when doing standard push-ups. Through this training, I have managed to close the strength gap between my left and right though there is still a discrepancy.

I don’t recommend attempting the single arm push-up until you are very much comfortable with doing regular push-ups, as the load placed on a single arm is significantly harder to bear compared to when it is displaced through both. After regular push-ups, you can transition into a pseudo one arm push-up by elevating one arm on a raised surface and then executing the push-up motion. This will help you get used to the uneven weight distribution required for single arm push-ups. Once comfortable with this you can look to try the single arm push-up. You will absolutely need to have an excellent set of core muscles as well as a strong back to attempt the single arm push-up, as these muscle groups will aid in keeping you supported and balanced while performing the motion. Remember to spread your legs beyond shoulder width apart when doing this exercise as you will need a broader base to stabilise yourself for this variant of the push-up.

Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.