Push-ups are one the most complete exercises you can do. And the one-arm push-up is one of the most powerful variations you could have in your training toolbox… provided you know how to do it!

Assume a one-arm plank position with your feet spread several inches wider than your shoulders. Your weight-bearing arm should be positioned so that your wrist is directly under the same-side shoulder. Place your non-weight-bearing arm on the opposite hip or behind your back. Don’t let your head or hips sag toward the floor.

Cross-Body Movements

Think of walking, running, punching, throwing, and batting. The body functions in a crisscross manner with the arm and shoulder on one side linking diagonally through the torso to the hip and leg on the opposite side. These are cross-body movements, and they’re foundational to human function along with athleticism.

One-arm push-ups add specificity to your training because you’re training these cross-body linkages. Although traditional compound exercises strengthen the entire body, they’re not ideally suited for improving coordination of these cross-body linkages.

Researchers have even compared the single-arm standing cable press, a cross-body exercise, to the traditional bench press, a compound exercise. (1) They found that performance in the single-arm standing cable press is limited not by maximal muscle activation of the chest and shoulder muscles, but by the activation and neuromuscular coordination of the torso muscles.

The limiting factor when pushing an offset load (like during the one-arm push-up) or with a single arm from a standing position – common in sports – is the stiffness of the torso muscles that maintain body position and enable coordination of the hips and shoulders.

Granted, cross-body exercises also rely on shoulder and chest strength. This is true, for instance, of the standing single-arm cable press, which more closely resembles the standing push actions of athletics than does the bench press. However, in such cross-body movements, force generation is still limited primarily by whole-body stability, as well as joint stability. (1)

It’s important to note that although the one-arm push-up isn’t performed from a standing position, it perfectly fits the above criteria because it’s a cross-body pushing action that heavily involves the core, hips, and lower body.

In short, different load placement and body position during an exercise changes the force generation and neuromuscular coordination demands of the exercise. Cross-body exercises like the one-arm push-up require a different type of load placement and body position than compound exercises.

The specific force generation and neuromuscular coordination demands of performing cross-body exercises more closely replicate those of athletic movements, so using cross-body exercises adds more specificity to your training.

(1) Santana, JC, Vera-Garcia, FJ, and McGill, SM. A kinetic and electromyographic comparison of the standing cable press and bench press. Journal of Strength Conditioning Research 21(4): 1271- 1277, 2007.