I’m not someone who goes to the gym in order to look cool or to pull women. Genuinely that’s the truth, I’d surely tell you if I did and anyway I have a girlfriend and stand no chance of looking cool… However, every now and then being able to show off is certainly one of bodybuilding’s little perks and it’s one that I certainly relish to boot. The one armed push up and the one armed pull are two very neat little party tricks that demonstrate the power of bodybuilding and make people take notice of what you’ve achieved. To make them even cooler, Bruce Lee used to do them too. In fact Bruce did press ups on a single finger and thumb… but maybe we walk before we can run huh?

So what’s the secret? Well obviously to being with you need to get good at doing regular press ups and regular pull ups. So train lots, it’s boring and obvious but sorry – it’s true. At the same time work the same muscles in other ways: bench press, lat pull down, sit ups (core stability plays a big role in stabilising you during these movements).

After that you can start moving on to some transitional exercises that place more weight on just one side. For example, while doing press ups only go down on one arm but make sure you keep the other one on the ground for balance and to take the small amount of weight you can’t do on your own. Similarly for pull ups, lift yourself on one side while just using the other hand to stabilise yourself.

You can then take this further by using a box under one hand for the press ups or by taking one hand off the pull up bar and instead grabbing your own wrist for support. These are great stepping stones to doing one armed exercises on their own, but also make great exercises just as they are and also look quite cool.

Once you can do ten of the press ups leaning to one side or using a box you’re probably ready to give one handed a go. To make sure you’ve got the best technique spread your legs as far apart as you can behind you to distribute your weight more and use the hand you are going to utilise as close to the middle as possible. Tuck the other one behind your back to look cool and nonchalant.

For pull ups there’s no secret to technique and these are slightly harder. Fortunately there’s another transitional exercise here – negatives. These involve jumping up to the bar while holding it with just one hand then letting yourself down as slowly as possible or even just holding yourself statically if you can. Over time this should build your biceps enough to make it a cinch.

And once you’ve mastered those there’s loads of other cool party tricks you can do… squats with people on your shoulders, lifting cars, hand stands press ups, one legged squads… you’ll be the life and soul of the party! And definitely the muscle…

Mack LeMouse

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