Mike Fitch EFX Rings
The super-challenging single arm ring push-up

The Single Arm Push-Up is an impressive feat of strength all on its own; add in the instability of the gymnastic ring, and you’ve got yourself an incredibly challenging exercise that can topple even the toughest exercisers. The single arm push-up in any form is great for improving your strength, stability, and endurance.

Note that for this exercise we are using gymnastics EFX Rings, which are one of the few tools we consider a must-have at GBT. We never run out of new exercises to perform with them, and the rotator cuff and shoulder stabilization that you can achieve with pushing and pressing out of them is unmatched.

Mastering the Single Arm Ring Push Up is a great example of using exercise progressions to improve your training. This is particularly important in bodyweight training, since we are choosing not to add weights – instead, we must change the variation of the exercise in order to make it harder.

Single Limb Training

Single limb training is a super effective method for progressing an exercise. Just as there are many steps from a bodyweight squat to a single leg pistol squat, and many steps from a basic chin up to a single arm chin, there are similarly many steps and variations with the single arm push-up.

In our video, we show you how to start the exercise and how to modify it for your current level. Remember that the more vertical you are, the less of your own bodyweight you are moving, and the more horizontal you are, the more of your own bodyweight you are taking on.

Performing the Single-Arm Push-Up

When performing a single-arm push up on the floor, your chest should touch the ground with each rep. However, when using the rings, your chest should touch your hand holding the ring between each rep.

Be sure to take the time and challenge yourself to work your way down. When you hit the angle where you can no longer keep your form, bring it back just a little bit. Before you know it, you’ll be doing the full Single-Arm Push-Up in a horizontal position just off the ground!



Want to get your own set of gymnastics rings? I recommend this set of EFX rings, which I use almost daily in my workouts. Their height is adjustable from 1 to 17 feet, so you can safely train with a variety of effective, functional movements at home, the gym, outside and wherever you travel. You can purchase them HERE:
Mike Fitch gymnastics rings

Published by Mike Fitch

Mike is the founder of Global Bodyweight Training. He has more than 12 years as a fitness professional encompassing a wide range of disciplines which he draws upon to create the GBT system.

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17 Comments

  1. Jealous! My one-arm pushup is okay off the floor and I’ve been transitioning my regular pushups over to rings but one arm on the rings, well that is one impressive move that I have not mastered yet. I’ll try your progressions and see how that helps out. Thanks for the tips.

    1. Give it a shot Jorma and let us know how it goes. Just remember to take your time with it and work your way down a little each time. Another variation is to just take the negative portion. So just start in the top position (of the single arm ring pus up) with your arm fully extended, slowly lower yourself until your chest touches your hand. Once at the bottom, place the free hand on the ground and push back up with both. Then repeat

  3. I have a one arm one leg pushup off the floor. So this will probably be something I’ll attempt this fall. Maybe I’ll have the one arm ring pushup by Christmas. But I can already think of how to make this progression more difficult.

  4. I am on the one arm / one leg movement right now as well – this progression is new and unique!

    Thank you!

  8. Dude, you are my new hero! Love your site so far and will be a new regular reader. I used a pic of you on a recent blog post I did. I hope that’s okay, if not say the word and I’ll take it down. That’s actually how I found your site… searching for a good pic on the rings. I can link it to you if you’d like. This one arm ring push-up is one of my goals. Thanks for breaking it down, Mike.

    1. Hey Brandon, thanks for the feedback brotha! You’re more than welcome to use the pic and if you’d like to link it back to our site, that’s awesome. I quickly visited your site and I like what you and your brother have put together. I look forward to checking it out in depth later. Keep up the good work.

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    1. It sure is, they are more advanced progressions that you can work towards. Let me know how your progression is going

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  12. I hope I’m not too late to ask this, but this is has been on my mind a lot lately.

    Is it wise to do all push up progressions on the floor, and progress to rings only when the one-arm pushup on the ground is achieved? Or do rings and floor work not necessarily differ in difficulty that much?

    Thanks,
    Paul

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