Someone I'm helping train no longer has access to a gym and normal push-ups and chin-ups aren't doing it (too many reps). To increase weight / intensity I'm thinking of one-armed versions of each. Hypothetically speaking it'd be doubling the amount of weight for the muscles when doing said exercises. However, I notice that the hand position (especially in one arm push-ups) is at a different angle than doing the two handed versions. So my question is, do the one armed exercises still work out the same muscle groups (focused on core muscles) as effectively as the normal two handed exercises? Or would it be better to just try to add weight (eg have someone sit / hang off them) and do the normal versions?
For the push-ups, start elevating the feet a bit each time. By changing the leverage, you can make them harder this way. Even if someone's used to pumping out a few hundred push-ups, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be able to do even one rep one-handed. As for chin-ups, unless you're the pull-up king who did 1000 non-consecutive ones in an hour, you can't go wrong with plenty of reps. If he's just doing chin-ups, it's time to do legit pull-ups and widen the grip, or shorten it, or do them commando style (my favorite variation, pictured below). Just by varying hand spacing and using towels and the like, pull-ups will always keep you busy.
There are probably a thousand variations on the push up, and hundreds on the pull up/chin up. You can easily find more variations then you could shake a stick at after a short amount of time on google or youtube. As for the OP, as Kuma said, being able to do a bajillion push ups doesn't mean you can do a single single arm. A lot of that seems to be related to technique, from what I've noticed. Most of the people I see doing a single arm push up place the palm in the middle of the chest and press from there, that puts most of the emphasis on the tricep. So, if the person you're training normally does diamond/triangle push ups, or 'football push ups' (where the palms are right under neath the chest and is done almost like a cross between the push up and a tricep extension), then yes, it'll be mostly the same muscles. If your trainee uses basically any other technique, yes, it will work the muscles differently. And I've never even attempted a single arm pull up, so I wont comment. Although one thought about pull up/chin ups. I see alot of people say that chin ups are easier, or it's the girls way out (or something along those lines). I don't get it. Chin ups place emphasis on the bicep, and pull ups place emphasis on the upper back. It's like saying a bent over row is the easy way of doing a standing row. No, it really isn't. They're working a different group of muscles. They're barely comparable. And, for anyone who cares, my chin up max is half of my pull up max.
note: one armed pushups with the elbow out, as i did them, are way easier and essentially poor technique (which is why i stopped doing them, along with poor posture due to core weakness). they are still hard as <beep>. proper ones have the elbow pretty much pressed to your side, which enables full range of motion of your shoulder joint, whereas with elbow out, you think you're moving your shoulder joint but are actually moving your scapula, and not working nearly as much as you should. in fact, i never managed even one proper push-up, even though when i was in my OAP obsession phase i used to to do 5x5 sets or 10 rep single sets of the elbow out ones.
Thanks for the replies guys. Looking back I should have put more info but my original post already seemed so long. I prefer push-ups that mimic weighted versions (incline press, flat press and decline press) so I've already included push-up at various angles. As well as doing three different grips on chin-ups. The problem though is I'm a firm believer that strength training with weights requires lower reps (between 3 to 12 depending on the exercise, set number, exercise phase etc). But being able to do 30 to 50 reps (x five sets) of push-ups and chin ups, seems to go against everything I've learnt about Strength training. Also the darn one-armed versions (as has been pointed out) often target different muscles. Especially the push-ups. I don't know if it's possible, but I've never seen anyone do a one-armed push-up that mimics a bench-press. All the one-armed push-ups seem to strain the triceps more than the chest (the area I wanted targeted). Maybe I'm looking at it in too limited a fashion. Could be the answer is something I haven't' thought of yet. *crosses fingers*
You mean like wide-grip push-ups? As far as intensity, slow the reps down and it'll get a lot tougher. One of my Okinawan buddies loves paused seiken push-ups. One rep would be a pause at the top, halfway down, all the way down without touching the floor, halfway up, and then back up again, each held for a five or ten count. They are brutal.
I would pretty much recommend everything Kuma said, with the addition of this - way more convenient that having someone sit/hang on the person: Just noticed Fish mentioned it as well...
I have yet to meet anyone who can do 30+ proper form full extension chin ups. Most people do ridiculously bad versions where they hardly extend the arm to 90 degrees.
