To get stronger, you don't always have to be so positive!

[Dreamliner]

I should have learned this from the experience of my trainee Kristi. She went from barely being able to hang from a chinning bar to doing reps, in a matter of weeks, simply by getting herself into the top position and then controlling her descent.

As I related, I've been working on a one-armed pushup for months now. I first sought to really nail down my standard pushup form. Then, I tried the recommendation of doing one-armed pushups against the counter, then lower, to a table, etc. But these seemed to be taking forever.

I then went down to the floor and started doing uneven pushups. One variation is where you put one hand on a soccer ball and try to bear more and more weight on the hand that's on the ground. But this seemed a bit subjective to me. And here again, it left me wondering how long it would take to accomplish the real thing.

Then I decided to try what worked for Krist - negative reps. Twice a week, I performed just a few negative pushups, five to begin with and working to ten. I surmised that at which point I was able to do ten controlled negatives on one side, I ought to be able to do a bonafide one-armed pushup.

After all the time and uncertainty attached to other strategies ... this took me roughly three weeks. I had gotten to where I could do seven negatives with my right arm when ... I came right back up!

Take-home: negatives may be a fantastic way of accelerating strength gains. Indeed, they may be the fastest way.

Caveat: for me and others, they can be VERY exhausting. That's why I started with only five total negatives, twice a week. Same for Kristi. You certainly CAN jack yourself up if you throw caution to the wind.

Further note: no, I didn't just get in the up position and then lower willy-nilly. There is a technique for the OAP. In brief, it involves keeping everything tight, elbow pressed to side, hand 'corkscrewing out' a bit, and feet spread a bit for balance. In particular, the lat on the working side is key. Knowing I that, I just 'reverse engineered' it a bit.