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If you follow my content, you’ve seen me doing one arm push ups with a reasonable frequency. Suffice to say for the last year, my push work has been only single arm push ups performed at a variety of heights with plenty of deficit.
And I’ve liked the outcomes. I’ve packed on a bit of muscle and plenty of strength.
But that strength has its limitations.
For example, my capacity to throw with more power hasn’t been enhanced by my one arm push ups. So odds are my capacity to throw a ball or punch harder hasn’t benefitted from the added strength or muscle. And I am fine with that. I fully understand the limitations of how training a one arm push up will not benefit every strength or athletic capacity.
My two arm push up has benefited plenty. And my overhead pressing has benefitted too. I clocked in 60-65 kg overhead press for 4-5 reps.
But I managed to test my dip today. And it was revealing. My PR for bodyweight dips is 27 repetitions clocked in 2021. I was doing weighted dips with 30 kgs for 3-4 reps at that point.
So there is a history of training the pattern. But I haven’t trained the pattern regularly since 2023. I haven’t done it at all in 2024 and 2025. So I got to test it now.
And I managed a measly 9. I might have had 10-11 at best if I had slept better. But that’s speculation.
Shouldn’t a one arm push up benefit my dip? Maybe. It’s not a dissimilar set of muscles in action. But the arm is moving in a very different plane. The shoulder, scapula are moving quite differently. And the muscles around are recruited in a very different plane. The line of pull is different.
Simply put, imagine you’ve been prepping for an English grammar test and you are given a paper on Shakespeare. It’s still an English test. But it’s not the same thing.
I am also 7 kgs heavier than I was during my last dip effort. But again, I’ve been training a push that has gotten better.
All of this is for a simple takeaway. Training can be incredibly specific and directed endeavour.
A boxer might not be able to compete against the world record holder for dips. The calisthenics ace might not be able to produce a punch with a third of the power a heavyweight boxer might.
So if I want to get better at doing dips, I have to do dips. If I want to bench heavier, I have to bench more and add weight on the bar.
I might have the capacity to do more on those moves versus someone untrained. But I can’t hold a candle to someone who trains a specific capacity with more focus.