Has anyone ever done a true one-armed pullup? That is, one arm grasps the bar and does the pullup while the other arm hangs loose?
Every time that I’ve seen someone do a one-armed pullup it has been with the other arm assisting in some way. Usually the other hand grasps the main arm at the wrist. Doing it that way is only marginally harder than doing a regular pullup.
I can do a dozen or so normal pullups, but I can’t even budge when I try doing it one-armed. So is it even possible to do a true one-armed pullup?
Absolutely. Last time I checked the Guinness Book Of World Records not only did they have records for one-armed pullups but also one-finger pullups.
Go to Youtube and search for “one arm pullup” and you’ll find plenty of people like this guy:
Just poke around YouTube, you’ll see plenty of videos of people doing it.
Alain Robert, the freaky French super-climber with hands like steel talons, can do a pull-up with one finger.
I’ve seen it done in the warm-up section at the rock climbing gym many times. I am too wimpy to do such a thing myself.
Yes, but he’s a mutant from another planet. So it doesn’t count.
Yes it is. It’s one of the perennial goals of bodyweight training enthusiasts, but has been around for ages. www.dragondoor.com has a whole article on how to do the OAP, by two succesful proponents. Willoughby’s Super Athletes lists one-arm-specialists of times gone by. As early as 1878, a Kentuckian named A. Cutter made twelve consecutive one-arm-pullups in front of an audience. The current record is 23.
A true one-arm pullup is an exercise on it’s own and very hard on the elbows and shoulders. Regular pullup numbers don’t correlate with OAP’s - one needs to train hard specifically at one-arm pullups to be able to do them. Low body mass helps but it’s still a feat.
