rEmY
Needs to eat more
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2002
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I also posted this over at St. Wilhelm's, but I don't often make long posts, and I thought this one turned out well.
Benefits of the pullup*:
- Great for increasing upper back strength
- Looks cool
- Can be done many places, in many different environments
- Favored exercise in prisons
- Cures cancer
Downfalls on the pullup*:
- None. Unless you count being "too manly" a minus.
The history of the Pullup*:
The pullup was first invented by Sir Francis Pullup in 1593. Legend has it he had to have a special tailor make his suits, using metal thread, because regular cloth could not withstand the awesomeness of his Lats. He once jumped from the top of a burning building, saving a young baby in the process. He simply spread his mighty back and floated gently to the ground.
Getting good at pullups*:
- Step 1: Do a f**k lot of pullups. When I first started I could do a mighty two (2!) pullups. So I concentrated on doing sets of 1. I would just periodically do sets of 1 throughout the day when possible. There was a pullup bar at the park where I would walk my dog after work. I would do a set of 2, throw the ball, rest, do a set of 2, throw the ball, rest, etc...I wouldn't really keep track of how many, I would just do a bunch. This went on for about a month, twice a week. Once I test, I could do 10, although it was a struggle. I then proceeded to use some of the following methods:
1. Pyramids: set of 1, set of 2, set of 3, set of 4, etc, and then coming back down, set of 4, set of 3, set of 2, set of 1.
2. UpLadders: Just like pyramids, but only going up.
3. DownLadders: Warming up first, like ladders but starting high and working down.
4. Squares: 1st day: 3 sets of 3, 2nd day: 4 sets of 4, etc.
I continued this way until I got up to around 15 sets of 15. (Keep in mind that I wasn't doing much else in the way of strength training besides pushups and BW squats, and weighed around 150 pounds.) When I test I got around 30 (KEEP A TRAINING LOG OF EVERYTHING. I didn't and am now kicking myself).
This is when I made the switch to adding weight. My theory for this was simple: I wanted to get good at one big set, so I should practice at doing one big set. Out was the idea of doing multiple lower volume sets. Also, I thought about weak point training, just like somebody might for bench or squat, and I started focusing on weaker areas (holding at the top for example). An example of a workout:
warmup: BWx8
Work Set: Chosen weight x as many good reps as a could squeeze out. Good = chin above bar, slight pause at top and bottom, no 'kipping'.
Work Set: about 50% of the reps of the first work set
Weak point training: For this I would do one of the following:
- 3 position static holds. Jump up to the very top of the pullup, hold, lower to where the upper arms are parallel to the ground, hold, just above the start position, hold. Brutal.
- Half pullups. Weak in the top? Do only the top half. Ditto with the bottom. Strictly.
- Grip training. Put on heavy ass weight, hold on for dear life. To do big pullups, you must have strong hands.
So in actuality I only do 2 'real' sets. Increase the weight every workout, until you get down to around 3-5 reps for the first work set, and then start over. Try to best the number of reps you used on each weight. I still use this method.
Benefits of the pullup*:
- Great for increasing upper back strength
- Looks cool
- Can be done many places, in many different environments
- Favored exercise in prisons
- Cures cancer
Downfalls on the pullup*:
- None. Unless you count being "too manly" a minus.
The history of the Pullup*:
The pullup was first invented by Sir Francis Pullup in 1593. Legend has it he had to have a special tailor make his suits, using metal thread, because regular cloth could not withstand the awesomeness of his Lats. He once jumped from the top of a burning building, saving a young baby in the process. He simply spread his mighty back and floated gently to the ground.
Getting good at pullups*:
- Step 1: Do a f**k lot of pullups. When I first started I could do a mighty two (2!) pullups. So I concentrated on doing sets of 1. I would just periodically do sets of 1 throughout the day when possible. There was a pullup bar at the park where I would walk my dog after work. I would do a set of 2, throw the ball, rest, do a set of 2, throw the ball, rest, etc...I wouldn't really keep track of how many, I would just do a bunch. This went on for about a month, twice a week. Once I test, I could do 10, although it was a struggle. I then proceeded to use some of the following methods:
1. Pyramids: set of 1, set of 2, set of 3, set of 4, etc, and then coming back down, set of 4, set of 3, set of 2, set of 1.
2. UpLadders: Just like pyramids, but only going up.
3. DownLadders: Warming up first, like ladders but starting high and working down.
4. Squares: 1st day: 3 sets of 3, 2nd day: 4 sets of 4, etc.
I continued this way until I got up to around 15 sets of 15. (Keep in mind that I wasn't doing much else in the way of strength training besides pushups and BW squats, and weighed around 150 pounds.) When I test I got around 30 (KEEP A TRAINING LOG OF EVERYTHING. I didn't and am now kicking myself).
This is when I made the switch to adding weight. My theory for this was simple: I wanted to get good at one big set, so I should practice at doing one big set. Out was the idea of doing multiple lower volume sets. Also, I thought about weak point training, just like somebody might for bench or squat, and I started focusing on weaker areas (holding at the top for example). An example of a workout:
warmup: BWx8
Work Set: Chosen weight x as many good reps as a could squeeze out. Good = chin above bar, slight pause at top and bottom, no 'kipping'.
Work Set: about 50% of the reps of the first work set
Weak point training: For this I would do one of the following:
- 3 position static holds. Jump up to the very top of the pullup, hold, lower to where the upper arms are parallel to the ground, hold, just above the start position, hold. Brutal.
- Half pullups. Weak in the top? Do only the top half. Ditto with the bottom. Strictly.
- Grip training. Put on heavy ass weight, hold on for dear life. To do big pullups, you must have strong hands.
So in actuality I only do 2 'real' sets. Increase the weight every workout, until you get down to around 3-5 reps for the first work set, and then start over. Try to best the number of reps you used on each weight. I still use this method.
