Coach Fox demonstrates a mature inverted position during a wall walk. Note the hollow body position and full extension of his knees and elbows. The tighter you can make yourself the better!
So Close To a Pull-Up…
By David Osorio
Originally published on 1.8.2013
Are you “so close” to a pull-up? Do you feel like it’s within reach but has still eluded you despite your most sincere efforts? Below are three things I think will help folks who are close to pulling body weight get over the bar.
Start with Chin-Ups
Chin-ups are easier than pull-ups and you’re more likely to get your first chin-up sooner than your first pull-up so it’s a pretty good place to start. In my experience once a couple chins have been developed the pull-up magically shows up a lot faster. That being said, both versions are totally legit and huge milestones for anyone who didn’t have them before. Chins are also easier for people to organize well. The upper arm is already rotated into a more stable position and the last few inches over the bar usually involve less neck craning and wiggling. Once you can do about 3-5 chin-ups you’ll be a lot closer (if not already there) to the pull-up. When performing chin-ups, keep your hands just inside shoulder width and imagine pulling the bar down to your chest, not pulling yourself up to it. That cue usually helps people fire the upper back and pull the elbows posteriorly during the ascent, both good things.
Keep The Reps Low
If you’re struggling to get your first pull-up, your muscles experience the effort as a near maximal exertion. You’re going for something that you’ll only be able to do 1 rep of (right now), so when we train to develop our first pull-up a lot of our reps should look and feel pretty similar. Several doubles or singles with just enough resistance to clear the bar is better than high volume sets of 5 or 10 with much more assistance. If you were a 1 rep max obsessed lifter, you wouldn’t spend all your time doing sets of 5 and 10, you’d perform submax singles, doubles and triples more often to get your body ready for the effort. Here are two examples of productive training sessions:
7 sets of 1 rep with ample rest
5 sets of 2-3 reps with ample rest
“Ample rest” could be anywhere from a minute to three minutes depending on how much you require to get another successful rep. Because this is going to be a strain, make sure to warm-up with some ring rows and more heavily assisted pull-ups. 2-3 sets of 5 reps should be sufficient.
When you’re scaling workouts, use the lowest volume option possible. 20 pipping pull-ups as Rx-ed on the workout might be 5 chin-ups for you. That component of the workout won’t have anywhere near the same conditioning effect but depending on your goals that might be okay.
That being said, a little volume isn’t a bad thing. Just remember that if you want to get a pull-up you’ve got to train in a way that feels similar to your goal.
Resistance Matters
While the big jump-stretch bands can be a valuble tool in this process, they shouldn’t the only or even the majority of assistance you use. In my opinion, having a good spotter is ideal. Someone who knows how to give you just enough help to make you finish the rep without any jerky movement, uneven assistance or too much pushing. You’ve got good hands on you if you never get “stuck” anywhere in the rep but still work really hard at the most difficult positions (the very top and the first few inches at the bottom). The range of motion should be smooth and you should be able maintain good organization throughout. Another option is using a band just below what you can do on your own and having a partner gently push you through the finish. Depending on the size, height and strength of everyone involved, sometimes this is a more practical solution and can lead to better spotting. If you’re working with someone who is not a coach or giving you too much/too little/weird help, tell them what you feel and work together to make it better. One major problem with bands alone is that at the top of a rep you’re getting the least help since the band tension decreases as you ascend. If you’re flying solo, choose a band that helps you get all the way over the bar, not just enough so that when you reach your chin can barely make it over the bar. That’s a no rep.
Hopefully these three tips can help you find some success with getting your first pull-up. Make your goal to not only do it, but do it well. If you train smart in the beginning and pay attention to your neck and shoulder positions you’ll develop a solid foundation to build off of. If you make your emphasis simply getting any sliver of your chin over the bar, things will be a lot slower and less awesome for you. To see exactly what I’m talking about, watch this MobilityWOD: Stop The Pull-Up Chicken Necking People!
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What Powerlifting Tells Us About The Effects Of PEDs FiveThirtyEight
Strong Gym: Inside A Strength Training Gym Inside the Affiliate
The Leap This American Life
Wednesday's Programming
Front Squat
Fitness: 3 x 3 Linear Progression
Performance: Work up to a Heavy Single (80-90% of 1RM), then Max Reps at 50% of 1RM (capped at 20)
Post loads to comments.
e1/6
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Fitness
3 Rounds, AMRAP in 3 Minutes:
10 Pull Ups or Ring Rows
15 Push Ups
20 Lunges
Rest 3 Minutes between rounds. Pick up where you left off.
Performance
3 Rounds, AMRAP in 3 Minutes:
5 Strict Handstand Push Ups
10 Pull Up (high bar in front of pull up statiion)
15 Pistols
Rest 3 Minutes between rounds. Pick up where you left off.
Post rounds and Rx to comments.
Or do strength cycle. I was so close to a chinup, then I did my first strength cycle in 2011 and bam! I had one. (My first chinup in my entire life, at age 33! Miracles do happen.) First pullup followed shortly thereafter.
Or… follow Coach Fox's pull-up program ( see CFSBK Articles and Media) That's how I got mine and I'll never forget how amazing it felt when I finally got my chin over that bar.
Monday's WOD at LIU:
Floor press 3×5 @ 75#
Haven't benched in over 6 months. Very nervous about this movement, especially without any guidance on my form/spotters. Going to stay at a relatively light/medium weight, especially until I'm more comfortable in going full depth.
Deadlift Heavy 5 @ 215#
About 15# below what I wanted to hit for today for the beginning of the cycle. The bars are so slimy here, couldn't get a grip on them to save my life. Tried rubbing my hands on the rubber floor because I was getting desperate….but i GUESS i can blame it partially on grip strength, cause if i had the hands to do a badass hook grip, this wouldnt have been much of an issue.
Been needing more of a cardio kick since i've laid off more recently, just went for a 1 mile sprint. In treadmill context, that would be "speed 9.0, in 6:40"….TREADMILL PR!!!
6am. Front squats: 135×5, 185×3, 225×2, 245×1 (85%), 145×20. The rep at 245 moved well. Should have done a rep at 255 but I wasn't paying enough attention to my percentages. The front squat rep out was considerably harder than the bench rep out yesterday. Quads were on fire for the last few reps. Metcon: 6 rounds + 1 HSPU. All HSPU unbroken. Butterfly kipped all of the pull-ups, also unbroken. Rack assisted pistols as I'm still lacking the mobility to do them freestanding. Noticed that my balance is almost there if I stretch for my toe at the bottom. Jess suggested I work on these during standardized warm-ups.
I've been bad about posting, so here are a couple of make-ups:
Sunday, noon class
Snatches are definitely one of my weakest movements, so I came in pretty unsure of what I was actually going to accomplish here. That said, I managed to get up to 125×5 for the touch and go power snatches, which surprised me, given that that's not much below my actual 1RM that I seem to have trouble hitting again. I came in for OG on Friday night to work on snatches, and David gave me some great feedback on my issues with the third pull (I tend to let the bar just float up after my second pull, instead of really trying to get under it), so being cognizant of that helped me a lot here, and these all felt great. That translated well into the WOD for me. I did the fitness version RX'd and finished in 8:40.
Monday, 7:30 class
Glad to see bench and deadlifts back in this cycle, on the same day no less. Meathead Mondays #1. For bench, I hit my heavy single at 215 (which, admittedly, was not my best rep, as my butt started to lose contact with the bench), and then backed off to 115 for the rep out and hit 20 without much of a problem. For deadlifts, I did 325×5. My positioning stayed fairly solid. I used hook grip here, and the pain it caused my thumbs was really the limiting factor. Still, I have traditionally ALWAYS used mixed grip at this weight, so sticking with hook is a win. I ended up doing tabata rows (+1, as my machine was set for 9 rounds) and finished with some like 12-11-11-10-9-8-7-7-7 for calories.
I just recently got my first chin up since I was in high school too! I think I've proudly told about half the coaches like the total dork that I am.
Honestly, I think warm up two from the last cycle is what got me there, mixed with general programming, of course. Since I hated the running in warm up one I probably ended up doing WU two a little too often. I'm pretty excited about it though! 🙂 🙂
Pull ups for everyone!
8am (blech) lifting session
Squat
230×5
265×5
300×5
Deadlift
265x10x5
plus
5×10 Hollow Rock
Monday workout:
Bench: 165x5x3. DL: 275×5
The last 3 months of my life have been the least conditioned I've been in over five years. Between a trip to Spain, being nomadic before finding an apartment, and then working nonstop in November, it's been rough. It's remarkably humbling to have my strength numbers be so low in comparison to where they've been. I decided to restart this cycle and do the fitness linear progressions, and to try to post on the blog.
Bench felt good, if rusty. Deadlift also felt good. Hookgripped it, which is definitely new. Thanks to KH for watching my work set.
6 am, did Wednesday's workout.
Front Squat: 115 lbs x 3 x 3. According to my squat therapist (Jess Fox) these looked pretty good. Gives me hope that I can get my back squats in order soon.
WOD: 4 rounds, finished the ring rows and 5 push-ups of a fifth round. Did incline pushups against the side of a power rack because my pushups are just not there yet (let's not even talk about pull-ups).
Cash out: Tabata side planks. Also known as "death."
Oly Class.
Power snatch with just one shift from the knee today and adding an overhead squat. 68 x 2, 73 x 2, 68 x 2, 73 x 2, 68 x 2, 73 x 2. Found myself pressing out at 73# so moved up and down in weight until it felt good.
Dead hang clean- 53 x 3 x 3.
Clean and jerk- 83 x 2 x 2, 78 x 2 x 3.
Some DU practice. Tried a shorter rope (thanks Fox) Now I need to get used to that but I think it felt better.
CRASH-Bs
2 x rounds 10 x RDL, 10 x goblet squats, 5 x chin-ups. 20kg KB
Recovery row- 20-40mins @16SPM
10 mins 2.24.0 14SPM 2137M
Left knee felt funny so I stopped. If it isn't one knee it's the other…. 🙁
Okay after a FULL TWO WEEKS OFF from training, I came back in for a little work today. Feeling rested and not in pain, so that's good!
First day training with my R lifting shoe shimmed (.5 inch). Here's to a new era.
Row 3 min (600m)
Mobility: foam roll tspine, orb lats, pecs, triceps, post shoulder
3 RDS: 5 push up, downward dog, :30 hollow hold
Crossover Symmetry. This felt hard b/c I haven't done it in a while!
Deadlift: 135×5, 165×3, 185×2
195x3x3
This is 10# off where I finished in my LP 2 weeks ago. Felt good, pretty speedy, no issues.
DB Press: 3×5 20# each side (single arm). L arm is so much harder/slower, but motor control was there.
6am with Jess and McD
Bench Press: Worked up to 220 for a single. It moved fast, and I think my max might be somewhere north of where I thought going into today (245). Rep out at 110 for 20 reps.
Deadlift: I bailed on this after a couple reps into the 3rd warmup set at 225. There's some tightness in my left lower back that began to lean more toward pain than tightness during the deadlift. I don't know if it's from sitting so much while travelling, or if I aggravated it doing something else, but I don't think heavy deadlifts are the answer right now. Hopefully I can train smart for the next few days and let it heal up. Any suggestions for soft tissue work for the lower back that I can do at home would are welcome.
WOD: Opted for the tabata row. I think I ended up with about 64 calories. It felt about like you would expect a tabata row to feel.
Another make-up post…
Office Yesterday:
Front Squat (unbelted)
95×5 135×5 185×4 225×3 250x3x4 250x2x2
Pendlay row
135×5 185×5 210x5x5
Chin-ups
3×9
Barbell Curl
70x8x3
Toes to Bar
5×12
Oly class this morning:
Snatch
40×3 50×2 60×1 70×1 76xM,1 81xM,1,M,1,M,1
Went 5 for 5 at 80 last week so this was a bummer, was leaving them out in front or pushing them forward standing up too fast. Frankie had me sit in the bottom with my last rep which helped, and wasn't that uncomfortable (usually past 70kg I tend to try to bounce out of the bottom).
Tall Clean
50×3 60x3x3
Clean and 2 jerk
50×1 60×1 70×1 80×1 85×1,1,1,1,1
6am.
FSQ: 175x3x3. Felt heavier than I would have liked but moved well.
WOD: subbed 5 strict pull-ups since I can't fully grip the bar. Finished 6 rounds + 3 pull-ups.
The link to MobilityWOD: Stop The Pull-Up Chicken Necking People! from David's original post has moved. It's now here: http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/10/episode-325-stop-the-pull-up-chicken-necking-people/
6am
FSQ: 175x3x3
this moved well, I stayed upright
Metcon with 1 abmat: 7 rounds + 1 HSPU
The abmat was a good choice because it was still challenging but I was able to keep moving. Pistols were hard after about the 1 millionth one. butterfly pullups the whole way, first time in a workout for me. I still don't link them well and I had to make up some no-reps, but they felt better than ever.
Cashout: 5 rounds each side tabata side plank
high fives for pull-ups.
Thanks for the catch, jordan!
Brad,
Chat with me or any coach in more detail next time you're at the gym. Things to think about now:
You were correct to ease off on DLs, especially since you're capable of pulling so much. Identify positions or movements that aggravate it and ease off them as well as seeking out modalities that make it better like soft tissue work and heat. If it's simply tightness in your deep hip flexors or spinal erectors from recent traveling you should expect to be more normal after a few days of mobilizing and not demanding anything challenging from the area. Again- hard to really know over the computer. Chat with us in person so we can dig further.
start here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsyu2Fy_FyA
Wednesday's Programming:
Front Squats: 3×135, 2×165, 3x3x185: got through the 3 sets at 185 but they were probably too heavy for the first exposure in the cycle. Will have to go slow with the jumps.
Performance WOD: 2 rounds plus 4 pistols. I've been trying to get pistols for a long time and have been working on them after class a lot recently. Today was the first time I attempted them in a WOD. So, I'm quite happy to have gotten through over 2 rounds. The pistols were the slow part of this workout for me, especially the left leg. Failed about 1/3 of the ones I tried on the left. Thanks to Arturo who saw me practicing pistols months ago and suggested I stop using the rack as a crutch.
Thanks DO!
Lax ball with feet up on my coffee table already has me feeling better. I was cry laughing for about 10 minutes when I found the trigger point.
Grindin today.
Hand snatch knee+hang snatch below knee
198
220
231
220
Hang Clean doubles
220
253
286
3 Second paused Front squat, Heavy single, -15%x3x3
330
353x
297x3x3
Came in for 7:30 class (yes, it does happen). I had to interview someone at 9 AM and I just couldn't bring myself to get up for 6 AM.
FSQ 175, although of course I heard "a little lower!" Made sure not to do any bullshit reps on the 100×20 rep-out. Sigh. Clearly I CAN get to the bottom.
Fitness WOD with 5 kips per round, otherwise I would have been staring at the bar too much. Not that I did awesomely on kips tonight. Sigh. I'm not sure whether I got 4 rounds + 10 lunges or 5 rounds + 10 lunges, because I kept forgetting to mark my whiteboard when I finished a round.
I still like WODing in the morning better, but it was nice to have time after class for some parallette calf mashing.
8:30 – Noah – Monday's Work
Bench –
135×10
185×5
205×1
215×1
115×20
Felt Meh. My max is 225, but I did see/hear a bunch of tips from Noah tonight that I'm definitely going to try and incorporate in to this cycle…finally heard a good explanation as to why shoulders are back.
DL –
135×5
225×5
255×5
275×5
I was really thrilled with this. I've pretty much had a reconstruction of my DL over the last year, and this is the first cycle I'm really feeling confident I can make some strides. No pain at all in my back tonight and kept my hook grip in the whole time. Hoping to add the prescribed 30-50#'s this cycle on this.
Conditioning –
Tabata Assault Bike –
YESSSSSSS – glad this was added to the gym. Was definitely challenging, but not too bad. Did the 20on – 10 off standard tabata. Got 58cals…gonna try and beat it next time.