The A-Z Of Pull Up Training: Part 1 (A-M)
By Graham Hayes
A – Active Shoulder The shoulders are said to be active in the pull up if they are shrugged or “in the ears” at the bottom phase of the pull up, and pulled back as the athlete begins to ascend. Pursuing active use of the shoulders in the pull up gives a longer line of motion thus more work and more power. It facilitates the swing in the kipping pull up, meaning faster cycle time and more pull ups. And also protects the shoulders from the harsh loads that can occur from a plyometric exercise like the kipping pull up. Training tip: Practice shrugging while hanging with full arm extension from a pull up bar or rings to develop your shoulders strength.
B – Big Chest A pull up should be led with the chest. This is facilitated by pulling the shoulders back and looking up. Training tip: Reinforce the big chest by Pulling to the bar so that your chest makes contact.
C – “C” Shape The beginning of the kipping pull up is initiated by driving the chest forward and letting your feet go behind. In profile your body will be in a “C” shape.
D – Dead Hang Pull Up A dead hang pull up is a pull up from the bottom position of the pull up where no momentum or conserved tension will assist the next pull up. This is a useful style of pull up for building strength in beginner ath letes.Training tip: Although harder than strict pull ups it’s possible to rest in the hang and get a few more pull ups. Try getting 2 or 3 more when you think you’re spent on a max pull up test.
E – Elbow Driven When ascending don’t think about flexing your arms, instead visualise driving your elbows down to the ground.
F – Firty-Forty-Fifty Pull Ups Some guys might think their hot stuff doing a set of fifteen half range of motion pull ups at the health spa, but for a real CrossFit standard of performance you need to be thinking thirty. Then forty. Then fifty. Everyone is capable of getting thirty pull ups, those that never make it are simply lazy. Beyond fifty is the realm of specialisation, if you love pull ups then push beyond the half century. If you have less than thirty pull ups now, then resolve to fix it within a year.
G – Grease The Groove Grease the groove is a method made popular by Pavel T where short non-challenging sets of an exercise are taken throughout the day. For example an athlete with a max of twenty pull ups will do a set of ten at three different times in a day. He’ll focus on staying fresh and making each rep a quality rep. This is a great way to boost your max set. Training tip: Set up a permanent pull up bar in a place you go by several times a day. Every time you pass the pull up bar, do a set of pull ups at 40-60% of your best.
H – Hanging Hanging from the bar is a good way for beginners to build arboreal strength.The stronger athlete can hang with varying degrees of arm flexion up to the top of the pull up. This is an isometric exercise and will build strength quickly and also work your grip. Training tip: Do competitive hang offs with a training partner to see who is the last athlete hanging. This adds some fun to a boring and painful exercise.
I – Injuries The most common injury with large amounts of pull up training is to the tendons on the inside of the elbows. At it’s most pleasant they will be a little tender the next day, at it’s worst you won’t be able to extend your arms at all. Keep an eye on the volume of pull ups that you are doing or planning to do. Going from 100 a month to 100 a day is a good way to lose the use of your arms. Remember to build the volume incrementally. And never be ashamed to scale a workout if the volume is much higher than you have been previously doing. However if like the author you aren’t too bright and overenthusiastic about training, both requisites for a high fitness level, then you will inevitably mess your arms up. I found that gentle exercises without weights that move the shoulder through its ranges of motion without arm flexion to be beneficial as gravity tugs softly at your elbow joint. Examples are front raises, lateral raises and slow swinging of the arm in clockwise and anti-clockwise, remember all without weights and keeping the arm as straight as your injuries allow. I also stand for Iron Woody bands that can be bought from the crossfit london shop. The bands mean that anyone can perform body weight exercises
J – Jumping Pull Ups The jumping pull up is a great exercise, it’s useful for the beginner to experience high intensity work with the pull up and at high volumes it will leave any athlete gassed. The pull up bar needs to be low enough that you can jump properly while holding onto the bar. You simply jump and pull with the arms at the same time, then lower quickly landing on your feet with legs slightly bent ready for the next jump. Training tip: Try to get 100 of these in one set, or do them using the Tabata interval.
K – Kipping Pull Ups These are the king of the pull ups and the default style for CrossFit workouts. It’s performed by creating momentum in the horizontal plane and transferring it to the vertical by a powerful reversal of hip direction timed with a pull of the arms. With all pull ups the work done is the same, the cycle time in the kipping pull up is much faster than any other pull up thus the power is much greater. More power means more fitness. Training tip: If not already your pull up of choice then start learning the kip and make them your default pull up. Doing this exercise using the Tabata interval is an excellent gauge of your ability, shoot for 100 total reps in the eight intervals.
L – L-Pull Ups L-pull ups are the daddy of the strict pull ups. While hanging from the bar flex at the hips so that your legs are parallel to the ground, and at right angles to your body. Then pull without any jerking in the torso until your head is over the bar. The set is terminated when the feet drop below the bottom. Training tip: Not ready for the L position? Tucking your legs, or keeping them straight with the feet lower are sound ways to lower the load of this challenging exercise.
M – Muscle Ups The pull up is a gateway movement to the muscle up. The muscle up is a basic gymnastics exercise that can be performed on a horizontal bar or rings, it combines a pull up and a dip. The athlete performs a pull up and then rolls his arms into the bottom position of a dip before pressing into the support position. This movement requires good strength and coordination to get through the transition. Training tip: Haven’t got a muscle up? Perform lots of ring pull ups and dips concentrating on full range of motion. 10 rounds of: 10 ring pull ups, 10 ring dips is a sure fire way to build the strength you need.
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