How to train for pull ups??? Grease the groove!

[Beng_003]

Grease the Groove for Strength

by Pavel TsatsoulineThis guy was an physical training instructor in the Soviet Special Forces-the Spetsnaz,so he knows what he is saying.

Your grandmother used to tell you: to get good at something, you must do it often, do it a lot, and do it to the exclusion of other things. Yet you never listened, why you little..! If you did, how would you ever get the bright idea of deadlifting once every two weeks and doing ten assistance exercises for the bench press?

Specificity + frequent practice = success. It is so obvious, most people don't get it. Once I came across a question posted on a popular powerlifting website by a young Marine: how should he train to be able to do more chin-ups? I was amused when I read the arcane and non-specific advice the trooper had received: straight-arm pull-downs, reverse curls, avoiding the negative part of the chin-up every third workout... I had a radical thought: if you want to get good at chin-ups, why not try to do... a lot of chin-ups? Just a couple of months earlier I had put my father-in-law Roger Antonson, incidentally an ex-Marine, on a program which required him to do an easy five chins every time he went down to his basement. Each day he would total between twenty-five and a hundred chin-ups hardly breaking a sweat. Every month or so Roger would take a few days off and then test himself. Before you knew it, the old leatherneck could knock off twenty consecutive chins, more than he could do forty years ago during his service with the few good men!

A few months later Roger sold his house and moved to an apartment. A paranoid Stalinist that I am, I suspected that he plotted to work around the 'chin every time you go to the basement' clause. By the degree of the Politbureau Comrade Antonson was issued one of those 'Door Gym' pull-up bars. Roger wisely conceded to the will of the Party and carried on with his 'grease the chin-up groove' program. Roger Ivanovich's next objective is a one-arm chin. He just does not know it yet.

My father, a Soviet Army officer, had me follow an identical routine in my early testosterone years. My parents' apartment had a built in storage space above the kitchen door (it is a Russian design, you wouldn't understand). Every time I left the kitchen I would hang on to the ledge and crank out as many fingertip pull-ups as I could without struggle. Consequently, high school pull-up tests were a breeze.

Both Roger and I got stronger through the process of synaptic facilitation. Neurogeeks never got around to telling iron heads that repetitive and reasonably intense stimulation of a motoneuron increases the strength of its synaptic connections and may even form new synapses. Translated in English it means that multiple repetitions of a bench press will 'grease up' this powerlift's groove. More 'juice' will reach the muscle when you are benching your max. The muscle will contract harder and you will have a new PR to brag about. Four times powerlifting world record holder Dr. Judd Biasiotto set up a bench in his kitchen, got in the habit of hitting it every time he was in the area and put up a 319BP @ 132!

Obviously, you do not have to be a Commie weightlifter with Rocky IV pharmacy to benefit from high volume heavy training. Here is how you can to set up a 'grease the groove' program for one rep max strength or for strength endurance in your dungeon:

1. Intensity

The science of motor learning explains that an extreme, all out movement is operated by a program different from that used for the identical task performed at a moderate intensity. As far as your nervous system is concerned, throwing a football for maximum distance is a totally different ball game than passing it ten yards, no pun intended. According to Russian scientist Matveyev (yeah, the chap who invented periodization), you must train with at least 80% 1RM weights if you intend to make a noticeable impact on your max. According to Prof. Verkhoshansky, another mad scientist from the Empire of Evil, for elite athletes this minimal load is even higher -85% 1RM. Yet many comrades will be very successful greasing the groove with 60-80% weights as long they emphasize the competitive technique -high tension, Power Breathing, etc.

Naturally, if you are training for strength endurance rather than absolute strength, you should train with lighter loads. To meet the Soviet Special Forces pull-up standard of eighteen consecutive dead hang reps stick to your bodyweight plus heavy regulation boots.

It is critical for the program's success that you avoid muscle failure as aerobic classes and rice cakes. Do not come even close to failure, whether you train for max or repetitions! A triple with a five-rep max or ten pull-ups if twenty is your PR will do the trick. The secret to this workout is performing a lot of work with reasonably heavy weights. Pushing to exhaustion will burn out your neuromuscular system and force you to cut back on the weights or tonnage.

2. Repetitions

According to former world weight lifting champion Prof. Arkady Vorobyev, one to six reps are optimal for training of high caliber weightlifters and increasing this number hinders strength development. Or, as Luke Iams put it, "Anything over six reps is bodybuilding."

Do more reps, and your body will think that you are practicing a totally different lift. Dr. Biasiotto who once squatted an unreal 605 @ 130 has switched to bodybuilding and knocks off 325x25 these days. His legs are no longer 'a pair of pliers in shorts' as they used to be in his days of heavy triples and world records, but he would be the first one to tell you that there is no way he could put up a massive single training this way.

Of course, for bodyweight pull-ups, push-ups, and other commando feats of staying power you will need to bump up the reps to satisfy the law of specificity. Roger Antonson worked up to training sets of nine by the time he set a personal record of twenty chin-ups.

3. Volume

Vitaly Regulyan, one of the top Russian benchers, does fifty to seventy heavy sets per lift! What are YOU waiting for? A permission from Mike Mentzer? Up the volume!

'High volume' does NOT mean a lot of reps with Barbie weights. Such training is good or nothing but a muscle pumper's virtual muscle. Do I sound like Anthony Dittillo? -Good, the man is right, give him a cigar! 'High volume' on the synaptic facilitation power plan means maximizing your weekly tonnage with heavy weights.

'Tonnage' -or 'poundage' if you are not up on the metric system -refers to the total weight lifted in a given period of time, for example a day, a week, a mesocycle. Say your best deadlift is 500x1 and last week you did the following pulls: 400x5/20, 450x2/50. Here is how to calculate your weekly deadlift poundage: (400x5x20) + (450x2x50) = 85,000. As this number grows, so will your strength, at least up to a point.

Make sure that volume does not come at the expense of intensity. Average intensity is calculated by dividing the poundage by the total number of lifts: 85,000 : 200 = 425 pounds. Intensity can be expressed in pounds or % 1RM. In the above example 425 pounds is 82,5% of 500 pounds one rep max; the intensity is on the money.

The strong man must make an effort to gradually build up both the volume and the intensity while making sure his body can handle the load and does not overtrain. Trite as it sounds, listen to your body.

4. Frequency

Prof. Vladimir Zatsiorsky, a Soviet strength expert who jump shipped from the Dark Side of the Force to America, summed up effective strength building as training as often as possible while being as fresh as possible. An eighties study by Gillam found that increasing training frequency up to five days a week improved the results in the bench press, something big Jim Williams knew a decade earlier when he benched in the neighbourhood of 700. Ditto for Dr. Judd. Before Biasiotto took up benching in the midst of his kitchen appliances, he had worked out in his training partner's spider web insulated and rat infested garage where he benched five times a week for fifteen heavy sets within an hour. That brutally efficient routine boosted skinny Judd's bench from 140 to 295 pounds in nine months!

Russian strength researchers discovered that fragmentation of the training volume into smaller units is very effective for promoting strength adaptation, especially in the nervous system. In other words, one set of five every day is better than five sets of five every five days.

It is even better if you chop up your daily workload into multiple sessions. Motor learning comrades know that while the total number of trials is important, the frequency of practice is even more critical than the total volume. Paul Anderson had it all figured out when he supersetted heavy triples in the squat with gallons of milk throughout the day. If you can swing it -all the power to you, people!

5. Exercise selection

Concentrate your gains on the snatch and the C&J, SQ-BP-DL, or any other few select lifts and forget assistance work! The synaptic facilitation approach is very powerful because it greases the specific groove of your pet feat. Additional exercises will just distract you from your purpose. I plan to expand on the cloudy issue of specificity of strength in a future article. For now, be a good Communist and show some blind faith!

The synaptic facilitation power plan can be summed up as lifting heavy weights as often as possible while staying 'fresh as a cucumber' (Russkies have a thing against daisies, you wouldn't understand). Contrary to what some snobby pantywaists believe, this heavy, high volume approach is not an iron fossil but one of the most scientific approaches to strength training there is.

[Beng_003]

6 week program for "zero fighters"

Let's say you are so weak that you can't even do a single chin up.Don't worry.But you can do flexed arm hang right? Remember this was an item during your primary school NAFA test? In more chim terms,the flexed arm hang is called a static hold.

So everyday,learn to do 5 sets of static holds 3 times daily.Hang there until your arms give way.Best if you have a bar at home,if not go to the fitness corner at your neighbourhood.By 2-3 weeks,you SHOULD be able to do 1 single chin up.

Once you can break that zero barrier,you are well on your way.Now,the program is such you do sets of 1 rep again for 3 times daily. Each time,you will do 8 sets of a single rep with 1-2 min break in between.So that's 24 chinups in a single day.

If you work hard enough,you SHOULD be able to progress from 1 rep to 3-4 rep within ONE week.When you can do 4 reps,continue with the 3x daily program,but do not do 8 sets of 4 reps,instead do 8 sets of 2.Remember when training for strength,always stop short of failure.

When your reps have gone up,it's time to cut down on volume,so you will do less sets.Hence when you can do 8 chins,you should do 4 sets of 6 reps and so on.

To make things clearer,

Week 1-2
Static holds daily-5 sets for 3 times

Week 3

8 sets of 1 rep for 3 times daily

Week 4

8 sets of 2 reps for 3 times daily

Week 5

6 sets of 4 reps for 3 times daily

Week 6(by this time,I assume you're knocking out 8 reps)

4 sets of 6 reps for 3 times daily.

You might be tempted to take the easy way out and do lat pull downs or assisted chins.Well,if you are a wimp,go ahead.My philosophy is always strive to make the movement harder,not easier-hence I do shoulder presses standing rather than seated.

I tell you,if you weigh 70kg and can do 6 reps of 70kg on the pull down machine DOESNT mean you can do 6 bodyweight chin ups.It's a fact.I experienced that before.The way to train chin ups is to do the movement itself,not do a wimpy machine movement as a substitute.Bodyweight exercises will always be harder than machines,indeed they are a totally different ball game together.

Good luck with the program! Any questions please ask!

[Beng_003]

Pullups: A Matter of Function

John Allstadt



Take a look around the majority of gyms in America , and what will you see?

Guys bench pressing. Guys incline pressing. Guys working their chest and arms into a state of non-functional pump. Some of these characters can even bench press decent weights without the aid of support gear (although, if I were they, I wouldn't go bragging to any power lifters). In fact, bench presses above and beyond 300 pounds are almost common in the commercial gyms of today.

You know what I say to that? I say whoopadeedo. Who cares? What can these guys deadlift? What can they squat? What can they clean, or overhead press, or snatch with dumbbells or barbells or, God forbid, kettlebells? What can these guys lift in any of the numerous lifts that require true functional strength? Last but certainly not least, what can these guys pullup or chin?

The unfortunate answer to all of these questions is-diddley squat.

(Please understand that I mean no offense to powerlifters. A big bench press can be an impressive thing in CONJUNCTION with lifts that display all-around power, such as the deadlift or squat. One-trick ponies do not impress me, particularly when it comes to the bench press.)

Let's focus on what are possibly the simplest of the aforementioned lifts: pullups and chins. I have personally witnessed 300+ pound bench pressers failing to do a set of 5 measly pullups. For that matter, I know of one man who can incline press 400 pounds (400!), yet who, on being coaxed into a set of pullups, hit failure at three reps. Three reps! This is a pathetic state of affairs.

It wasn't always this way. Consider the following pullup and chinup performances of some of the strength game's true greats. John Grimek and Olympic lifting legend John Davis could both chin themselves six or seven times with EITHER ARM, at bodyweights of around 200 pounds. Eugene Sandow could perform a one-arm chin with ANY ONE OF HIS TEN FINGERS, at a bodyweight of around 190. Marvin Eder could perform 11 one-arm pullups at a bodyweight of no less than 195, and also do 80 (that's right, 80) consecutive two-arm pullups. For you smaller guys, consider the many gymnasts out there who can perform numerous one-arm pullups, or even more frightening, the rock climbers of today who can chin themselves with as much as 150% of bodyweight.... with ONE arm! And of course, for you really big guys, think about this: Bert Assarti, a strength legend from the early 1940's, could chin himself three times with either arm at a bodyweight of 265 pounds! Mr. Assarti could also do a two-arm pullup with over 200 pounds of additional weight strapped to his body. Keep in mind that all of these performances were done well before anabolic steroids reared their ugly heads.

Now that you have a little inspiration, let's talk about how to train for pullup and chinning strength.As with most lifts, there are numerous ways to train for pullup power, as long as one stays within a general set of rules.

Rule number one: in accordance with Pavel's logic, forget about training to failure. You can train close, within a rep or two, and occasionally (perhaps once or twice a month) push a set all out (read: A SET), but if you train to failure often, forget about achieving true pullup power, and start worrying about your frayed and shattered nerves.

Rule number two: Vary your grip . I know that Pavel believes in overhand pullups first and foremost, and I do too. However, if you are not a member of SWAT personnel, and do not have to climb walls and ledges on a regular basis, go ahead and vary your grip. Doing so will ward off boredom, and train your neural pathways to a wider degree. Grips worth using are: 1) Overhand or underhand, with or without thumbs. 2) Neutral grip--the best way to do these would be to drape a thick towel over the bar for maximum grip work.

Worthless techniques 1) Wide grip pullups and 2) Pullups behind the neck. For some reason, boobybuilders think that a very wide grip makes for very wide lats! Ha! This is bogus for a few reasons, the first being the greatly reduced range of motion, the second being the greatly reduced leverage, and the third being the extreme stress on your rotator cuffs. Optimal leverage is extremely important in strength training.

Question: would you try to pull a heavy deadlift on your toes with a rounded back? I didn't think so. As for pullups behind the neck, the same reasons apply. Do yourself and your shoulders a favor--keep your grip slightly wider than shoulder width or less, and pull to your chest, not to the back of your neck. And no grip aids please! (chalk is o.k.)

Rule number three: You can vary the number of reps you use, just don't do it excessively. Pick a training goal. If it is maximum muscular endurance, stick primarily to high reps. If it is maximum pullup power, stick with five reps or less ( I prefer lower reps and use high rep DBell or KBell quick lifts for muscular endurance. Just a matter of preference).

Every so often, do the exact opposite of your current routine. If you are training low reps go high one workout, and if you are doing high reps try for some heavy sets of 3-5. That being said, there seems to be a fair degree of carryover either way, so don't sweat it if you are in a situation where you can only train high reps.

There really aren't any "tricks" to training pullups. In my training, there are only two things I do that I suppose one could consider "tricks". The first, and I have been doing this for as long as I can remember, is to alternate sets of overhead presses with my pullups. Not superset, but alternate. Do a set of presses ( whether they be handstand pushups, barbell or dumbbell presses, or kettlebell presses). Rest about a minute, then do a set of pullups. Rest another minute and go back to presses, and so on and so forth. This method not only saves time, but also allows the antagonist muscle groups to relax as the other muscle groups are working.

The second "trick" is to go out and find something weird and hard to do pullups on, such as rafters, door frames, or a sturdy tree branch. I do this for the variety, but more for the experience, just in case I happen to be stuck somewhere where there are no training facilities and I am forced to improvise ( this HAS happened to me, and I'm sure it will happen to you).

One of the great things about pullups is that with a little imagination, you can do them just about anywhere.

[Coverlayer]

I could not agree less with the thread starter. But I do find it strange why the pull bars in Singapore are very shiny and smooth. Just wonder if the designer or the fabricator realise how slippery it is do pull up.

Fortunately, while I was in Singapore, I was lived among the soldiers so all the bars were wrapped with bicycle rubber tyre.

[Beng_003]

Originally Posted by Coverlayer

I could not agree less with the thread starter. But I do find it strange why the pull bars in Singapore are very shiny and smooth. Just wonder if the designer or the fabricator realise how slippery it is do pull up.

Fortunately, while I was in Singapore, I was lived among the soldiers so all the bars were wrapped with bicycle rubber tyre.

It is better this way,slippery=harder to do=good for grip and forearm strength.Having rubber padding on the bar=easier to do=not so good for grip and forearm strength.

[Coverlayer]

OK. But for me I rather work specific part of my body.

Originally Posted by Beng_003

It is better this way,slippery=harder to do=good for grip and forearm strength.Having rubber padding on the bar=easier to do=not so good for grip and forearm strength.

[Beng_003]

Originally Posted by Coverlayer

OK. But for me I rather work specific part of my body.

Having a stronger grip+forearms=better in pullups=more lat development....if that is what you want

This "isolation" mentality ah....sighzzz...

[Beng_003]

From Brook Kublick's Dinosaur Training

WHY THICK BARS WORK

Thick bars develop levels of muscular size and strength that cannot be duplicated with any other equipment. Thick bars are very difficult to control. Compared to an Olympic barbell, a bar with a 2" or 3" diameter seems like a log. Can you imagine bench pressing, pressing or curling a telephone pole? That's what it feels like when you use a thick handled barbbell. You cannot rely on style, form, timing or technique to complete a lift. You have to do it with sheer strength. To paraphrase Dr. Ken Leistner, "all you can do is lie back and push" when you bench with a thick handled bar. That's one reason why thick bar work is so effective. It imposes a tremendous burden on the muscles, tendons and ligaments-a far, far greater burden than a regular bar imposes.

THE MIND-MUSCLE CONNECTION

A second reason why thick bar work is so beneficial is that the bar forces you to involve your forearms, hands, wrists and fingers to a far greater degree than does a conventional bar. This in turn causes a stronger mind-muscle link, which inevitably leads to greater gains in muscular size and strength. Have I lost you? Stay with me, I will explain everything.

What do I mean when I talk about a "mind-muscle link"? I mean the connection between your brain and your nervous system. Whenever you lift a weight, the lift begins with the brain consciously directing the muscles to push or pull in a particular direction. The message from the brain is carried to the muscles via the nervous system. When the muscles receive the message, they respond by pushing or pulling in the manner directed by the brain. That's the mind-muscle link: the connection between the brain, the nervous system and the muscles.

Messages from the brain to the muscles are transmitted by nerve impulses. The strength of each individual nerve impulse, the total number of nerve impulses, and the frequency with which nerve impulses are transmitted from brain to muscle is one of the most crucial factors in the amount of force you can exert in any given lift. I have no research studies to cite and no way to prove that my opinion is correct, but I firmly believe that using thick bars in your training causes an increase in the strength of individual nerve impulses, the total number of nerve impulses and the frequency of transmission of nerve impulses.

As I noted above, thick bars are terribly awkward and extremely difficult to handle. You have to adjust the bar's path constantly as you lift it or else you will get hopelessly out of the groove almost immediately. There has to be constant feedback between the brain and the muscles. I believe that the necessity of constant feedback causes a stronger mind-muscle link and I believe that this is one very important reason why thick bar work is so incredibly productive.

GREAT FOR THE GRIP

Thick bars are terrific for strengthening the forearms, wrists, thumbs and fingers. Any exercise you do with a thick bar automatically becomes a test of hand and finger strength. Pulling movements are almost impossible with a thick bar, curling movements are incredibly rugged and even pressing exercises are downright nasty when you do them with a thick bar. As a dinosaur, you will be doing plenty of specialized grip work, but be aware that you will work your grip savagely by simply using a thick bar instead of a regular bar for your upper body movements.

THICK BARS AND SPINELESS WIMPS

There is yet another important thing about thick bars. Wimps, yups and wannabe's won't go near them. Muscle pumpers and drug babies wouldn't touch a thick bar on a bet. The chrome and fern crowd would rather give up their Evian water and celery sticks than try to lift a thick handled bar. You may think I'm kidding but I'm deadly serious about this. Before I started training in the sanity of my basement gym, I took my 3" bar to the gym where I trained and I was always amused by the reaction.

Some guys literally ran away whenever they say the thing. They were very obviously intimated by the large, thick mass of iron. They always went over and found solace in the chrome plated dumbbells the gym owner had purchased from a women's spa that went out of business. The only guys who ever wanted to use the thing were Ted Solinger and Bruce Bullock, who later became my training partners in my home gym. In other words, the thick handled bar was a great way to tell who was serious about training and who was content to "sculpt" and "shape" and do meaningless movements with chrome-plated baby weights.

If I ever open a gym I will stock it with thick handled barbells and dumbbells. Doing so would be a great way to discourage the wimps and yups and talkers from joining the gym. One look at the thick handled bars and the twinkie crowd would run for cover. So would the muscle pumpers-they would immediately realize that lifting a bar like that required STRENGTH and pumpers as a group are about as strong as undernourished kittens. The only guys who would go to a gym that featured lots and lots of thick bars would be the kind of guys who were interested in strength, power and physical challenges.