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Muscle Up – Pull Up Bar Training for Strength, Muscle & Power By Simon Boulter Copyright 2012 – Simon Boulter – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduction of this work or any part of this work in any way is not
permitted by copyright law and doing so without the permission of
the author is unlawful.
WARNING DISCLAIMER The information in this book is for informational purposes. The author Simon Boulter will NOT be held liable for damages or injury as a result of application of the material held within this book. Before you being ANY exercise routine you MUST consult your doctor
or physician before you start. If you have any existing health
problems, then you must seek clearance from a medical professional.
If at any time when exercising, you feel any pain or discomfort, you
must stop immediately and get the opinion of a doctor or medical
professional. The author will not be held responsible for any injury
sustained from using the material within this book. Train safe.
Muscle Up
The pull up bar is simple, cheap and easy to install. It might also be
the most important piece of training equipment that you ever buy, in
terms of unleashing ferocious strength.
Most magazines and advertisements will have you believe that you
need some kind of crazy and expensive fitness gadget or supplement
to get results, but all you need is your own body, and if you can find
one, a pull up bar.
Quite frankly saying ‘I don’t have a pull up bar’ doesn’t cut it, you can
find something to do pull ups on at any local park or playground.
Getting stronger at pull ups and the exercises in this book will aid you
in pretty much any sport in which you can play, being stronger, more
powerful and efficient on the playing field can only enhance your
performance.
Pull ups are often overlooked in a routine, as they are not as hip, cool
or ego boosting as many other exercises. You rarely hear anyone in a
gym ask how many pull ups you can do, instead the first question
asked is usually ‘how much do ya bench?’
For some reason the Bench Press is thought of as the king of upper
body strength exercises, and the holy grail. Even though training the
opposing muscle group, the upper back can dramatically increase
strength gains in all exercises including the bench press, everyone
still seems to want to bench, bench and bench some more. It seems
that people today don’t care about training a muscle if they can’t see
it in the mirror.
Well screw that, by training the whole body and hitting all of the
major muscle groups, we will be able to get far superior results. Stop
wasting time standing in front of the mirror and start pulling on that
bar!
Pull ups are one of the most beneficial exercises you can do.
Many athletes and trainees never tap into even a fraction of the
potential strength just waiting to be unleashed by training the upper
back properly, instead thy ignore it. Don’t become one of them. Grab
that pull up bar!
Pull Ups are just one of those exercises that impress people when
you crank out rep after rep with ease. Warriors, Gladiators and
athletes have been performing pull ups since Ancient Greece and the
beginning of the Olympic Games and long before that. However you
never hear of people in gyms today bragging about how many pull
ups they can do, it’s always how much they bench.
By training the upper back you can help prevent injury and keep your body healthy. Pull Ups train the trapezius, rear deltoids, latissimus dorsi and rhomboids. Keeping the upper back and back of the shoulders strong, can help prevent injury when bench pressing heavy and often.
In today’s society pushing exercises are far more commonly
performed than pulling exercises, with their bench presses making
athletes chest, deltoids and triceps far stronger than their pulling
muscles.
Strength imbalances such as this are a ticking time bomb and an
injury waiting to happen. When bench pressing you use your upper
back to lower the weight, from the point you unrack the bar to the
point the bar touches your chest you are significantly working your
lats to do lower the weight slowly and under control.
If your lats and the rest of your upper back are weak in comparison
to the muscles on the front of your upper body, you are more than
likely going to injure yourself and this is how so many athletes end
up with rotator cuff and other joint injuries from bench pressing!
Train the upper back hard and often and you will have a much better
chance of staying injury free. Simply performing hundreds of push
ups or bench press repetitions and ignoring the back muscles is
asking for injury.
For those who opt for Dumbbell and Barbell Bicep Curls instead of
training the back, this is ridiculous! Too many times I see gym goers
always bench pressing and then doing bicep curls and this is their
whole routine! Training with Pull Ups can give you Biceps that are
just as big as when you train with Bicep Curls.
Compound movements that use many muscles at once such as the
Pull Up, provide much more significant muscle and strength gains
than exercises that isolate just one muscles such as Bicep Curls. Start
pulling that bar and you’ll get strong arms and bigger biceps. Simple.
Pull Ups can give you big Biceps.
Most people don’t know how to train the upper back as they are
limited by their own imagination and creativity.
There are a ton of different ways to perform rows and pull ups and
other exercises that work the lats, traps and biceps. If you can’t yet
do a full Pull Up, don’t worry as I will show you how to build up to
one with a few exercises that will bring up your pulling strength on
the bar.
For me, there’s nothing more impressive than a set of lats that are so
big they look like wings, to me this is much more impressive than a
huge chest.
Don’t have a pull up bar you say? Rubbish. There are bars you can
use everywhere, such as local playgrounds, parks and even
woodlands have pull up bars. Tree branches, bus stop roofs can be
used for Pull Ups, even Basement steps!
This is why machines have become to go to exercises for the upper
back, people don’t know how else to train the back muscles!
The Pull exercises below are great for working your abdominals too,
grab that bar and get ready to get insane strength results.
Let me just get something out of the way before we move on,
because I am not one to listen to excuses. Just because you are a
heavyweight, does not mean you cannot do pull ups.
I weigh 155lbs and can perform pull ups wearing my bodyweight in
chains. That’s 300lbs I am lifting. What’s your excuse now?
If you can’t yet perform a full pull up, then get to work on some of
the easier variations below to help build yourself up to one. You
don’t need weights to get a big and strong back.
Work at your pull ups, you may not be able to become great at them
over night but put in the work and the strength gains you’ll get from
doing them are more than worth it.
The basics of pull ups
The phrase goes something like, don’t run before you can walk, well
that is very appropriate when it comes to strength training, in
particular pull up bar training. So let’s start with the basics.
Dead hangs
For the complete pull up novice, the dead hang is the best place the
start, especially if you are not strong enough to do chin ups, or even
flex hangs yet. Even for those like me who have been doing pull ups
for years, dead hangs can provide a fun and effective finisher to your
workout.
Be sure not to shrug the shoulders at all during dead hangs, you’ll
want your shoulders as loose and relaxed as possible to avoid
fatigue.
Flex hangs
To perform a flex hang, get yourself over the top of a pull up bar,
making sure that your chin stays over the bar at all times and then
your job is to stay in this position for as long as you possibly can. If
you can’t yet do any chin or pull ups, you can jump up, using your
legs to help you up to the top of the pull up position. When first
starting with flex hangs, I recommend using an underhand chin up
grip, however if you are already proficient with chin ups, use an
overhand or even a mixed grip.
When performing this exercise, you should strive for maximum
muscle tension in all of the upper body and core, largely focusing on
the upper back. Keep yourself in this flexed position by using every
muscle in your body and be sure not to overlook this useful exercise
as it can be beneficial for everyone, from the complete beginner up
to the elite level athlete.
Negatives
The next progression are negative pull ups, which should be self-
explanatory but I’m never one to simply assume anything so let me
go into some detail here.
A negative pull up simply involves the downward portion of a pull up
only, the starting position being that of a flex hang, with your chin
over the bar. Like the flex hang, you can jump up to the starting
position and then slowly lower yourself down.
You want to make the negative pull up last for as long as you possibly
can, contracting the entire upper back as you do so, with most of the
focus on the lats.
Another option is to perform a flex hang, then when your muscles
being to tire, attempt to stay elevated for as long as possible, slowing
the descent as much as you can, effectively combining a flex hang
with a negative pull up for added difficulty.
Chin up
The chin up is the easiest variation and is performed with your palms
facing you in an underhand (supinated) grip, this exercise allows use
of the biceps a little more and is definitely the first type of pull up
you should strive to master. 10 solid repetitions and you’re ready to
move on to some other variations.
The standard pull up is performed with an overhand (pronated) grip
so that your palms are facing away from you and can be a real
challenge for any athlete, many will reach muscular failure within ten
reps if performed with the proper technique and full range of
motion.
Neutral Grip Pull Ups
Once you can perform chin ups properly, the jump from underhand
chin ups to overhand grip pull ups can be quite a big one, neutral grip
pull ups can help serve as a stepping stone between the two.
Using two bars that are parallel to each other so that your palms face
one another, you can bridge the gap between chin ups and pull ups,
the difficult level for neutral grip pull ups being somewhere between
the two more commonly performed variations. I recommend
keeping all 3 types of pull ups in your routine in one form or another.
Mixed grip pull ups
Another variation that can be useful for beginners, who have a tough
time transitioning from chin ups to pull ups, is the mixed grip pull up.
Similar to a deadlift mixed grip, you’ll perform a pull up with one
underhand grip and one overhand grip. Be sure to alternate which
hand is under/over each set, to avoid developing a muscle
imbalance.
Pull ups
As mentioned above, the pull up is performed with an overhand grip,
with hands at shoulder width and palms facing away from the body.
Good form involves using full range of motion, lowering the body
until the elbows are completely straight.
Just like idiots in the gym that bench press half way down to their
chest and claim that they can bench 400lbs, many people get
extremely lazy with pull ups and only use partial range of motion.
Don’t be one of them. Drop all the way down to a dead hang, pause
for a second, then explosively pull your chin over the bar with good
technique and with no help from your lower body.
Wide grip pull ups
For an added challenge you can also take the arms out wider, as
lengthening the lever so to speak increases difficulty of the exercise,
this places more emphasis on the lats and makes it more difficult to
use your biceps to assist you in the movement.
A few considerations
One thing you may notice if you perform pull ups in high volume, is
that you can develop elbow problems as a result. Usually this is a
result of the wrists not being able to rotate at the top and bottom of
the movement, placing the elbows under stress, especially in my
experience at the bottom. I’ve found this to be much more the case
with chin ups, using a underhand grip, at the bottom of the chin up it
can be extremely stressful for the elbows if performed in high
volume, because the wrists cannot follow their natural path of
rotation.
To keep your shoulders and elbows healthy and avoid any problems,
for those of you with any kind of joint problems in these areas, I
recommend performing pull ups either using gymnastics rings, blast
straps or on a bar with a neutral grip on a bar with parallel handles.
Blast straps and rings will allow your wrists to rotate freely
throughout the movement and avoid stressing the joints, where as a
parallel grip bar pull up keeps the arms moving through a plane of
motion less likely to aggravate and existing joint problems.
Once you can perform upwards of 10 wide grip bodyweight pull ups,
don’t stop there. Many people end up taking pull ups out of their
routines once they believe they become too easy and are not
providing much strength gains because they are not challenging
enough. Just because you can do 20, 30 or even 40 repetitions of an
exercise, does not mean it isn’t extremely valuable to your training.
Try performing 40 pull ups as a finisher to your back workout and tell
me it’s not worth your time, the gap between strength and
endurance is not that huge, and sets of higher repetitions are
certainly worth your time. These sets when performed safely can
help build the foundation for a higher level of success later on down
the line, no matter how strong you may be on the 3 big powerlifts.
Advanced Pull Up Variations
Pull ups can turn you into a monster made out of muscle, steel and
sex appeal.
Sadly however, too many gym goers these days lack the testicular
fortitude to add a healthy dose of pull ups to their routines, either
that or they just don’t know of many variations other than the
standard chin and pull up.
We’ve covered the basics, which by adding weight as resistance can
keep any strength athlete challenged for years to come, but
knowledge is power and in the world of exercise where variety is of
the upmost importance in order to keep the body guessing, the pull
up bar is one of the most underrated pieces of equipment one can
use for building serious strength, muscle and power.
Most people will never have seen many of the pull up variations
below, which is sad because I believe they can inject a lot of fun into
a workout, while producing great strength.
Now I’m not one of these so called urban athletes that flails around
on a bar, wiggling my legs about, as if I’m doing pull ups and riding a
tricycle at the same time, and I’m not really into pull up ‘freestylin.’ If
that’s your bag then that’s cool, but it’s not my cup of tea that’s for
sure, I’m all about building brutal strength, keep progressing and
looking for a variety of ways to do it. I use a pull up bar to build
power, not as an excuse to act like a gangster or thug or even to look
cool.
Below are some advanced pull up variations that I include in my
training, on a weekly basis.
Behind the neck pull ups
Pretty much any exercise text book will tell you that behind the neck
pull ups are bad for you and you just shouldn’t do them, plain and
simple. It is my opinion that just like you wouldn’t try to deadlift a
certain weight before your body is strong enough for it, you
shouldn’t attempt the behind the neck pull up and many other
advanced variations of pull ups, before you have built a proper
foundation and base layer of strength.
If you wait until you are ready and respect this exercise, there is no
reason you should injure yourself by including these in your
programme. There is as much risk of injury here as performing a
squat, deadlift, riding a bike to work or even crossing the road. Just
use common sense and be sensible, acknowledging that this exercise
also requires a degree of shoulder flexibility that many people lack.
I recommend being able to do 10 solid overhand wide grip pull ups
before attempting the behind the neck variation.
Behind the neck pull ups are one of my very favourite exercises for
my upper back, I use no momentum and take it nice and slow
especially at the top as it works the traps nicely. Be sure never to
shrug your shoulders, as with all basic pull up variations you should
aim to pull them back and down, while sticking your chest out.
Commando pull ups
These believe it or not were my introduction to pull ups, as I saw
them as a young kid for the first time when I saw Stallone do them in
the Rocky movies. They are actually pretty tough and a lot more
difficult than standard chin ups and pull ups.
Take an underhand grip with one hand and an overhand grip with
the other and pull your head to one side of the bar one rep, then to
the other side of the bar on the next rep. Repeat for the desired
number of repetitions, or until you go to failure.
I suggest alternating which hand is over/under each set to avoid any
muscle imbalances and be sure to perform an even number of sets.
Archer pull ups
An Archer pull up is an excellent first stepping stone to progressing
into a one arm pull up and involves pulling yourself up to one side of
the bar while keeping the opposite arm straight throughout. Try to
use your straight arm as little as possible, and eventually over time
you will build enough strength to perform a one arm pull up, without
the supporting arm at all.
This exercise gets its name from the shape the upper body makes
when the chin is over the bar, the arms form the shape of an archer
getting ready to fire an arrow from a bow.
Around the world pull up
At the top of an archer pull up, you can keep your chin over the bar
and slide your chin over to the other side, shifting emphasis onto the
other arm. As you slide, your bent and straight arms will swap
positions. Once you reach the other side, lower yourself down, then
repeat by pulling up to the side you just came down from, slide your
chin over to the other side of the bar once more, then lower yourself
back down to a dead hang where you started. This is one rep. For
this exercise you’ll need extremely strong lats, shoulders and a core
made of steel. This is a very challenging variation!
Typewriters
At the top of an archer pull up, you can perform typewriters, which
simply involves keeping your chin above the bar and sliding your
body from one side of the bar to the other, then back again and
repeat until you go to failure and cannot perform anymore,
X pull ups
A deceivingly difficult exercise, the x-pull up offers yet another way
to mix things up in your routine. These are tough mainly because as
you perform each rep, you’ll have to use significant core, upper back
and shoulder strength just to stop your body from spinning around
out of position, not to mention it really challenges the grip and
forearm muscles. You’ll have to perform this nice and slow, in order
to stop your body spinning.
Start by crossing your arms either on one pull up bar with an
overhand grip, or with two parallel bars with palms facing each
other. This exercise requires a fair bit of shoulder flexibility, so do
take care when attempting these.
L-sit pull ups
A variation I often had to perform in gymnastics as a kid, L-sit pull
ups require an enormous amount of core strength and are one of my
favourite exercises as they really are a full body exercise.
Keep your legs at a 90 degree angle with your body while performing
pull ups, you’ll notice that the higher up you get, the more difficult it
becomes to maintain this position with your legs straight. Your feet
will want to rise up to make it easier, fight this as much as possible
and keep your body rigid and tight around the midsection. Keep the
movement slow and controlled throughout , trying to keep your legs
at a 90 degree angle.
Sternum pull ups
To do these you must lean back throughout the movement, touching
the bar with your lower chest at the top and slowly lowering yourself
back down. Be sure not to use momentum, keep this one slow and
controlled as with most pull up exercises. At the top of the exercise
when your lower chest touches the bar, your head should be parallel
with the floor. This may be the very best upper back exercise for
building serious strength, these are seriously hard and for the
advanced athlete can provide a brief but intense workout. I do these
with a slow tempo, 5 seconds on the way up, 5 seconds on the way
down. This will absolutely smoke your lats, happy pulling.
Sternum plank pull ups
Here’s another challenging variation for you that most won’t be able
to do, slowly pull yourself up until your sternum touches the bar, but
this time keep your body tight, rigid and in a straight line. It’s very
difficult to keep your body tight as you lean back on the way up, as
you do so it hits the core hard.
Plyometric pull up
Here is where things get really interesting, plyo pull ups. You’ll want
to explosively pull yourself up so that not just your chin reaches over
the bar, but also the bottom your chest. With each rep you must pull
yourself up as high and explosively as possible.
There are several variations of the plyometric pull up. You can bring
your hands away from the bar for a split second, grabbing back hold
of the bar quickly on the way down, you can clap your hands above
your head or in front of your face, or even behind your back. You can
try switching your grip from overhand to underhand with each
repetition (switchblade pull ups), or from wide grip to close grip and
vice versa (in and out pull ups). You can even try to touch your toes
in mid-air, hitting a pike position.
No handed (false grip) pull ups
These are especially tough but offer a nice stepping stone onto
muscle ups, which are often easier with a false grip. Wrap your hand
over the bar without your thumb wrapping around, so that your
wrist sits on it. This is certainly a challenging variation that hits the
forearms hard, but an excellent upper body strength movement.
Tennis ball pull ups
These are also known as grappler pull ups, you’ll take two tennis
balls, one in each hand while performing false grip pull ups, you must
squeeze the balls in your hands as hard as you can. These are
extremely challenging and will definitely have your forearms and
hand muscles on fire in no time.
Towel pull ups
Another way to increase the demands on your grip strength would
be to grip a towel as you perform your pull ups. Simply drape a towel
over the top of your pull up bar and you can hold the towel as you
work on commando pull ups, or if you have access to two towels you
can grip onto one towel with each hand and work on traditional pull
ups with an added grip challenge.
1.5 reps
I often use 1.5 reps with many bodyweight exercises as it can help
beginners learn to engage the right muscles, but also adds a
significant added level of difficulty. With Chin and Pull ups, these are
extremely challenging but also very fun and a nice break from the
norm in the weight room.
You may use 1.5 reps with body inverted rows, as well as chin ups
(hands facing toward your body), neutral grip pull ups (hands facing
each other) and pull ups with your hands facing away from your
body, and a few more variations can work with 1.5 reps if you get a
bit creative.
Simply perform a pull up, pulling your chin over the bar, then lower
yourself half way down and hold that position for a second, now pull
yourself back up to the top position and then finally lower yourself
back down and repeat. This is one rep.
Hang time core strength
Crunches and sit ups are going to do two things for your overall body
strength.
1. Jack.
2. Shit.
And Jack left town.
One of the biggest problems I see in so many people’s routines has
to be core training. So many people just don’t know how to do it
right, high repetition crunches and sit ups just aren’t going to get you
anywhere.
To get strong, you have to go heavy by adding significant resistance
and usually working inside the 1 to 10 rep range. In the case of
bodyweight movements, you simply use a difficult enough variation
that keeps you inside that repetition range. So why do people think
that they can stimulate muscle growth by simply performing
hundreds of reps of silly sit ups and crunches at the end of every
workout?
The abdominals are no different to any other muscle group, you have
train them hard using significant resistance to produce serious
strength and muscle gains. Don’t screw around with stupid electric
abdominal belts, six pack gadgets or pretty much anything stomach
related that you’ll see on a late night infomercial. This stuff makes
me sick, they promise results without any effort. That’s just not the
way strength training works, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
You work your ass off and you’ll get results. If you don’t, then you’re
going nowhere. Quite frankly, that’s the way it should be.
Here are my top core strength exercises that require no fancy
gadgets or belts, only a pull up bar, that produce real results because
they require real work. Some of these are very tough, but that’s why
they work.
Hanging knee raise
The knee raise from a bar is the first step in a progression towards a
full hanging leg raise and beyond, but is an excellent for building
strength in even the most advanced athlete. Be sure to keep
momentum to a minimum with this one and focus on using your
abdominals to do all the work here, not the hips and legs. It’s
sometimes very easy to get carried away and just focus on getting
more repetitions by using momentum and swinging, also using the
legs and hips too much simply to feed your ego. Don’t do this. Focus
solely on getting a good contraction using the abdominals, slowly
raising and lowering while staying in control of the movement. You
are going for quality over quantity.
Starting from a dead hang, use your abdominals to raises your knees
to at least chest height, hold this position for a couple of seconds,
squeezing and contracting your upper abdominals and then lower
your legs back down to a dead hang position, slowly, under control
while maintaining tension in your abdominals. If you are not yet
strong enough to raises your knees all the way up to your chest, start
by bringing them up to hip level.
With this and all other knee/leg raise variations, keep your arms
straight, bending the elbows makes the movement easier and is
strongly discouraged. Try to keep the upper body in a dead hang
throughout the every exercise.
Hanging knee bicycles
If knee raises are too difficult at first, another variation that can help
you build the strength needed are knee bicycles. Simply raises one
knee at a time, lower one knee as you raise the other as if you were
riding a bike, for an excellent stepping stone to hanging knee raises
with both knees.
Hanging leg raise
This is where things start to become really challenging. Grab and
overhead bar and position yourself in a dead hang. While keeping
your knees as straight as possible, nice and slowly raise your legs up
until they are parallel with the floor, creating an L shape with your
body. Again, keep the movement slow and under control, the
upward portion lasting for at least two seconds while keeping your
abdominals tight and making sure that they are doing as much of the
work as possible, not your hips and legs. Lower your legs slowly and
under control also, to do so takes serious core strength and don’t
forget to breathe in as you lower your legs, then exhaling as you
raise them up.
Keep your abdominals tight and contracting throughout the entire
exercise, even at the bottom ‘rest’ position. Again for maximum
results, hold the top position and squeeze the midsection tight for at
least 2 seconds before slowly lowering the legs back down.
You should be able to do 10 hanging knee raises with solid
technique, before attempting leg raises.
Hanging V-raise
Most athletes will never progress past the standard leg raises, as
variations more difficult than this are seldom seen performed by
anyone other than advanced gymnasts with incredible core strength.
If you can perform more than 10 strict repetitions of the standard leg
raises, then you have built some considerable core strength that any
athlete should be proud of. This is no easy feat. However, if you are
like me and always looking to become better, stronger and more
powerful, then you are constantly looking for that next step. Enter
the V-raise.
When performing a standard leg raises, the legs come parallel with
the floor to form an L shape with the body, however when
performing a V-raise the legs are elevated much higher.
You’ll grab a bar and get into a dead hang position, from there slowly
elevate your legs until your feet either touch the bar or comes close.
Unless you possess some serious hamstring flexibility, you won’t be
able to keep your knees completely straight when performing the
feet to bar variation, but that’s no excuse to get lazy and sloppy with
your technique. Keep your legs as straight as possible and perform
the movement slowly and under control.
This is a truly advanced core strength exercise, so proceed with
caution when trying this one for the first time. You should be able to
do 10 hanging leg raises with solid technique, before attempting v-
raises.
1 arm hanging leg raise
One of my favourite exercises that I like to work on often (and find
very challenging) is the 1 arm hanging leg raise. This variation is
incredibly tough as it has you performing a 1 arm dead hang whilst
also doing a leg raise or V-raise.
Get yourself into a dead hang position and then simply remove 1
arm, you’ll have to keep your whole body tight just to keep from
twisting around. From there slowly raise both legs up to the bar, or if
this is too difficult, up to hip height. Either way be sure to keep your
legs as straight as possible.
Don’t be surprised if this one really challenges your grip strength.
Windshield Wipers
Windshield Wipers are one of the most difficult core exercises any
athlete can perform, they effectively target not only the abdominals,
but also the obliques.
Simply raise your legs so that your feet touch the bar as in a V-raise
and then slowly while keeping your arms and legs as straight as
possible, make a semi-circle like movement by rotating your hips
from left to right. It may sound corny, but think of it as painting a
rainbow shape with your feet.
It can be extremely difficult during Wipers to keep the arms straight
but try your best to keep any bending of the elbows to a minimum.
Hanging L-sit
L-sits are in my opinion the most effective exercise for training your
deep postural muscles of the core that are of the upmost
importance, with this exercise you can contract them more
noticeably than any other exercise. L-Sits work every muscle in your
body as well as effectively strengthening every part of the core,
improving flexibility, stability and joint health while preventing lower
back injury by significantly strengthening it.
You may do these while in a dead hang position, or with your hands
on the floor. Keep your whole body tight and contract the
abdominals as hard as possible to get the most out of an L-sit. If you
are contracting hard enough, you shouldn’t be able to hold this
position for more than 10 seconds.
Hanging V-raise 1.5 reps
I have seen a lot of trainers online these days using 1.5 reps with a
lot of exercises such as pull ups and since the top half of a V-raise is
the most difficult, it made sense to me to test 1.5 reps with this
exercise.
Starting from a dead hang, perform the upward portion of a v-raise,
bring your feet up to the bar whilst keeping your legs straight then
slowly lower your legs back down half way until they are hip level,
then raise them back up to the bar, before lowering slowly all the
way back down. This is what a 1.5 rep V-raise looks like. Perform as
many as you can like this, they are incredibly difficult and a great
challenge.
Hanging raise drop set
Here’s another way I like to mix things up in my bar core workout.
Perform Hanging v-raises to failure, go straight into a set of L-raises,
once again when you can’t do anymore repetitions go straight into a
final set of hanging knee raises to failure. This so called ‘drop set’ can
be really challenging both physically and mentally and certainly gets
the abs working hard.
There are certainly a few strength movements there to challenge you
whatever you strength levels, whenever I have access to a pull up
bar I make sure to work my core by performing leg raises, not just my
pull ups.
Dip it Low - Dips for pushing strength
We’ve covered a hell of a lot of pull up variations so far, but what
about our pushing strength? We need a well-rounded body that is
ready for anything in all areas.
What use is there possessing very strong pushing strength but having
a weak upper back, if this describes you then you are probably going
to end up injuring yourself very quickly if the supporting muscles are
not up to par with the prime movers. We want our whole body to be
strong and well rounded, its no good having a huge upper back and a
tiny pigeon chest. No one wants that.
Dips are often overlooked as being bad for your shoulders and for
that reason dismissed from many athletes routines, but just like any
exercise you shouldn’t go diving in head first before you are ready. It
is important to follow the correct and appropriate progressions
before moving onto the next and in the case of the dip, it requires a
certain degree of shoulder flexibility and strength through a range of
motion that some are not yet comfortable with and if you do get
carried away and jump in to fast, you may end up with a setback to
your training because you weren’t very careful.
Take your time moving from one progression to the next, there are
dip exercises with varying difficulties that will challenge the complete
beginner trainee, all the way up to the elite level athlete. Respect
the exercise you are using and never stop trying to get better.
If you’re looking for a pushing exercise to help increase your strength
for push ups, bench press or overhead military press, the dip has got
your back.
Low dips
This is a great place to start for most people with little dipping
experience and is an excellent stepping stone to parallel bar dips.
These can be done on a low bar, or pretty much any low and sturdy
surface such as a chair, park bench, sofa, at the end of the bed or
even a low wall. Be sure to stick your chest out and not allow your
shoulders to roll forward. These should become easy pretty fast. The
jump to parallel bar dips from low dips can be quite a big one, but
after your able to do 20 to 30 low bar dips, you shouldn’t have any
problems.
Parallel bar dips
PB dips are in my opinion one of the most underrated strength
exercises an athlete can perform for serious pushing strength, if
things become too easy then one can simply hold a dumbbell
between their feet or add extra weight with a dip belt of backpack.
When doing these, lean your upper body forward with your
shoulders in front and elbows over your hands. The wider the bars
you use, the more you’ll work your chest, the closer the width, the
more you’ll hit your triceps. The more you lean forward, the more
you’ll work your chest, but the more upright you keep your posture,
the more you’ll hit your triceps.
Like with push ups, over time you’ll probably be able to build up to a
quite substantial number of repetitions in a row. You can try slowing
the tempo or adding extra resistance with weight to make things
more challenging.
Flexibility can be an issue here for some people, but a full dip should
be one where the shoulders are lowered close to the hands.
Bulgarian dips
To perform these you’ll grab one bar behind you with one hand and
the other bar in front of you with the other so that your body is at a
45 degree angle. When you do these, be sure to swap sides each set.
Russian dips
Also known as hinge dips, these involve bending the elbows to the
bottom of a normal dip position, then leaning the body back so that
the your forearms are in contact with the bar. From here, move
yourself forward and then press back up. This is a great core exercise
if you are able to perform them slowly and under control, just be
sure to warm up your shoulders as they will test your flexibility.
You can make this exercise more difficult by increasing the range of
motion, by leaning further back so that your triceps come in contact
with the bar.
Russian dips are also an excellent stepping stone to train for the
transition phase of a muscle up.
Single bar dips
Single straight bar dips are far more challenging than they look, it’s
extremely difficult to remain upright on just one bar and this will
really challenge your core strength. You’ll have both hands on a
straight bar in front of you, which can be quite a humbling exercise if
you are used to parallel bar dips, with single bar dips you’ll have to
manoeuvre your body around the bar, your legs moving forward on
the way down for balance.
Although tough, this is one of the most important progressions when
training for a muscle up, so be sure to work single bar dips into your
routine.
Korean dips
This one is pure money and my absolute favourite pushing exercise
whether it be with weights, kettlebells, bodyweight only or by any
other means. The Korean dip is similar in theory to a single bar dip,
but this time the bar is in behind you. This may not look like much of
a difference, but trust me it is incredibly difficult. Not many people
will be able to do these, Korean dips are the most difficult dip
variation in my opinion.
Because the bar is behind you, it is extremely difficult to keep control
over your body during this exercise, so you’ll have to keep your
whole body tight throughout, especially your core. If you try this
before you are strong enough, you’ll run the risk of injury to your
shoulder as this movement really does test your flexibility, so be sure
to have laid the proper foundation of strength first. I strongly urge
you to perform this one slowly and under control, if you use
momentum and try to bounce out of the bottom with poor
technique, you’ll be just asking for something to tear in your
shoulder.
This exercise does work the shoulders and triceps as does all dipping
movement, but it does hit the chest quite well also. I suggest
starting with an overhand grip, but once you become comfortable
with that you can make things more challenging by using an under
hand grip. Happy dipping!
Once you have conquered the above variations, you can always
continue to challenge yourself by wearing a weighted vest , wear a
dip belt to hang weight plates from, or simply hold a dumbbell
between your ankles to increase the difficulty. Standard weighted
dips are one of my own personal favourite exercises and will keep
you challenged no matter how strong you are.
The Muscle Up
In any sort of weightlifting environment, the most common question
regarding training is the old age ‘how much ya bench?’ For most, the
bench press is thought of as the pinnacle of measuring upper body
strength, but in the world of bodyweight strength training, the
muscle up is king.
If there is one movement that can claim the title of ‘Ultimate upper
body strength exercise,’ then it might just have to go to the muscle
up. When performing the muscle up you combine a pull up with a
dip, not only that you’ll have to use your core to violently transition
over the bar at the top of the pull up, raising your legs in front of you
almost like a hanging leg raise to help counter balance your weight,
using your hip muscles and abs to do so.
This isn’t just a pull up combined with a dip, this really is a full body
exercise, which require your body to function as a single unit, using
two different movement patterns, improving coordination.
It’s sad to think that many gyms and health clubs today have 3 or 4
bench presses, maybe more, but lack a decent basic pull up bar, to
me this is mind boggling even as an avid powerlifter and Olympic
lifter. When I do my overhead and parallel bar work, I head to my
local park, you’ll probably be better off doing the same as many
gyms that do have a pull up bar won’t have the overhead clearance
needed when doing muscle ups. All you need is a bar and plenty of
space.
This is a tough exercise in that you have to be considerably strong to
begin with to even be able to do a single muscle up, but there is no
set numbers in terms of how many pull ups or dips you should be
able to do before you can do a muscle up. But they do require
significant levels of upper body strength, so be sure to work on your
straight bar pull ups and dips when training with the goal of a muscle
up in mind.
I’ll admit when I first attempted muscle ups I got angry as hell, I had
more than enough strength with a triple bodyweight deadlift and a
double bodyweight bench press, not to mention I could already do
20 strict dead hang wide grip pull ups, but yet I could not do a single
muscle up. Not one.
I couldn’t for the life of me get the hang of the transition over the
bar, even though I was physically strong enough to do it. After a few
weeks practice however, I nailed my first muscle up (although it
wasn’t pretty) and from there, the reps came thick and fast.
The fact is, nobody’s first successful muscle ups look very pretty with
shiny neat technique, you’ll probably be transitioning over the bar
one arm followed by the other, with legs flailing about all over the
place, but that’s how it is when you learn a new skill. Put in the work,
keep at it and your muscle ups will surely improve.
For this exercise you will need to use an exaggerated false grip,
which can feel strange and be difficult to get used to at first, hanging
with straight arms may even prove challenging to begin with but as
you improve your forearm strength and flexibility, this will become
much easier.
The false grip is certainly not essential, but it definitely does make
learning the muscle up a hell of a lot easier initially, as it allows one
to transition from the pull up phase to the dip phase much more
swiftly.
To use the false grip, curl your hands over the bar without your
thumb around it, so that your wrists sit on top of the bar with the
palms of your hands facing down toward the floor and your fingers
curl over in front of it.
When doing a muscle up, don’t just try to pull your chin above the
bar, you want to explosively pull your lower chest up to the bar and
then rigorously move your body forward up and over the bar to the
start of the dipping position.
You are not just pulling yourself straight up as you would during a
normal pull up, if you do this you will get stuck and never make the
transition over the bar. Pull the bar down in front of you so that you
pull yourself back behind the bar, bringing both your elbows up and
over the bar at the same time, and lean forward as fast and forcefully
as you can. Leaning forward at the top of a muscle up to get your
body over the bar feels like the world’s most brutal sit up.
From a side view, your body should almost create the shape on an S.
Once you are over the bar, the hard part is over as pressing from
here is far easier than getting yourself over the bar in the first place.
The first few times you attempt this can be frustrating as the muscle
up is somewhat of a skill and the movement pattern can take some
time to get used to. As humbling as it may be to begin with, keep at it
and you’ll eventually get there.
To kip or not to kip
Personally, I am not a fan of kipping, which involves using your lower
body to generate momentum and help aid you in completing a
muscle up or pull up, the reason being it makes it more difficult to
accurately measure your strength levels. Not only that but (and this
is just my opinion, you are welcome to disagree) a kipping pull up is
just not a true pull up, also a kipping muscle up is simply not a proper
muscle up.
However, some trainers believe that kipping can help you initially
learn the muscle up by making it easy enough to allow those who
struggle with it, to get in a few repetitions and get a feel for the
movement.
Again, I’m not a fan of kipping and never want to use momentum
when I do a pull up or muscle up, I see this as no different to most
gym novice’s we often see in a gym, using momentum and cheating
on a lat pull down with poor technique. When I perform pull ups and
muscle ups, I use muscular strength and correct technique, NOT
momentum. Therefore, I don’t kip. But that is just my opinion. Take
from it what you will.
Working muscle ups into training
If you are going to work on your muscle ups, I recommend training
them at the beginning of your workout, just as when training any
new skill you want to do so when you are fresh and not fatigued. You
should never be tired when learning a new skill or strength
movement.
I would suggest placing them at the start of any full body or upper
body training session, but give them a rest during any lower body
workouts.
The one arm pull up
The one arm pull up is the pinnacle of bodyweight upper body pulling
strength, this is without a doubt the most difficult pull up variation
one can perform.
Very few people will ever be able to even come close to pulling off a
single one arm pull up, it takes a hell of a lot of hard work and
persistence, with specific training. Even with a year of training with
the one arm pull up in mind, you can expect a very humbling
experience, possibly failing again and again before you are able to
pull it off with good technique. This is going to be a long journey, but
if you choose to take it, one you should revel in and enjoy.
Whatever grip you choose to use when performing a one arm pull up
is up to you, either way is incredibly difficult and equally impressive.
You can use a overhand grip pull up style, underhand grip chin up
style or perform the one arm pull up with your head to the side of
the bar similar to when performing a commando pull up.
You should be able to perform at least 10 dead hang pull ups with
strict technique before even thinking about pursuing the one arm
pull up, there needs to be a certain level of strength to pull this
exercise off and without laying the proper foundation, even the
assistance exercises will be a struggle.
Are you ready? Here we go.
Much of the training for your first one arm pull up is very similar to
that of training for your first standard chin or pull up. It involves
many of the same exercises, in most cases variations using just one
arm.
These are tough exercises in their own right, and build serious upper
body and grip strength and should not be overlooked in your pursuit
for a one arm pull up. Just simply hanging from a bar using just one
arm is incredibly challenging.
Include some of these exercises in your workouts and give them
everything you’ve got and very soon, you will be pleased with the
results.
1 arm body rows
I use body rows with many of my clients that cannot do standard pull
ups, so naturally I used the one arm body row to work towards the
one arm pull up.
When doing these I prefer to keep my feet together and really
engage my core and my lats, it is tempting to simply try and muscle
through using arm strength but try not to get into this habit. If doing
a one arm body row with your feet together proves too challenging
then simply bring them further apart.
1 arm dead hangs
Again much like when training for a standard pull up with a dead
hang, a one arm hang is vital for progressing toward a one arm pull
up. You have to start somewhere and this is probably the best place.
Simply hanging for more than a few seconds is challenging but you
should strive to hold this position for 30 seconds if you want to get a
one arm pull up. It’s tough and very mentally challenging but the
results are more than worth it. You’ll need to keep your whole body
tight and even though you are staying stationary and not bending
your arm at the elbow at all, you’ll need to keep pulling yourself
upwards, imagine doing so to pull your arm down into your shoulder
socket and stop your shoulder rom literally falling out of its socket.
1 arm flex hangs
Flex hangs with 1 arm are a big step up from dead hangs, but are a
vital step to training for a 1 arm pull up. Hold this position as long as
you can, any longer than 10 seconds becomes amazingly difficult for
even the strongest of athletes.
I recommend performing this exercise with an underhand grip to
make sure that you get enough volume in, as the overhand version
won’t allow you to get much time with your chin up over the bar.
1 arm negatives
Another vital tool in training for the 1 arm pull up, jump up with your
chin over the bar holding on with just one hand and then lower
yourself as slowly and controlled as possible. Try to keep yourself up
as long as you can, for more of a challenge you can combine a flex
hang with a negative by keeping your chin over the bar for maximum
time and then making the descent last as long as possible. Keep your
whole body tight as hell the whole time.
1 arm wrist assisted pull up
This is what most people believe to be a 1 arm pull up, grabbing the
bar with one hand and holding onto your own wrist with the other to
assist you in the movement. Of course, while this is an advanced pull
up variation and impressive in its own right, this is nothing like a true
one arm pull up, but it is an important progression in training for
one.
1 arm towel assisted pull up
Believe it or not a towel can be an extremely valuable tool in training
for a one arm pull up. Take to a pull up bar and drape a towel over
one side, and perform a pull up with one hand grabbing the towel.
The idea here is similar to an archer pull up, try to use the arm
grabbing the towel as little as possible. As time goes on and you
slowly grow stronger, you should be able to use the arm grabbing the
towel less and less until you are finally able to do a one arm pull up.
Keep getting better
While many view the OAP as somewhat of a circus trick, those who
are able to perform them display incredible strength and deserve
bragging rights in that it is still a great measure of upper body
strength. While it may seem like a lifetime away and seemingly
impossible for some of us, at one point in your training probably so
did a lot of strength feats that you have mastered.
One step at a time work with relentless passion and desire to build
full body strength and power, with the tools that you have at your
disposal and nearly anything is possible. Let’s face it, pretty much
everyone, anywhere in the world can find something to do a pull up
on.