8 Weeks To Master The Pull-Up!

(While I was writing this post, my buddy Dave sent me a text message. It said, "If you have little kids don't ever be shocked at what you find in the third row car seats and how old it may be.")

Once you're able to get one good chin up, follow this program:

• Week 1 4x1 (four sets of 1 rep)
• Week 2 1x2, 3x1
• Week 3 2x2, 2x1
• Week 4 3x2, 1x1
• Week 5 4x2
• Week 6 1x3, 3x2
• Week 7 2x3, 2x2
• Week 8 3x3, 1x2
  

Perform each workout twice a week.

After finishing this progression, you should be able to bust out five reps! That's a GREAT improvement in only 2 months!

Pull-ups are one of my very favorite exercises, they work your back like a champ and get your body burning some SERIOUS calories!



(You know, I'd be stoked if we could get everyone in Carson City repping out pull-ups!)

Fundamental Movement: Squat

Fundamental Movement: Bend

Fundamental Movement: Lunge

Fundamental Movement: Twist

Pull

Pulling exercises don't really need an explanation, do they?

I break down upper body pulling exercises into:

- Horizontal Pulls (Rows)
- Vertical Pulls (Pullups)
- Arm Pulls (Curls)

Body Row With Feet On Bench

Fundamental Movement: Push

Pushing exercises are those where you, well, push.

Push ups, shoulder presses, bench press, dips, and so on are all pushing exercises.

Feet Elevated Pushup

Fundamental Movement: Gait

Gait movements are locomotive exercises such as walking, running, skipping, crawling, etc.

One of my favorite ways to train gait is to use a sled.

You can pull a sled forwards, backwards, sideways, light and fast, or slow and heavy. Or even my personal favorite, which is heavy and fast.

Forward Sled Dragging

How You Move

There are 7 fundamental human movements.

These are:

1) Squat
2) Bend
3) Lunge
4) Push
5) Pull
6) Twist
7) Gait

A comprehensive training program will address each of these movements.

Following the order above, a weight-training athlete might have these exercises in her program:

1) Barbell Front Squat
2) Hex Bar Rack Pull with Chains
3) Dumbbell Bulgarian Squat
4) Incline Cable Press
5) Body Row
6) Reverse Woodchopper
7) Forward Sled Pulling

Now, it’s important to remember that there is much more to developing an exercise program than exercise selection. There are sets, reps, progressions, loading, and all sorts of other things to keep in mind.

When it comes to upper body pushing and pulling, we’ve got vertical and horizontal movements, and the arms.

So, if we’re focusing on improving upper body strength, we might have an overhead barbell press (vertical push) and a flat bench dumbbell press (horizontal push). This takes care of pushing in both the frontal and sagittal planes.

In a program that is aimed at maintaining upper body strength, we might have only the incline press, which combines the horizontal and vertical pushing. This way we can address both the frontal and sagittal plane pushing movements without excessive volume or time away from our main focus.

An example of horizontal pulling is the bodyweight row. Vertical pulling is displayed in the classic pull-up exercise.

A hybrid vertical and horizontal pull would be the bent forward rope row.

The next few posts will be an example of each of the seven fundamental human movements, so make sure to check back for the next seven days!

Want more, do more, BE more,

~Lucas Wold

Plank Exercise

Position:

• Weight on toes and elbows
• Abdominals tight
• Look between hands
• Straight spine
  

Hold for desired amount of time.

The elbow plank trains lower back and core stability. Many athletes have a tough time at first, which shows how weak they are in these areas.

Swiss Ball Crunch

This morning I threw a change-up into the bootcamp mix with a physioball (Swiss Ball) based warm-up.



Here's one of the moves:

Swiss Ball Crunch

Start

Finish

Triceps Medicine

Close-Grip Pushups on a medicine ball are a great exercise for training your arms without using barbells or machines.


A side benefit is that the unstable nature of the medicine ball will increase proprioception throughout your whole body.

Start

Finish

Grasshopper Pushups

Start

Finish

Alternate legs on each rep for a great upper body exercise the also stretches and strenghtens your back!

Bodyweight Row (3)

Start

Finish

Decline Pushup

Start

Finish

Bulgarian Split Squat

Start

Bottom