No! I am not a hanging bat.

Oct. 23

"Ability and results reveals its self increasingly with every assignment"

Baltazar

I read recently about how the pull up exercise has been used for fitness for over a hundred years has increasing been eliminated from training programs especially in schools. It was in the fifties that the average grade schooler could do 8-10 pull ups. Now in the year 2000 we are down to less that two. Maybe little Johnny gained some weight making it more difficult to perform a pull up, but it more of not being a prescribed exercise in school programs. Military, fire and police dept. still use in in their training.......thank god.

Fitness centers have the same problem. Places to do pull up are an after thought on most equipment or none at all. Everyone uses a lat pull down machine. Maybe pull ups just too low tech therefore can't be peddled as the latest fitness tool. Or maybe you will find out you don't need to spend 400 dollars a year in gym dues to obtain a first class upper body when all you need really is a door way chin bar for 15 dollars.

For myself I never did like pull ups because I use the excuse that I have longer resistance arm third class lever, but really I was just too heavy most of the time. I found that body mass ( fat or muscle) was the biggest obstacle to doing lots of pull up or"chins" as they were called years back. I got reacquainted with pull ups after watching a video featuring some street kids some weighting as much as two bucks (200lbs in street language) performs all kinds of pull ups in large numbers using various structures in the park and streets. Now these lads were ripped to shreds and did not lift weights, nor afford a 400 dollar gym fee and they looked like they were have a ball challenging each other. Some time I would like to discuss my views on the difference in internal and external exercise. Anyway I was impressed with the ease and the various types that can be performed as a complete upper body exercise.

When I started back doing pull ups, I would do lots of good singles with shoulder wide grip. A wide grip puts real loading on the posterior delts and therefore the rotocuff takes a beating. Then I switched to ladders method to build up the numbers. This was not moving fast enough so I when to used heavy rubber bands to assist in doing high reps for endurance. This really is good tool when you can get a good assist on the lower part of the pull and as the band retracts, the load in all yours.

Another assistance method to get more reps can also be done on a Gravitron machine for chins, pull ups and dips, which uses a counterweight stack to provide assistance in an ever increasinsg reduction of the counter weight. However, this only works if you constantly challenge yourself as it is easy to just take a ride. But it does work, however when you graduate to a real pull up bar by its self, its a less of a change but you can see a big difference in difficulty.

Women never can do a pull ups...they are too weak in the upper body. BULL FEATHERS! Women or females can perform pull ups at the same level as they would in any other upper body exercise. I can't tell you how many times female clients tell me they can NEVER do a pull up because they think or some jerk told they could not, so they don't have the confidence to try to perform this extremely effective exercise for the upper body. You can do it!

today's training:

Kettlebell warm up

Heavy bag warm up: You need extra warm up when the shoulders are going to be impacted.

Blitz kettlebell pressing: 20 singles............24Kg 5 singles, 28 kg 5 singles, 32kgs. 5 singles, 24 kg 5 singles. pressing as fast as possible without getting sloppy. This is not an easy session and you will sweat!

Kettlebell wall ball for cool down 20 reps. of 14kgs.

second session: Man does not live on one session if you want to be the best....or at least try.

X-vest pull ups and burpies: 30 reps of 1 burpie and i pull up wearing an X-vest.