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Pull Ups For FightersFiled Under: Instruction

Pull ups are a measure of your toughness – and lets face it, a barometer of your true manliness – whether you’re a fighter or not. Nearly since the dawn of time, the US military has been using pull ups to de-sissify recruits and weed out wimps. If you are a mixed martial artists, the pull up definitely needs to be in your rotation of exercises.

The Reasons

But why should you do pull ups in favor of other exercises? Glad you asked.

First of all, the pull up is a full body exercise when done right. It works your back, arms, abs, stabilizers … the works. It’s pragmatic, efficient. Second, the pull up has tremendous cross over in terms of sports performance in mma. To name just a few things, the latissimus dorsi are important for:

• Punching power – the lats help “ground” your punches, stabilizing the arm to the torso. Trust me. Boxers have been doing it for ages with this in mind.
• Keeping guard – lats help you pull your opponent down into your the guard so he can’t posture up, ground and pound or execute passes.
• Judo/Greco-Roman throws – While standing and clinching, lats assist you in dominating such positions as the body locks, over/under hooks control, the plumb clinch (Muay Thai clinch), etc.

Third, the pull up has a multitude of variations. On his blog, Mr. Low Body Fat talks about pull ups and explains:

Infinite variability is important, because it allows you to perform an exercise year after year, without burning out your mind or your connective tissue. So variability allows you to safely do what’s important—all the time, not just one week out of four, which means you never make any progress.

Doing it right

There are many ways to perform a pull up, but a few things are important throughout.

• Pull up from a dead hang. Every rep you pull off, go back to the fully extended hang.
• Stay hanging from the bar until the set is over. Don’t let go between reps. If you cant hold your grip, the set has ended.
• Don’t use gear to ease the pull. No arm slings, rubber bands, wristbands that hook up on the bar, etc. Pull ups are hard, they should be that way. Don’t use the assisted pull up machines either, for that matter. They typically don’t help you get to true pull ups any faster than a isometric contraction when hanging from a bar will. Plus, they don’t get your stabilizer muscles working, which means they’ll be a weak link when you do true pull ups.
• No cheating – swinging your legs or “kipping” up is a obvious no-no. Grind out the pull up.
• Keep your torso quiet ie: keep a firm, unshaky body on the way up and down. Don’t let your legs flop about.

The Fighter Pull Up

The ever popular “Evil Russian”, Pavel Tsastoline, talks about the difference of a fighter pull up and a body building pull up, saying

The pullup is the logical choice of an exercise to strengthen your lats. If you ask
an experienced bodybuilder how to work the latissimus most thoroughly he
will tell you to look up, force your chest open, and draw your shoulder blades
together on the top of the pullup. This may be okay for bodybuilders, but what
does this have to do with fighting? You move in the ring in what gymnasts call
“the hollow position” the scapulae flared and the chest caved in. This is the
way you should finish your pullups. Look straight ahead and hunch over the
bar. Touch your neck or upper chest to the bar to make sure there is no
question that you have completed the rep.

Variety, The Spice of Life

As mentioned earlier, the pull up exercise has many variations.

Grip:

You can narrow the grip position from wide to close. Just to get things straight, when you flip the grip, so the palms face toward your face, that’s a chin-up, not a pull up, but an acceptable variant anyway. If you can find the equipment, you can do pull ups on gymnastic rings or on rock-climbing hand holds.

Weights:

Once you can crank off a dozen or more in a row, (no sooner, comrade!) you can add a bit of weight. I’ve seen people strap on a weightlifters belt and hang a plate from it, but that has never suited me, but if does to you, go for it. Also, some people have those nifty adjustable weighted belts or vests, letting them slide in or out an extra couple of pounds. Most gyms I know have those ankle weight straps with the Velcro, but you may have to walk into the girly aerobic step classes to find them. To avoid such dishonor, I prefer the low tech method – a regular back-to-school backpack. If you get serious about stacking on the weight, a sturdy pack can accommodate quite a bit.

Taking a page out of Westside Barbell club manual, wrapping a heavy chain over your shoulders will add a good deal of weight, and if it’s long enough, it will become heavier the higher you are on the pull up.

One other thing – pinch a dumbbell between your feet or better, if you have one, use a kettlebell by slipping your foot through the handle.

Leg Placement:

Try doing a pull up with one knee tucked to your chest. Then two. Then extend both legs so your body makes a perfect 90 degree angle and the hips. Make sure the body is stiff throughout the pull.

Gear

After hearing that the famous “Super Foot” Bill Wallace did pull ups on vacation by opening the bathroom door in his hotel room, placing a towel on the top, and doing pull ups like he was climbing over a wall, I promptly broke my bedroom door in imitation. Here is some gear that I’ve used and liked to get the job done.

Below: The standard door jam pull up bar. Screws out and in to adjust in length, has two cups to position the bar’s ends.

The bottom of the two one is the top of the line model, and the top one is the cheapie. I personally think the pure silver one is better, because I don’t like the gripping situation and pads on the low price one, but to each his own.

This one slips on and off the door jam, needs no installation. Easily moved from door frame to door frame. On these two, I actually prefer the top one because of its multiple angles and grips.

For on the road pull ups, these are neat. The two handles slip over the top of the door with ease. You close the door – making it more stable – and proceed to do some chin ups. If you stay at a budget hotel, you can break the door with the “SuperFoot” method.

The permanent wall mounted version. Pretty decent if you can afford the wall space and know how to properly attach it.

The adjustable, weighted vest system. You can easily add resistance for you pull ups with this thing. Out of the few I know, I like this vest best. You can have it weigh 10- 100+ pounds. Some of the weighted vest are crappy and cheap-feeling, but this one is the real deal. Also good for push ups and resistance running.

It feels like you’re wearing body armor when you put this on. Which reminds me, if you’ve got a spectra or kevlar vest, you’re already got on of these.

Quoted Pages/Resources on Pull ups:

Mr Low Body Fat’s Blog . He can do 12-13 reps weighing in at 215 at age 49, pretty decent.

Begin to Dig blog. Some nice pictures and a video on the pull up, plus a couple of resource links.

Clarence Bass, Ripped. Article on how Clarence Bass interprets Pavel T.’s pull up ladder program. If you don’t know, Clarence can probably beat you up, even though he’s old enough to be your grandpa. Check his photos – he’s ripped.

Pavel Tsatsouline’s Fighter Pull-Up. Pavel’s “Fighters Pull up”. A few details on the pull up procedure itself, and a full workout plan. The schedule is kind of like a reverse pyramid, if that makes sense.

Military men do pull ups.

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/fitness-test-prep/perfecting-pull-up

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/fitness-test-prep/pullup-push-workout

Other posts you may enjoy:

• MMA Workout Basics: Specificity
• Better Than Cardio
• Push Ups For Fighters

Tags: conditioning, mma conditioning, mma workouts