Gymless Training Blog

Definitely worth a watch.....

In last months issue of the Gymless.com Newsletter I tracked down one of London’s top strength coaches and grilled him on one of the most effective bodyweight exercises around… the pull up. For years, Rob has been getting busy city workers leaner and stronger using a combination of olympic lifting, weight training, kettlebells and gymnastics. In this interview he kindly offered to share some of his wisdom….

Afternoon Rob, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer some questions for us. I want to talk to you about pull ups, one of the key bodyweight exercises. Let’s start things off by getting your views on why people should train this movement?

Where to begin... They should be a staple of everyone's workouts. It's just a basic ability to be able to lifts ones own bodyweight up. Pull ups are arguably the most effective arm and back exercise and have endless regressions and progressions to ensure they are challenging and suitable for everyone from a training newbie to the most advanced athlete. And most importantly, if you find yourself in a cliffhanger style life or death scenario you will survive to train another day.  

Agreed, everyone should be able to perform at least a couple of pull ups. What methods would you use to help a client achieve their first pull up?  

If someone cannot do a single repetition at bodyweight then I use the following basic three pronged attack:  

1). High rep conditioning with resistance bands to assist the lifts. 5 sets of 6 reps (that's high rep in my book). All repetitions should be done with a full range of motion (chest to bar at top, full dead hang at bottom). Two second hold at the top of each rep and smooth lifting action throughout. To get stronger the body must be challenged, that means that if you are physically capable to doing more than 5-6 reps in any of the sets then the resistance was too easy for you and you must decrease your assistance. Failure is a good thing here and you should aim to fail your final rep of each set despite your best efforts.

Above all, progress, progress, progress! You should aim to very slightly decrease the assistance every session whilst still being (only just) able to perform the desired rep range. After a few weeks you should see that those small decreases in assistance have added up to a large decrease and that you are now stronger and close to your full body weight pull up. It is amazing how many people train at the same intensity week after week and wonder why they don’t get any stronger.  

2). Maximal eccentric work. Often when an individual is too weak to lift themselves upwards they can at least lower themselves slowly. Use the following protocol:   

a) Climb up and start at the top of the pull up range. Lower yourself as slowly as you can. Once you have built up to a 30 second smooth lower you should have the strength to perform 1 full pull up.  

b) Now you can do 1 full pull up, start the set in a dead hang, lift yourself up to the top of the range and start building towards another 30 second lower.  

c) Once you have this 30 second lower you should be able to do a second full rep.   

d) Using this process it should be realistic to add 1 rep/week for 10 weeks, if you are disciplined and practice 2-3x / wk.  

3). If you need to... lose weight. Pull ups are a classic strength to body weight ratio exercise and although there is a huge strength factor there is also an obvious body weight factor. If you know you are carrying a few extra pounds then the pull up quest will be an uphill struggle. Cut out all refined sugar and processed carbs for a start.. But that's another subject.

I assume your female clients follow these same protocols?

Yes. 

Any common mistake you see when people perform their pull ups?

The number one mistake that I see on pull ups which will stop people getting stronger is partial range lifts. Time and again I see people claim they can do 10 reps and then they get on the bar and bob their head up and down 10 times. This will neither enhance strength or function. Every rep must be from full hang (elbows completely straight) to full lift (sternum as close as possible to the bar).  

The second big mistake we always see is using a kip (or hip/leg kicking action) to assist the lift. Unless you are specifically training a kipping action power style pull up then this is just cheating. If you cannot perform the rep without assisting yourself by kicking to help you up and over then it is too difficult for you and you should regress the lift to a more appropriate level of difficulty.

What variations of the pull up do you use in your own training?

I am mainly training progressions towards one arm chin ups (OAC's). I use single arm eccentric work; lowering myself as slowly as possible using 1 arm only. And assisted OAC's, with my non-lifting arm helping me to lift by holding a rope with a small weight on the other end looped over the bar. This weighted rope allows me to get just enough assistance to perform the desired number of OAC's. I also enjoy the more gymnastic style lever progressions, starting with the simple but effective L-sit varieties. Coach Sommer has a excellent progression system for building up to these in his book Building The Gymnastic Body.

Good stuff, I can definitely second that recommendation for Building The Gymnastic Body. Ok so where can someone take their training if they can already perform 10+ pull ups?

You could just hang progressively larger weights off yourself whilst doing your pull ups but I find it far more interesting to start playing about with body lever progressions and OAC progressions as outlined in question 4. The skills developed in the quest for these more advance options transfer superbly to sporting performance and all around upper body function. The lever variations also transform the pull up into a full body exercise that will have you holding your abs and rolling around on the floor wondering why you ever wasted your time with crunches.  

Above all it keeps things varied, using a variety of different grips angles and grip widths along with different pull angles and body levers. This give endless permutations and progressions to play with. This variety is not just good for mental sanity but builds a very well rounded strength in all positions.  

Some really good insights there, thanks for sharing, last but not least tell us where people can contact you if they want to learn more about the services you offer?  

If people have any questions or want to get in touch the best place to reach me is at www.testlondon.com

Thanks Rob, pleasure speaking to you.

Outstanding....

I stumbled upon this well-shot video over the weekend and it compliments an article I wrote a short while back about using bodweight exercises to develop power. Check it out for more examples of explosive bodyweight movement. Enjoy....

Afternoon all,

It’s chucking it down here in Surrey so I thought I would get the computer out and do some rambling on the blog.....

Today’s topic - striking the right exercise dose!

(My best attempt at amateur graphic production!!)

As my beautiful graph demonstrates, exercise, like many things in life requires balance for optimum benefits to be achieved. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that doing little to no exercise is not going to be great for your health and performance. You will simply end up weak and unfit. I think most people get this!

It is at the other end of the scale where there is a little more confusion floating around. Here you will find many exercise-aholics who are bleeding their energy resources dry with massive training volumes. For some this is probably a result of enjoying the ‘high’ they derive from exercise, for others it may stem from a long-term belief that the more exercise they do the better it is for them!

Now for sure there are some people who can probably pull off ridiculously high training volumes week in week out, month after month and suffer no ill consequence! This does not mean you should do the same. For many following these kind of high-octane, daily grinds will lead to a catalogue of problems including excessive cortisol production, insufficient muscle recovery, joint issues, decreases in energy, reduced performance and a general reduction in the quality of your life. This is crazy! Special circumstances aside (e.g. elite level athletes) training should do the very opposite and increase the quality of your life!

So what is the optimum volume of exercise? Unfortunately the answer is not black and white. As with so many things in the field of personal fitness....it depends!

It depends on.....

Given all these variances it is impossible to say how much is too much or how much is too little. You will have to get out there and find out for yourself. My best advice for now is this...

FIRST AND FOREMOST FOCUS ON QUALITY NOT QUANTITY

Start out with one or two really good intense training sessions (in whichever field of fitness you enjoy) and see how your body goes. How do you feel? How do you perform? Are you progressing? If the answers to all these questions are positive and you feel like you have more to give perhaps add a third session to the mix or maybe even a fourth. This may improve things or it may make things worse. Try it and see.....find your therapeutic dose of training activities and volume and go with it. Just remember, more is not necessarily better!

Here is a good piece I stumbled upon this week proving once more that getting in great shape does not require expensive gym memberships or fancy equipment...meet the Barstarzz!

Gravity Defying Outdoor Training

It is generally accepted that training for pure strength requires a different approach to training for pure mass. A quick glance at the training schedule of an olympic lifter vs that of a bodybuilder will confirm as much. The former will spend a lot of their time working against very high resistances for low reps, whilst the latter will spend the bulk of their time lifting moderately heavy weights, for high reps with shorter rest periods.

However, as I will attempt to explain below whether your main goal is strength or whether your main goal is size there is definite benefit to be had by adopting the training protocols of the other for periods of time during your training.....to sports scientists and strength coaches alike this process is commonly referred to as periodisation.

A lot of strength is developed by fine-tuning your nervous system to activate a greater % of your muscle fibers, in a more co-ordinated manner, in a shorter period of time. These neural adaptions are achieved by working against a very heavy resistance and can be likened to increasing the speed of your broadband internet connection. The improved connection speed between the brain (internet server) and your muscles (computer) allows for greater force (data) output.

Since the resistance must be high for this kind of training to be effective, the reps are forced to be low (you cannot lift something really heavy more than a couple of times!). This in turn means the overall workload or mechanical stress placed on the muscles during this style of training is lower as the example below demonstrates.

Workout 1

Our lifter has a bench press 3RM of 100kg and he performs 5 total sets for an overall workout tonnage of 1500kg

Workout 2

By dropping the weight 25kg, our lifter can now perform 6 reps per set (this is a conservative estimate). He performs 5 sets of 6 reps at 75kg for a total workout tonnage of 2250kg

I have used a weight training example for ease of maths but the same principle absolutely applies to bodyweight training. You will create a far greater overall workload doing a high volume workout using classic pull ups versus a workout based around one arm chin up progressions. The sheer difficulty of the latter exercise renders high volume training very tricky indeed.

However, neural improvements is not the only path to increased strength. It is also widely recognised that an increase in the cross-sectional area of a muscle also allows for greater force production and therefore strength gains. This is where the person training purely for strength can benefit from adopting the training tactics of those training for mass. By dropping the resistance, increasing the reps and reducing the rest periods you create an overall increase in the mechanical stress on the muscles.

Greater mechanical stress = bigger muscles!

Once muscle hypertrophy has been achieved the person training for strength could revert back to the high resistance, neural training only this time working with muscles that have a larger cross-sectional area and therefore a greater potential for strength production!

And it works both ways....

On the flip side those training for mass can benefit by adopting the tactics of those training for strength. As we have discussed above, getting a muscle to grow is largely based on your ability to put that muscle under greater mechanical stress. In other words lifting a moderately heavy weight lots of times in a short space of time. To increase the mechanical stress you can either:

1. Increase the reps
2. Reduce the time
3. Increase the resistance

Regular performance of this style of training will allow you to increase the reps and/or reduce the time it takes to perform the reps however it will likely not do much for your strength which means you are missing out on the third part of the formula.

By spending some time developing your maximal strength you can come back to your high volume workouts and lift an even heavier weight for lots of reps in a short space of time leading to even greater mechanical stress and growth stimulus on the muscles.

Conclusion

Hopefully you can see from the above examples that whether you are training purely for strength or whether you are training purely for mass there are benefits to be gained by switching your focus to the other side for a period of time.

This is of course why top strength coaches around the world will generally structure their athletes training programs carefully to include periods of hypertrophy, max strength and power training. The amount of time spent on each training variable will vary from athlete to athlete depending on their sport and goals.

Even if you are not an athlete and train simply to be strong and healthy you will still likely benefit greatly from mixing up your primary training stimulus on a regular basis! Try it and see....

Quick heads up for you today. Mark Sisson, author of The Primal Blueprint, has a brand new book out called The Primal Blueprint 21-Day Total Body Transformation.

The book is a practical, action-oriented guide for how to eat, exercise and live in accordance with your evolutionary make up – a step-by-step, “cut to the chase” resource to make a smooth and quick transition into a Primal lifestyle. I pre-ordered my copy months ago and it arrived over the weekend. After poring through its contents for the last few days it is safe to say this is another great addition to the Primal series. In his original book The Primal Blueprint, Mark hits the nail on the head with his philosophy on lifestyle, nutrition and fitness. If you want to shed excess body fat, get stronger & leaner, increase daily energy levels and improve other markers of health you would do well do follow his advice. This book distills his Primal Blueprint philosophy into an easy to follow, twenty one day plan where he tells you exactly what to do to take control of your health and fitness for the rest of your life.

Mark is looking to score this book on the New York Times best-seller list to gain exposure for the Primal Blueprint message, so he’s put together a loaded special offer which I am happy to help promote. Basically, if you order 1 or more copies between October 18 and 24, and email your receipt to a special email address Mark  will kick you back with a bunch of freebies. It’s a win-win. You get a great book for less than 15 bucks, a bunch of free gifts, and you and Mark both help take the Primal movement mainstream. Check out the full details of this special offer (including terms and conditions) by visiting MarksDailyApple.com today.