Aj Bhardwaj
Level 2 Valued Member
At work, we had a June pull up contest.
So in Strong-first fashion, I asked two of my colleagues to battle it out using two different style of programming. Thought I would do a write up about my findings. This is not an either or write-up. My results showed that they were both great programs with great results. So let the results below speak for themselves and hope you get something out of it.
#Individual 1: Sally
- Female
- 32 Years of Age
- Training age: Runner/Triathlete - VO2 max would be in elite standards as has done Kona and came 2nd.
- Programming - Grease The Groove
- Pre testing pull ups: 5 (with I would say debatable technique)
#Individual 2: Riaz
- Male
- 30 years of age
- Training age: Muay Thai/Bro-split gym goes to gym 4/week.
- Programming - Fighter pull up program as mentioned on website
- Pre testing pull ups: 8
Programming details - Grease the groove
- Sally's goal was to increase volume of pull ups weekly by 15-20% for 3 weeks.
- She trained Monday - Friday.
- We didn't set a daily limit. We set a weekly volume and per set volume she had to achieve.
- Week 1: Set of 2 (Weekly volume - 45 repetitions)
- Week 2: Set of 3 (Weekly volume - 55 - 60 repetitions) - Sally hit 63 repetitions
- Week 3: Set of 4 (Weekly volume - 65 - 75 repetitions) - Sally hit 72 repetitions
- Week 4: Deload/Testing week (Weekly volume - 50% of week 3)
- Deload week
- Monday - Max - 2 x 3 sets
- Wednesday - Max - 1 x 2 sets
- Friday - Testing day.
On testing day: Sally completed 9 repetitions (+4 reps) and with perfect hollow body form. In fact she could have gotten 1 more but she stopped due to technique.
Programming details - Fighter pull up program
- Riaz trained Monday - Friday.
- Riaz had daily and weekly limits as per the program.
- Riaz's goal was to follow the program as per...
Session 1: 7,6,5,4,3
Session 2: 7,6,5,4,4
Session 3: 7,6,5,5,4
.
.
.
- Riaz was 90% adherent to the program.
On testing day: Riaz completed 13 repetitions (+5 repetitions)
Some final points:
- Aside from the endless variables, both programs did elicit a positive response.
- In the ideal world, the two above people would then swap programs and test the other program. But that's not happening.
- I was shocked by how well GTG did considering the impact, fatigue wise, was very low compared to the fighter pull up program.
- This could have also been due to Aerobic capacity difference between the two people but naturally from my experience with GTG, the fatigue levels are quite low.
So in Strong-first fashion, I asked two of my colleagues to battle it out using two different style of programming. Thought I would do a write up about my findings. This is not an either or write-up. My results showed that they were both great programs with great results. So let the results below speak for themselves and hope you get something out of it.
#Individual 1: Sally
- Female
- 32 Years of Age
- Training age: Runner/Triathlete - VO2 max would be in elite standards as has done Kona and came 2nd.
- Programming - Grease The Groove
- Pre testing pull ups: 5 (with I would say debatable technique)
#Individual 2: Riaz
- Male
- 30 years of age
- Training age: Muay Thai/Bro-split gym goes to gym 4/week.
- Programming - Fighter pull up program as mentioned on website
- Pre testing pull ups: 8
Programming details - Grease the groove
- Sally's goal was to increase volume of pull ups weekly by 15-20% for 3 weeks.
- She trained Monday - Friday.
- We didn't set a daily limit. We set a weekly volume and per set volume she had to achieve.
- Week 1: Set of 2 (Weekly volume - 45 repetitions)
- Week 2: Set of 3 (Weekly volume - 55 - 60 repetitions) - Sally hit 63 repetitions
- Week 3: Set of 4 (Weekly volume - 65 - 75 repetitions) - Sally hit 72 repetitions
- Week 4: Deload/Testing week (Weekly volume - 50% of week 3)
- Deload week
- Monday - Max - 2 x 3 sets
- Wednesday - Max - 1 x 2 sets
- Friday - Testing day.
On testing day: Sally completed 9 repetitions (+4 reps) and with perfect hollow body form. In fact she could have gotten 1 more but she stopped due to technique.
Programming details - Fighter pull up program
- Riaz trained Monday - Friday.
- Riaz had daily and weekly limits as per the program.
- Riaz's goal was to follow the program as per...
Session 1: 7,6,5,4,3
Session 2: 7,6,5,4,4
Session 3: 7,6,5,5,4
.
.
.
- Riaz was 90% adherent to the program.
On testing day: Riaz completed 13 repetitions (+5 repetitions)
Some final points:
- Aside from the endless variables, both programs did elicit a positive response.
- In the ideal world, the two above people would then swap programs and test the other program. But that's not happening.
- I was shocked by how well GTG did considering the impact, fatigue wise, was very low compared to the fighter pull up program.
- This could have also been due to Aerobic capacity difference between the two people but naturally from my experience with GTG, the fatigue levels are quite low.
