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Bodyweight Pull up case study: GTG Vs Fighter Pull up program

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T-Rex life

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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.
 
Very good experiment, thanks a lot for sharing.

I ran GTG for a month (my schedule did not permit recently) for push ups.

I now started GtG dead hangs to improve my shoulder mobility.

My experience w GTG OAPU for a month was amazing.

I can swear but not prove that GtG makes joints stronger.

When I was on high volume (according to myself) push ups, my shoulders did not feel at best and I had a very annoying left wrist pain.

GTG not only soft on joints, on me , it has a healing effect. My left wrist pain totally disappeared.

I got stronger w ease and on top positive effects on joints, to the extend that, although it sounds stupid, to “heal” my long time right ankle pain, I am considering calf raise gtg. Just to see if it will have any impact.
 
AJ I just wanted to say thanks for posting your colleagues' results to different plans. If I were a billionaire I'd fund all kinds of studies like this.
 
I've used the Fighter Pull-up Program for several TSC events. Unfortunately, I only saw a 2-3 rep increase (from 15-16 reps to 18-19 reps) and it killed my elbows! The frequency and volume was just too much for me.

I've performed 20-30 pull-ups in the past without following a pull-up specialization program. A lower volume approach and GTG seems to work better.
 
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