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Bodyweight Pull up replacement

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Rayhzel

Rayhzel

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Next week I will be going on vacation for three weeks.
The KB's will stay at home, so I've got myself a nice BW program.
However the program also uses negative pull ups. If there is a tree branch strong enough I'll take it, but just in case I have nothing suitable for doing pull ups, what is a good replacement exercise and how to incorporate it? (as to reps or time?)
 
I go camping a lot for my vacations. I usually manage to find at least one really good tree branch and most campgrounds have a decent jungle gym/swingset.

If you can't find anything to do pull ups on find something to do inverted rows on. I've used a table inside of a hotel room before. Not ideal but it worked.
 
If you have yourself a sturdy door you can do pullups by hanging onto the top. The change in grip and lack of forearm movement is a unique variation from bar pullups. You could also do bodyweight rows by looping a towel around the door handles and squatting back. A one-arm row would make it more of a challenge, especially for the grip.

Working the active negative on handstand pushups, pushups, or OAPUs is an option too. Enjoy your vacation!
 
+1 to all of the above.
I travel a lot and find myself in this situation way more than I would like.
Tree branches
Playground equipment
Doors
Scaffolding
Wall and fence tops
Open riser stair treads
Door Frames (killer on the fingers... Be careful)
Towel rows
Aussie pull-ups on tables and low rails.

But please be careful. Often times these structures are not strong enough to support weight, or they may have sharp edges. One word about playgrounds... If there are kids around with or without parents maybe think twice unless you have kids with you. I got told off by a parent once thinking perhaps I was some kinda creep. It seems funny, but I guess I can see their point of view...
 
The above are all great suggestions. I'd just add that if you have an ab wheel that some people have said that working on your roll-outs can have a lot of carryover to pull-ups. Having recently been getting closer to achieving a full standing roll-out, I can see why; lots of tension in the glutes, abs, and lats - much like how a heavy tactical pull-up feels.
 
One more to consider:

Batwing planks. Lie on your back, zip up, and press into the floor with your heels and elbows, attempting to raise your body off the floor. Most likely you will not actually be able to lift your body and it will be an isometric contraction.
 
For the future, I'd recommend packing a good set of gymnastics rings with adjustable straps in your luggage for occasions such as these. I have yet to find any place in the world where I couldn't rig them up if I looked around enough.

If it's of any use, and in case you haven't previously read this oft-repeated personal anecdote (apologies in advance if I'm sounding like a broken record to long-time readers), many moons ago I was stuck someplace where chinning was out of the question--this was before I got clever enough to heed my own above packing advice. I relentlessly practiced Naked Warrior-style one arm/one arm-one leg pushups. When I returned to the free world, to my shock and delight, I could suddenly perform a one arm chinup.

While I'm skeptical that too many other folks would be able to repeat that little miracle of mine, suffice to say that building up to strict OAPUs (or dusting them off again and making them your focus) is a surprisingly powerful pull builder.
 
tons of great options above.. my goto is One Arm Push UP, very slow pulling toward the ground. :) Can't go wrong here!

OAPU's have kept my pulling strong. Just one personal example: I have not done weighted pullups since 2012, but have done tons of OAPU's over the past few years. 7 weeks ago I decided to test my 1RM weighted pull up to start a 6 week program I wrote. My 1RM was 18kg, which I can only credit to the tension used for the OAPU.

Best of luck and most importantly - ENJOY THE VACATION time!!
 
Rayhzel said:
I'll be at a camping in Croatia.
Click to expand...

Also another piece of advice is pack a decent pair of gloves. I hate to wear gloves but you will be upset when you find the perfect tree branch and its covered in sap, spiky bark, etc. Also, if you use a swingset or something metal, check to make sure its not going to melt your skin off if its hot out.
 
If you can find a table, you can do some tucked Front Lever holds, and Tuck Front Lever Rows. I've never been a huge believer in the carry-over between pushing and pulling (for one thing, it has never worked for me... I lose my One arm Chin-ups as soon as I stop training pulling work, and my Front Lever detrains very quickly no matter how much hollow body pushing work I do... very jealous of the guy who got a OACU for free from OAPUs hehe), so if you're like me and you still want to add some actual active elbow flexion and shoulder extension work in there, FL work is typically very accessible and good enough for me.
 
There is no really good exercise to replace pull ups, they are the greatest. However, don't do negative pull ups and replace them with chair-assisting pull ups or regular pull ups (if you can do any). Never skip this exercise. They are important. Also, don't forget push ups!
 
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