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Bodyweight upper body pulls I can do at the office

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George Locke

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I've been mostly working out at the office. And by "at the office" I mean in spare rooms near my desk. My main upper body pull has been single arm bent-over kettlebell rows performed vaguely Kroc style (standing, using non-working hand to support my chest on a table or cabinet). There are tables/desks around where I can do body rows, but they feel unstable and make noise; I'm getting strong enough where archer rows are becoming an option. I could do be doing band pull downs, but the strength curve with those is even worse than rows. I haven't found any places I can do pull ups (the nearest stairs are a 10 minute walk away and there are no exposed pipes afaict).

Any other suggestions? Maybe I could bring my TRX in...
 
Im not sure of the reps and sets you are using but you could make the same weight "go further" for your training if you use slow tempo eccentrics or pump reps. This way its more of a specialized variety approach rather than change the whole movement with the space/equipment you have.
 
I've been mostly working out at the office. And by "at the office" I mean in spare rooms near my desk. My main upper body pull has been single arm bent-over kettlebell rows performed vaguely Kroc style (standing, using non-working hand to support my chest on a table or cabinet). There are tables/desks around where I can do body rows, but they feel unstable and make noise; I'm getting strong enough where archer rows are becoming an option. I could do be doing band pull downs, but the strength curve with those is even worse than rows. I haven't found any places I can do pull ups (the nearest stairs are a 10 minute walk away and there are no exposed pipes afaict).

Any other suggestions? Maybe I could bring my TRX in...
I don't know what your door frames are like, but if they exist, are flat on top, and strong enough, you can do fingertip pull-ups...
 
Im not sure of the reps and sets you are using but you could make the same weight "go further" for your training if you use slow tempo eccentrics or pump reps. This way its more of a specialized variety approach rather than change the whole movement with the space/equipment you have.
Playing with rep schemes is a good suggestion.

What are pump reps? is that like cluster sets/myo reps?

@offwidth there are sturdy metal doorframes, perfect fit for your suggestion. thanks! grip work here I come! (only problem is that I usually try to hide behind a closed door so as not to make a spectacle of myself...)

edit: ayy my hands are way too weak for this. Something to build up to!
 
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Playing with rep schemes is a good suggestion.

What are pump reps? is that like cluster sets/myo reps?

@offwidth there are sturdy metal doorframes, perfect fit for your suggestion. thanks! grip work here I come! (only problem is that I usually try to hide behind a closed door so as not to make a spectacle of myself...)
To quote the American physicist Dick_Feynman..."What do you care what other people think?"

If you do these, please make sure you that you ease into these. They can play havoc with your finger tendons, and pulleys. But you will certainly improve that aspect of your grip strength...
 
@George Locke
Pump reps involve doing partial reps that eventually lead to a full rep.

For example with the crux rows. Do half way row then back down then full row then another half row. That is 1 rep. You can do all kinds of interesting things with them like iso hold the half for 5-10 sec then finish the pump rep.
 
You can grab some speargun tubing off of amazon and use it as a chest expander. I used it a lot when i fiirst started emt and it kept me injury free in the forearms and elbows, also made my grip much stronger for gripping things like clothes and sheets.

Another option is using a yoga strap / Gi / towel and pulling on it at different angles, just dont use max force, more like 50 to 70 percent
 
Once you start getting into Isometrics or Dynamic resistance the options are limitless although effectiveness can vary quite a bit.

The traveling Isometric routine I came up with is pretty effective, rowing variant starts around 3:30

 
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