all posts post new thread

Old Forum Whats wrong with me - or my Pull Up?

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

FloKie

First Post
Hi StrongFirst-Community,

I have a technical question regarding my tactical pull up. Some of you saw it on the naked warrior cert. Pavel commented that it might be a weakness in my abs - because of my fairly long upper torso. I used the Pavelizer recently and hope I have fixed this issue - still it is not the last one:

When I hold on to the bar in hollow position with locked elbows I seam to be unable to get out of this position without losing my hollow - feels like I am locked down.

If on the other hand I come out of a partial PU and keep my elbows slightly bent I am fine.

Does any of you have experience with this problem?

Will my "Solution" count a proper technic?

Is there another way to fix my problem?

Thanks Florian.

 
 
Have you tried some iso work in the bottom position? For example, pack the shoulders and try to really engage your serratus, then hollow up and hold. The 2 cues I would try to focus on is to feel the lats/serratus bite and keep that hollow position.
 
My pull-ups and weighted pull-ups exploded from doing easier variations of the front lever (i.e. keeping your torso parallel to the ground but flexing your hips, flexing your hips and knees and inching them out closer to a full front lever, etc.).

If you have trouble keeping abs and lats fired for anything, you won't after training those.
 
Florian,
Scott Stevens here from Omaha. We shared a room at the Naked Warrior.

I've a female client with a long torso who has the same issue with the start of the pull-up.
She has a bad habit of jumping into the first rep and our pullup bars aren't  high enough to prevent it,so she's learned to NOT stay tight at the beginning of the pull-up.

She also has difficulty staying tight at the beginning of a heavy press and the rocking hollow position.

She's improved dramatically over the last few weeks from the following:

We start with cycling through three or four drills recommended in order from the Naked Warrior manual.
Then..
Rite of Passage Clean & Press ladders with a light C.O.C. gripper in the free hand. While most people need to crush the gripper at the middle of the press to get through their sticking point, her sticking point IS the beginning of the press, so she squeezes the gripper at the beginning of her press with great effect.
In between ladders of Clean & Presses she "practices"  one of the following variations of the pullup or pullup drills:    isometric hangs from the pullup bar or TRX in either the top, middle or bottom position while holding and squeezing an object between her legs.
As in her press she is instructed to gun her glutes, abs, lats and grip (as if closing a gripper)  to get through her sticking point whether that's the beginning or middle of the movement.
She likes to try assisted or unassisted pullups at both the beginning and the end of class.  They always look better at the end of class.

Yesterday after class she nailed her first ever strict dead hang pull-up while maintaining the hollow.
 
Florian, when your elbows flex, your shoulders also extend and the anterior chain muscles are shorter—and stronger.

Practice the HP with your arms "overhead" holding a stick on the floor.

And keep working on the Ab Pavelizer.
 
forgive me but why are your elbows locked in the hollow position? that seems almost unnatural and puts muscle activity into holding a position (locked) that is not going to help you get up and out.

personally, for myself, the breakthrough was, on a tip from ken froese, to allow myself to stand on something to get all nice and tight and "short" and hollow and then "step off" or hang from there as you'll see say val hedlund doing in her iron maiden pull up vid

see vids at end of this post

http://www.begin2dig.com/2011/12/valerie-hedlund-reflecting-on-iron.html

 

mc
 
I had a similar issue with my shoulders wanting to "start" at different times from the starting position.  For the masses, using bands for pullups isn't the best route (the most help at the part where they need the least help and the least help at the top where most people are struggling.)

 

I greased the groove from the starting position with bands until it felt natural.  It may help to GTG that starting point with some assistance for a little while.
 
I was going to say practice pullups with a dowel in the hollow like we did at NW and with Brett at megatraining then I saw Pavel's reply.  :)  I have been using this to fix the same problem with one of my clients.  She did the exact same thing you did at NW.  After about 2 weeks on the floor and 3 simulated Pavelizer (bands behind calves) "situps" 3x a week,  she did a regular pullup without losing the brace this week.

I'm sure you'll nail it soon.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom