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Hang Your Way to Better Pull-ups

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George Corso Al Kavadlo Tree Hang

A basketball coach walks into the gym and witnesses one of his athletes shooting free throws. He makes 1 out of 50 shots. The coach asks the athlete what he’s doing and the athlete replies “practicing free throws.” The coach then asks him a simple question: “Are you practicing making them or are you practicing missing them?”

Pull-ups are kind of like free throws. They take practice, but you have to make sure you are practicing the right way. Though many people feel that they would have an easier time climbing Mount Everest than accomplishing even one pull-up, I hope to show you a different approach that will not only help with your pull-ups, but many other bar exercises as well.

When I started my own practice in calisthenics I was able to get my chin above the bar, but it really was far from a perfect pull-up. I sensed that something was off so I began to film myself doing pull-ups. It’s not always easy to be critical of yourself but I knew that this was an essential element of perfecting this exercise. I broke it down step by step from the first pull to the middle section and then to the top of the bar.  Then I studied it in reverse while lowering myself. I found that I was a complete mess!

It made me think back to the story about the free throws. I applied that coach’s criticism to my situation and realized that I was practicing my pull-ups without much regard for quality. It was obvious that I had to make corrections. I started with the initial pull. To my surprise, I found that I was pulling more from my biceps, which caused me to round my shoulders too much. A lack of strength in my scapulae was a real issue. I also discovered a lack of grip strength. In order to fix this problem I decided to scale back and dedicate my pull-up practice to different variations of hanging on the bar in order to work my way back up with proper technique.

Here’s what I did:

Dead Hangs
I started with the basic dead hang. The dead hang is such a great introduction to calisthenics bar training. It not only preps the hands but also decompresses the spine. Plus it opens up the chest so you can gain better shoulder mobility.

Start out with 10-30 seconds at a time. From there you can build to longer hangs. I recommend playing with different grips on the bar as well: Supinated, pronated and alternated grips are all fair game. I also suggest using a variety of different hand widths to add to the benefits of the dead hang. Using different grips will work the body in different ways, which can help you discover where your individual strengths and weakness lie.

George Corso Dead Hang Bar Hang Grip Variations

Active Hangs
The active hang is the next progression. In this variation, you’ll still be hanging with your arms completely straight, but your lats and shoulder blades will be engaged to “pack” the shoulders into their sockets. Adding this move into my programing leveled up my strength more than I could imagine. Active hangs helped me understand the proper muscle sequence in the motion of the pull-up, with scapula depression being first and foremost of the movements. As with dead hangs, I encourage you to explore and play with different grips.

Al Danny Kavadlo Active Hangs

Active Arch Hangs
These are one of my favorites! The active arch hang is one of the most challenging due the the body position needed. The goal is to hang with an arched back, while actively depressing and retracting the shoulder blades. It’s almost like a back bridge combined with an active hang. This will not only increase one’s strength in pull-ups, but will also aid you in someday catching the extremely challenging front lever.

George Corso Active Arch Hangs

Ape Swings
This exercise requires stamina, strength, control and mobility in order to accomplish. Start off in a dead hang with a mixed grip (one palm facing away and the other facing towards you). From here, release the palm that is facing you and rotate your body beneath the bar, switching your grip for the other side. Continue moving across the bar in this fashion, then reverse direction. What I love about this exercise is the control and scapular strength needed in order to bring yourself up enough to grab the bar. Each rep is almost like a one arm scapula pull-up.

George Corso Ape Swings

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George Corso is a PCC, RKC, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, Certified Animal Flow instructor and the co-owner of FORZA in Millbrook, NY. For more information, connect with George on Facebook.

Five Tips to Crush the Century

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Al and Danny Kavadlo

As a recently christened Progressive Calisthenics Certified coach, the Century Test is very fresh in my mind. The Century tests multiple qualities: speed, strength, endurance, and also has fairly strict technique standards for each rep of your squats, push-ups, hanging knee raises, and pull-ups/Australian pull-ups. Even though it’s not what I’d call easy, don’t let me fool you, the Century Challenge is defeatable, nay, crushable, if you prepare for it properly. Stay with me as I lay out the groundwork for what made me successful when it came time to test on the final day of my PCC.

First off, if any of the guys and gals out there who attended the June 2016 PCC in NYC are reading this…wow! We had some seriously strong individuals attend the PCC in New York, and there were a handful of people who were doing things above and beyond what I’ve ever seen in person before: freestanding handstand push-ups, stand-to-stand bridges, strict muscle ups and human flags. It was seriously impressive. Yet when it came time to do the Century, some of the same people who were performing those moves met it with a huge amount of apprehension, as if they had not prepared for it properly.

Here’s the thing: The Century is NOT a test of pure strength, it is a test of strength-endurance. You don’t need to be the biggest or strongest in order to destroy the 8 minute mark, but you need to train for it in a very specific way to minimize your time and need for recovery. Start preparing for it months in advance to give yourself a few attempts at it to see how you’re progressing, and make tweaks to it. Also, watch the videos of Al, Danny, and Adrienne demonstrating it. These videos were a serious help to me, because they gave me reference points for how quickly it could be done, and also made the technique standards appear more clear to me.

Rather than rehash technique standards for the Century, I’m going to assume you already know them, and if you don’t, go make sure to follow the link above first and then come back and finish this article. But I will say that in order to crush the Century, start by incorporating the following strategies in your training:

Al Kavadlo Pull-up at the UK PCC

1. Use the specificity principle to your advantage.

The test goes squats first, then push-ups, then knee raises, then pull-ups/rows. You should train the exercises in this order in your workouts, even if you are not doing the exact variations included in the Century test (i.e. you’re training movements in the same family of exercises, but not necessarily the ones specifically tested).

For added benefit, minimize your recovery time between those movements, transitioning from one to the next with little to no time between. This will prepare your body, and your mind for moving quickly. Remember, I’m helping you prepare to CRUSH the Century, not just pass by the skin of your teeth. Move with purpose.

2. Be confident doing push-ups that are harder than the ones tested in the Century.

Push-ups are one of the toughest parts of the Century Test, just because there are so many of them. If your pushups stink and you practically exhaust yourself doing them, you will set yourself up to fail when it comes to doing the pull-ups/Aussies because by then your arms will be shot.

In Convict Conditioning terms, this means guys should be able to comfortably do Close Push-ups and Uneven Push-ups, and ladies should feel confident doing 1/2 and Full Push-ups. Even if it’s only for a few reps, working at a strength level that is higher than what is required of you on test day is a smart idea. Your goal should be to have those pushups feel EASY come test time.

3. Save time in the hanging knee raise by mastering the hollow body position.

When hanging on the bar, the hollow body position is achieved by making a slight posterior tilt with the pelvis (belly button tucked up toward your chin), and actively pulling the bar down towards the floor. If you can hold this position, you should start to be able to do your knee raises faster and cleaner than when you just hang out like a limp string bean. Practice explosively pulling your knees to your chest and forcefully extending them straight, all while maintaining the hollow body position, so you don’t sway around like a flag in the breeze.

Bret Hamilton Thompkins Square

4. Train your knee raises and pull-ups back to back.

This is the tip that made the Century such a snap for me. I tested myself a few times before heading to NYC in June, and each time I was able to complete the entire Century in under three minutes. How? When I hopped up on the bar to do my knee raises, I never let go when transitioning to do my pull-ups.

Though it made training higher level strength pull-up exercises harder, it did make me improve my strength-endurance, which is the number one quality tested by the Century. I even went one step farther with myself and purposefully trained my knee raises slowly 5 seconds up, 5 seconds down to force my grip strength to be challenged, then proceeded to get after the pull-ups, which was a real challenge. It over prepared me for the test, which was what I was after!

5. Over-train your grip strength to have peace of mind come test day.

If you lack grip strength, you will fail the Century. Don’t let that be the reason you failed, when grip training is so easily supplemented into a regular training program.

  • Do it first, when you’re fresh. It makes the rest of your workout challenging.
  • If you’re a gal, I recommend being able to hang on the bar for a minimum of 60 seconds, preferably more. Overcompensate in your training by hanging from a towel in one hand, and the bar in the other. Build up to 60, then repeat with two towels. If you can do this, your grip is good.
  • If you’re a guy, the twin towel hang for 60 seconds is my minimum recommendation, but would prefer if you could hang from the bar by one hand for at least 30 seconds each, and possibly with your hands stacked one on top of the other on a towel for 30 seconds each.

Again, make sure your grip is way better than what is required for the Century, and you’ll have peace of mind when it comes test day.

 

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Bret Hamilton is the head coach and co-owner of Constant Forward Progress-Bodyweight and Kettlebell Training. He and his wife Megan live and train near Portland, OR. When Bret isn’t working with clients in the gym, he loves to jump on the trampoline, play pickleball, read a great book, and relax to video game now and then. You can learn more about Bret and CFP at constantforwardprogress.com.

Grip Strength for Greater Triumphs

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Adrienne Harvey Senior PCC Grip Training

Many times we associate grip strength and grip training with those ubiquitous spring-tension grippers and strongman training. While I really enjoy grip training with heavy odd objects, giant kettlebells, etc. it’s also very possible to train for a monster grip using bodyweight training only. With just a little creativity, bodyweight grip training presents infinite variations and challenges—and you can do most of it just about anywhere.

Having a strong grip is a prerequisite to so many bar-based calisthenics exercises—if you can’t hang on long enough, then you won’t be able to do a meaningful number of reps. Beginners will often need to build up their grip strength, as modern life and desk-based jobs don’t seem to test or build our grip.

As many PCC instructors and instructor candidates already know, grip strength is essential to passing the Century Test—you’ve got to be able to hang out on that bar for a while to do those twenty knee raises. In the excitement of testing, those twenty knee raises can seem to take a very long time, and you’ve got to hang on for every single one of them. Then, after the knee raises, the guys still need to do 10 pull-ups, and the ladies have to do their 10 Aussie pull-ups as well.

Convict Conditioning Vol. 2 remains one of my absolute favorites, and that’s not just because of the flags, it’s also the focus on grip training. The book begins with a comprehensive guide to hand and grip strength, and every time I look at it, it gives me more new ideas for training, some of which are presented below.

All Angles and Surfaces

At the PCC and in the Convict Conditioning book series, you’ll notice that there’s a variety of grips demonstrated—the “tactical” no-thumbs overhand grip most commonly seen on pull-ups, overhand with thumb wrapped, the chin-up grip with palms facing you, neutral grip with palms facing each other, wide grips, narrow grips, just a few fingers on each hand, two-arm, one-arm, finger-tip grips, and more.

Adrienne Harvey Bar Grip Training Collage
A few examples of the nearly infinite number of bodyweight grip training options.

Inspired by old time strongman training—which, properly scaled, is great for absolutely everyone—Paul Wade even includes adding a towel (and later two towels) to timed hangs for an extra challenge. A towel is hard to grip and hang from given its large diameter when bunched up, and because the hand is challenged in a less-familiar and surprisingly challenging vertical orientation.

One day, frustrated by the lack of a plain straight pull-up bar in a commercial gym, I came up with the following variation. I put one hand on one handle, but then looped a small hand towel around another one, then did a short set of 5-6 pull-ups. I made sure to switch sides every other set. It was a great grip challenge and can be done most anywhere.

I’m always looking for new places to do pull-ups. While my city is not constantly covered in scaffolding like NYC, I have been able to find great grip-challenging pull-up spots like I-beams, vertical rafters (very difficult, just doing short hangs there), open stairwell stairs, hand-only rope and pole climbs and more. The next time you visit a playground with young relatives, look around for grip challenge opportunities.

Chamber Press Neutral Grip
This is a favorite place to practice flag regressions like the chamber press. The “easier” neutral grip lets me focus on the rest of the movement.

One of my all-time favorite tips from Zach Even-Esh, author of The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning, is to vary the grip on each set of pull-ups (or push-ups) in a workout. Towards your last sets, you might be forced to get very creative.

Speaking of push-ups, if you haven’t tried, them, Neuro-Grip push-ups are a fantastic challenge of yet another angle of grip strength and training. I’ve found that the focus and strength required from them has helped with other exercises like dips, etc. on rings and even when performed on parallel dip bars.

Neuro-Grip push-upsYour Grip = Your Health?

Recent studies have found that grip strength is often an indicator of health. While it seems to be generally accepted that our grip strength declines as we get older, this is yet another opportunity to rebel against the mainstream. We can build up, increase, and maintain our grip strength into our later years if we keep training intelligently. Good health, grip strength and general strength will help us remain safe and independent in our senior years. That sounds good to me even now.

It Goes Both Ways: Train Your Extensors!

Adrienne Harvey Fingertip Pushups

Keeping our hands healthy means that it’s also important to “go the other way” too. In workouts which really emphasize grip training, I like to pair a grip intensive exercise with another exercise that either stretches or challenges the extensors—basically a superset. The extensor exercise can be something as simple as a well executed straight arm plank for time, push-ups, frog or crow stand, handstands if appropriate—or if you’re ready for it, you may want to experiment with fingertip straight arm planks or push-ups at this time too. There’s really no limit to the level of difficulty. It’s important to be patient and gentle though, as fingers seem to take a while to strengthen, and just a second to injure.

Here’s a sample combination from the last part of a favorite at-home workout:

  • 45 second pull-up bar straight arm hang
  • 30 second or longer crow stand
  • rest
  • 60 second pull-up bar straight arm hang
  • 45 second or longer crow stand
  • rest
  • 90 second (or keep going for a max PR) pull-up bar straight arm hang
  • 45-60 second straight arm plank

Grip Confidence and Breaking Through Mental Barriers

This last section might not apply to everyone, but I’ve observed both with myself and others that once we really begin to work on—and TRUST—our grip strength, then we’re often suddenly able to make a lot more progress on the skills which were otherwise right at the edge of our abilities. Getting the vertical chamber press and the next few human flag steps after it (human flag with one leg straight, one leg bent) were absolutely dependent on my confidence in my grip. I knew I had the strength, especially through the core, but in the past, kicking all the way up to vertical was fairly iffy. Turns out, my brain was putting the breaks on. Training my grip while still working on the rest of those progressions (but with a stall-bar-based neutral grip) was key. After finally putting the pieces back together, I’ve been able to reliably do the move on the first try and I’ve still been (slowly) progressing forward.

Adrienne Harvey PCC One Leg Flag

Is there a bar or vertical pole move that’s proved extra challenging for you? Could it be improved with a stronger grip and/or greater grip confidence?

Please share your experiences and questions in the comments below.

Train STRONG!
Adrienne

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Adrienne Harvey, Senior PCC Instructor, RKC-II, CK-FMS, has been RKC Certified since 2010, and RKC Level 2 certified since 2011. Kettlebell and bodyweight training have been crucial in Adrienne’s personal quest for fitness.  A core member of the PCC team, Adrienne loves sharing her knowledge with small groups and individuals. She also loves to develop recipes and workout programs to further support performance, body composition, and of course—FUN. Visit her website, GiryaGirl.com for workouts, recipes, and more.

Calisthenics Grip Training

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Handshake

I’ll never forget Gary. It’s not that Gary was such an amazing person, in fact he was quite bland. Imagine shaking hands with someone’s limp lifeless, overcooked soggy noodle hand. That was what made him disappointingly unforgettable. We’ve all met someone like that, and it creeps most people out. Shake my hand like you mean it!

On the other side of the spectrum is Rich. Rich has been crowned the World Arm Wrestling Champ many times. After introducing him to my father, my dad said, “that was like sticking your hand into a bunch of bananas! I wasn’t sure I was getting my arm back!” Your handshake says a lot about you. Grip strength says even more.

Al Kavadlo Human Flag
Grip strength is an essential part of many advanced calisthenics exercises, such as the infamous human flag, demonstrated here by PCC Lead Instructor Al Kavadlo.

How can a strong grip help?  First, your grip is the linkage between your body and whatever it is you’re trying to control.  If you’re trying to put heavy objects overhead, a crushing grip can actually tighten the linkage in your shoulder and give you a safer press.  If you’re a calisthenic ninja, killer grip can keep you on the bar for more pull-ups or help your handstands as you grip the ground and drive upward.  But how on earth can you develop card tearing grip strength using only calisthenics?  According to Paul Wade in Convict Conditioning II, finger tip push-ups and towel hangs are all you need.  From my own experience, he’s right!

Finger tip push-ups are simple; just do a push-up on your finger tips!  Well, there’s a bit more to it than that.  This one killer exercise strengthens the entire hand from the fingers up through the forearms.  It’s easy to let your ego get in front of you with this one, so be sure to progress slowly and cautiously. I recommend starting these as incline push-ups.  This enables you to keep your technique spot-on and stay injury free.

Fingertip Setup Hand Position
Make sure you set your hand up with your fingers locked and spread.

It’s important to make sure you set your hand up with your fingers locked and spread.  Try and create a tall wide support structure with your fingers.  Ideally you want your fingers to look like they are flowing right up into your arm, there should be no odd bends or strains.

As you make progress with these just keep moving closer to the floor, and once you’re able to do 8-10 quality fingertip push-ups, try one arm push-ups, or 3 finger push-ups.

AlKavadlo Three Finger Incline Pushup
PCC Lead Instructor Al Kavadlo demonstrates a 3-finger incline one arm push-up, unofficially known as the “Heavy Metal” push-up.

Towel hangs can start out easy, then progress to a battle of will between your body and your mind.  These work amazingly well for developing grip endurance as well as thick muscled forearms.

Again I strongly suggest starting out with a grip training drill you can do fairly well and slowly progress to the harder stuff like one arm hangs, thicker towel hangs, longer hangs, or even pull-ups or leg raises with a towel.  I would also encourage you to pull the shoulders down away from your ears while you hang.  This tightens up the shoulder complex and creates more stability.  Once you can hang for about a minute I’d suggest you bump it up a bit.  Remember, everything can be made more challenging with simple calisthenics tweaks.

Corey Howard Towel Hangs for Grip Strength
I love to use towel hangs for developing my grip!

I caution you about pushing too hard and trying to progress too fast.  Sometimes you can overwork these smaller muscles and not even know it until you have a painful case of tennis elbow.  Remember for most people, grip is the smallest link in the chain.  The last thing you want to do is allow your brain and larger muscles to overpower your grip work and cause an injury.

Grip training can be tricky but the rewards are huge! I can tell you from my own experience, Paul Wade’s combo rocks!  After doing these two movements fairly consistently I’ve had to add a link in my watch, and can no longer slip my wedding ring off for any pull-up work.  My forearms, wrists and fingers have thickened up a bit.  If you increase the size of the motor, most of the time you increase the output as well…. More grip strength!  More pull-ups!  Fire it up!!

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About Corey Howard, PCC, RKC, CK-FMS: Corey Howard strives to constantly become stronger, and to help others to achieve their fitness goals. He is the owner of Results Personal Training, and can be reached at www.resultsptonline.com or www.coreyhoward.com.