pull-up variations

Pull-Ups Everywhere!

August 2, 2016 By Danny Kavadlo 17 Comments

Danny Kavadlo Rock Pull-Ups

In the world of bodyweight strength training, the mighty pull-up is the indisputable king of upper back exercise. The classic movement is performed when hanging off a straight bar and pulling your body up until your chin surpasses the bar. The practitioner is encouraged to keep his or her entire body tense in order to attain maximum yields, as well as overall control. In fact, this notion of complete tension is present in all Progressive Calisthenics training, as we encourage the body to work hard as a single, cohesive unit, whichever the emphasized muscles may be. In the case of the pull-up, the primary emphasis is on the lats and the biceps.

While there are numerous pull-up variations you can perform on a traditional bar (wide grip, narrow grip and mixed grip, to name only a few), there are also many that don’t employ a bar at all. That’s right, you can use almost anything around you to get a great upper body workout. As I’m fond of saying, you just need something to hang from!

You will find that changing the surface from which you pull causes you to utilize certain parts of your anatomy that you may never have given much thought to training before. These include your hands, forearms, skin, sinews and tendons. Furthermore, without a bar, you are compelled to dial into your creative forces. It’s a workout for the mind as well as the body. This fusion of the physical and mental components is one of the greatest things about the Street Workout phenomenon!

While all of the following alternative grip pull-ups are rather demanding, they’re also a lot of fun. Just make sure you have a solid foundation in classic pull-ups before embarking on this journey. Work hard and enjoy the ride!

1. Ledge Pull-Up

Using a flat ledge instead of a bar eliminates the typical grip (or any conventional “gripping” at all). It forces you to use the strength of your fingers and forearms, as well as the durability of your skin. Because there is no bar, you cannot wrap your fingers around any round surface, making ledge pull-ups one of the best hand workouts you can do. They’re also great for getting over your fear of heights!

Danny Kavadlo Ledge Pull Ups

2. Tree Pull-Up

Using a tree instead of a bar is a sure-fire way to toughen up the skin on your hands. Rough tree bark feels very different than smooth metal and the branch will generally be thicker than a bar. Because the tree is sure to be shaped differently than a perfectly straight bar, you may have to “hug” it rather than grasp it. Be prepared for your abs, forearms and even your chest to play a substantial role.

Danny Kavadlo Tree Pull Ups

3. Fence Pull-Up

While this variant is super-brutal (and potentially unpleasant) on your fingers, it’s also guaranteed to build real strength where it counts. But beyond the extra lat and finger work, some find the true challenge of the fence pull-up to be the body positioning. This exercise places you directly against the fence, therefore you can only move your body straight up and down, without any backward lean, hip bend or swaying whatsoever. The fence pull-up must be strictly vertical, which places the practitioner in a mechanically difficult angle, thus building tremendous power.

Danny Kavadlo Fence Pull-Up

4. Two-Pole Pull-Up

The unique grip of the two-pole pull-up is like nothing you’ve encountered in a standard gym workout. Because you are holding onto the bars with your hands facing outward, the challenge is extreme on your extremities. Additionally, this uncommon hand placement demands extra recruitment of the medial muscles in the upper back, such as the rhomboids.

Al Kavadlo Two Pole L-Sit Pull-Up

5. Two-Pole Vampire Pull-Up

In this monstrous version of the two-pole pull-up, we do not clasp the poles from the sides. Instead we descend from above. The result is an incredibly intense workout for the hands, forearms, biceps and biceps tendons. Be very afraid.

Danny Kavadlo Two Pole Vampire Pull-Up

6. Pull-Up On A Random Object

Improvisation is key when you perform a pull-up on a random object. You can find a bus stop, street sign or even a statue or monument and turn it into your own gym. When you do so, you are subject to unexpected grips, questionable leverage and unknown balance. Make sure to survey your site soundly so that you can adapt properly to your environment. Take the bull by the horns!

Al Kavadlo Random Object Pull-Ups

7. Pull-Up On A Partner

This partner calisthenics exercise is a workout for both the puller and the one being pulled upon. Doing a pull-up off of another human is challenging because you must contend with the texture of their skin, which is softer and less sturdy than a metal bar. This leads to instability, forcing the practitioner to recruit more of their core, including the abs and glutes in order to stabilize. It is of note that your partner will have to hold onto something stable, as well as tense their whole body, in order to support your weight. Take this one slow.

Al Danny Kavadlo Partner Pull Ups

This list is neither the beginning nor the end of the many creative ways you can employ your surroundings to get strong. In the world of Street Workout, the only limits are the ones we impose upon ourselves. So get out there, flex your physical and mental muscles and get creative. You will find that the world is your gym.

Keep the dream alive,

-DK

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Danny Kavadlo is one of the world’s foremost authorities on calisthenics, nutrition and personal training. He is the author of the Dragon Door titles Strength Rules, Diamond-Cut Abs and Everybody Needs Training. Most recently, he co-authored Street Workout with his brother, Al Kavadlo. Danny is known for his minimalist philosophy, simple approach and motivational talents.

A true in-person experience, Danny is a Master Instructor for Dragon Door’s Progressive Calisthenics Certification. He has been featured in the NY Times, TRAIN, Men’s Fitness and is a regular contributor to Bodybuilding.com. Learn more about Danny at www.DannyTheTrainer.com

The Case of the Missing Pull-up Bar

December 17, 2013 By Al Kavadlo 19 Comments

The day after Thanksgiving I showed up to work out at my number one training spot, the iconic jungle gym in the Northeast corner of Tompkins Square Park. I always like to get a serious workout in the day after Thanksgiving to offset the gluttonous amount of savory meats and sweet dessert treats that I’ve consumed during the previous day. Imagine my shock when I arrived at the jungle gym to find that my favorite pull-up bar had gone missing!

Well to be honest, I wasn’t that surprised. After all, the bar had gradually been getting loose over the course of the last several months. Since the park reopened in the early ‘90s following the infamous Tompkins Square Park Riot of ‘88, the jungle gym has gradually become one of the most popular outdoor training spots in the NYC area. Even on the coldest winter day, a handful of dedicated loyalists are still out there getting their reps in. Hundreds of pull-ups, muscle-ups and other exercises are performed on that bar every day. It’s taken a beating over the years!

Without my normal pull-up bar available I was forced to improvise a lot of my workout, which often winds up being a good thing. Instead of doing my typical overhand pull-ups, i used the bars on the big yellow monkey bar arch to do pull-ups, which places the hands into a neutral position.

I did muscle-ups on the low bar, which forced me to hold my legs in an “L” to avoid hitting my feet into the floor at the bottom of each rep, adding an extra challenge to an already difficult move.

I still did my handstand push-ups and pistol squats like I normally would. Exercises that require no equipment at all will forever be available to you no matter what!

At the end of the workout, I was over my initial disappointment about the missing bar and I actually started to see the whole thing as a blessing in disguise (the endorphin rush from a good training session often gives me better perspective). I’ve always believed that the universe opens a window every time it closes a door. I was looking forward to seeing what other variations I might come up with in future workouts, as it appeared I would no longer have access to the high bar that facilitated so much of my training for so long.

Indeed, the next few times I trained at the park, I continued to work around the missing high bar. My L-Muscle-ups began to get a bit smoother. The neutral grip pull-ups quickly started to feel just as comfortable as the standard pronated grip. I almost forgot there was anything missing. Just when I had fully accepted the situation, things suddenly went back to normal just as quickly as they initially changed.

On Friday, December 13th I showed up to train at TSP and the high bar was back! The bar appears to have been reinforced and it feels more secure than it has in years. The low bar also appears to have been reinforced – an extra bonus! It felt great to muscle-up on that high bar again; it didn’t roll around or squeak at all.

Though it appears to be the very same bar that went missing two weeks prior, the exact details of what happened remain a mystery to me. There are still questions that I may never know the answer to:

What was the final straw that brought it down? A plyo muscle-up? A giant rollover? A simple bar hang? Was anyone hurt?

Or was it just taken down by the NYC Park’s Department as a precaution until they could properly reinforce it?

And what brought it back? A crafty calisthenics practitioner with some welding prowess? My brother Danny’s phone call to 311? Or maybe it was just a Christmas miracle!

Whether it was the work of the NYC parks dept, a fellow bar athlete or the supernatural, I may never know. However, this much I can say for certain: Pull-up bar or not, it is always possible to have a great workout; our only limitations are the ones we place on ourselves.

And to whoever it was that fixed the pull-up bar at TSP: Thank you!

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About Al Kavadlo: Al Kavadlo is the lead instructor for Dragon Door’s Progressive Calisthenics Certification. Recognized worldwide for his amazing bodyweight feats of strength as well as his unique coaching style, Al is the author of three books, including Raising The Bar: The Definitive Guide to Pull-up Bar Calisthenics and Pushing The Limits! Total Body Strength With No Equipment. Read more about Al on his website:www.AlKavadlo.com.

Odd Object Training with Bodyweight?

July 23, 2013 By Logan Christopher 12 Comments

There’s a method of training with weights called odd object lifting. While a barbell is made to be lifted, with its small diameter handle that is easy to grip, and the weight being perfectly balanced, most of what is encountered in the real world is not.

If you’ve ever moved furniture you know this to be true. While an item may not be all that heavy, its size and shape can prove very difficult to maneuver.

Thus if you want to become strong the use of odd objects is suggested. This means lifting things that are harder to lift like rocks, stones, barrels and the like. The idea being that this will force your stabilizing muscles to work much harder. Often your grip is taxed much more. Plus your form in lifting these odd objects will be different than how you’d handle a barbell.

But what does this have to do with bodyweight training? Can we take this idea of odd object training and apply it to bodyweight exercises?

Well, I was reading Raising the Bar by Al Kavadlo the other day. There’s a single sentence in there that got me thinking.

“Training on odd objects can sometimes offer unique challenges and benefits.”

This sparked my thinking about this more so in this article I’m going to go deeper on how to use odd objects in your bodyweight training.

Most pull-up bars are just like the barbell. Its perfectly straight and has a thin handle to make the exercise as easy as possible. So what happens when you do your pull-ups on things besides a normal pull-up bar?

Try it on a tree branch. The thicker grip will make it harder to do. Plus here you won’t be able to wrap the thumbs around. Depending on the strength of the branch there may be some sway as you do the exercise (of course you’ll want to make sure the branch can easily support your weight before you jump on it).

Tree Branch Pullup — **The thicker grip will make chin-ups more challenging.**

You could modify this even more with a tree. What if one hand hangs on a branch while the other is closer to the base of the tree, where the branch comes out. This will be an uneven pull-up and depending on how wide your hands are apart could also be an archer pull-up.

This same thing can be done on many monkey bars. Look around at the thick bars and the angles you can use.

Uneven Pullup — **An uneven chin-up with one hand on the thick bar and one on a chain.**

**Not only is the grip tough here on two chains, but I was forced to straddle the legs.**

And don’t just think pull-ups. Levers, hanging leg raises and dips can be done on different bar setups too.

Wide Dip — **Feel the stretch with wide dips.**

Here you’ll gain some similar benefits as those odd objects can bring. The exercise will become harder as certain parts of your body will need to work more. The great thing is if you spend some time working on the odd bars when you go back to a regular bar its going to feel that much easier.

Bars aren’t the only way you can get this effect. What about pushups? Although you could use a variety of pushup handles you may be able to find objects to do pushups on too.

**This pushup is done with offset hands at different heights.**

Plus this same effect can be accomplished on the flat floor just as well. Instead of always doing pushups in your perfect, ideal form, change them up.

Alter hand placement. Go closer, go wider, go offset. Turn one or both hands out to the side. Turn one hand backwards as you keep on forwards. Try this while they’re both wide.

**No objects are necessary. Try this pushup with both hands pointing in the same direction.**

The great hand balancer Professor E.M. Orlick taught handstands just like this. Don’t just keep trying to add time to holding a normal handstand. Instead alter your hand position (among many other things). Once again go closer, go wider, or offset.

**Doing an open fist handstand. Harder than flat hands but easier than fully on the fists.**

When you train in this manner, since almost all of it will be harder than the normal version, when you get back to that regular pushup or handstand it will be that much easier.

While consistency with the basics is necessary and a good thing to do, one of the best ways to improve that is to “complexify” what you’re doing. This “odd object” like training will allow you to do just that. Sometimes you need to go outside the normal and play around with as many variations as you can.

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About Logan Christopher: Logan Christopher has been called a physical culture renaissance man as he is accomplished in a wide range of strength skills from kettlebell juggling, performing strongman stunts, and bodyweight exercises. He is the author of numerous books including Secrets of the Handstand and The Master Keys to Strength & Fitness. In addition, he’s spent the last several years going deep into mental training to find out what it takes to really excel and tactics that can help people instantly improve their exercises. You can find out more about all this at http://www.legendarystrength.com/.