regressions

Aussie Pull Up

“We all came here for the pull-ups!”

I love to see faces light up when Al or Danny say these words at the start of the PCC pull-up module. But before even getting into full pull-ups, we begin by practicing some lead-up steps, including the bodyweight row, aka the Australian pull-up.

Often dismissed by advanced calisthenics practitioners who can already perform full pull-ups, the Aussie is a viable and underrated exercise in its own right. Aussie pull-ups strengthen your arms, abs and even your grip. They can also help improve your posture, specifically countering the forward-head position that is prevalent in our texting, typing, and sedentary society, by strengthening the muscles of the upper and mid-back, including your rhomboids, lats, and traps.

While it may not be the sexiest or most eye-catching exercise, as a trainer, the Aussie pull-up is money! If you work at a gym, you will most likely be working with the general population, not a bunch of calisthenics ninjas. Unfortunately many folks cannot even do one full pull-up – guys or gals. For these clients, the Aussie is a fabulous option for increasing upper body pulling strength. This exercise is also of particular significance due to the fact that women are required to perform 10 consecutive repetitions in order to complete the PCC Century Test.

The Reverse Push-Up

An Aussie pull-up begins with the body suspended horizontally below a bar that is positioned at approximately waist height. In the bottom position of the Aussie, your arms should be fully extended with your body in a straight line, almost like an upside-down push-up. Just like push-ups, you’ll need to engage your abs, legs, and glutes during every inch of the Aussie in order to maintain proper body alignment.

The similarities don’t end there. In push-ups, your shoulder blades should come together as you lower down (eccentric phase), and spread apart as you extend your arms and push back up (concentric phase). The same principles apply to the Aussie, only with the positive and negative phases reversed: The shoulder blades should come together as you pull yourself to the bar (concentric phase) and spread apart as you lower down (eccentric phase).

Similar to the push-up, beginners often mistakenly initiate the movement by extending their head forward. Remember to cue your clients to allow their head to relax in a more neutral position so their neck is in line with their spine. The body should be in a straight line from the ears all the way down to the heels.

Aussie Pull-Ups at the PCC

Scaling Back

Thanks to the principles of progression outlined in the PCC curriculum, even the Aussie can be regressed for your more deconditioned clients. By shortening the length of your body, you can make this exercise less challenging. As with the push-up, bending the knees is a very simple way to accomplish this. Furthermore, the bent knee position allows the practitioner to push through their feet and create more favorable leverage. You can also flip your grip to an underhand position for the Aussie if you are having a hard time with the overhand grip. You can further regress the exercise by increasing the height of the bar, thereby distributing more of your weight in your feet.

Next Level Aussies

Just how elevating the bar can make the Aussie easier by placing your body in a more vertical position, raising your feet can make this exercise more challenging as you shift more of your weight into your hands and upper body. You can prop your heels on an opposing bar or a bench to use as an incline.

Aussie Pull-Up Variation

At the PCC, we also teach various grips for pull-ups in order to emphasize different muscle groups. These same methods can be applied to the Aussie. Experiment with placing your hands wider for more lat/back recruitment or closer together for more arm action. You can even try a variation on the Archer pull-up, which incorporates lateral movement in addition to the standard up and down motion. If you’re working towards a one-arm pull-up, you can even hone your unilateral skills in Aussie form, too. The variations on the Aussie are endless and fun to practice on your own, or with your clients.

Speaking of Aussies, I am excited to be teaching at the first ever PCC in Sydney, Australia this September along with PCC Lead Instructor Al Kavadlo. It’s always a pleasure to connect with you guys in person, and I can’t wait to do lots of Aussie pull-ups with my friends from down under.

I hope to see you there!

****

Grace Kavadlo is a PCC Team Leader, personal trainer and group exercise instructor located in New York City. She is a columnist for Bodybuilding.com and can be seen in several Dragon Door books, including Coach Wade’s Explosive Calisthenics. For more information about Grace, check out her website, www.DieselGrace.com

Corey Howard Pull Ups

At the age of 41, I can honestly say I’m still learning something new all the time. There is no straight path to success; it is a crooked and curvy line. I’ve learned some lessons the hard way in my training, but each setback yields another opportunity to refine my craft.

Here are 3 of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned (and relearned) throughout my time as a trainer and fitness enthusiast:

1. Work Your Legs and Glutes

If you were to look through my training log over the past year, you would see most of my workouts are focused on my lower body. Unfortunately, this is due to having ruptured my triceps and biceps in the last year, but honestly it’s been the best thing ever. Even when my upper body has been healthy, I still make my lower half 60-70% of my focus… EACH time I train! Most people would hate this because it’s so physically taxing but focusing on your lower half improves your testosterone levels, builds lower body muscle which helps burn more fat, improves stability in your midsection, improves mobility and helps create more explosive power for sprints and jumps. You just can’t ignore pistol squats, shrimp squats, bridges, lunges, hyperextensions or anything else that puts a beating on your lower half.

Sprinting is also a fantastic way to work your legs with only your bodyweight. If you truly want to feel the benefit of sprints, don’t sprint on a treadmill! The treadmill takes away from you actively creating force. Get outside and make your legs plant and propel you forward. Training outside is awesome, and running as fast as you can for a short period is even better. Again, the research on sprint work is off the charts (Coach Wade talks about it as a finisher in his book C-Mass). Sprints will thoroughly cook your lower half quickly and effectively, plus they help build size and burn fat at the same time. So get out and sprint 20, 30, 40 or 50 yards, in a field, through a parking lot, or up a steep hill. No matter where you do it, make your body move as fast and explosively as you can once or twice a week.

Corey Howard Running

2. Refine The Basics Using Regressions

Two of my favorite exercises are jackknife pull-ups and pike push-ups. These two are simply amazing for adding size in the lats and shoulders, plus they give you a chance to perfect your pulling and pressing groove. The jackknife pull-up has really helped me re-learn pull-ups. It’s given me a chance to work on my height at the top as well as given me an opportunity to work various grips without completely loading my freshly repaired elbows. The pike push-up has done the same thing; given me a chance to work on various pressing widths as well as practice my groove. Don’t scoff at either of these; pairing these two for 5 alternating sets each will leave your lats, shoulders, and triceps feeling it the next day.

3. Stretch!

When I was younger, I mistakenly thought that stretching was a waste of time. Now that I’m older, if I don’t stretch out I’m practically crippled the next day. If you stretch the working muscle group in between sets it not only speeds up recovery but some studies have shown it helps with hypertrophy too. A healthy person should be able to comfortably squat below parallel with their hands behind their head. If you can’t physically do this, you need to spend some time working on your movement quality. I don’t know everyone’s personal movement issues or pains but if I could suggest a few areas to spend some time stretching out: the ankles, hips, shoulder complex and neck.

I’m not going to tell you to spend an hour on this every day, but 10 minutes before and after your workout is a great start. For the ankles, find a step and stretch out your Achilles. If your ankles can move appropriately then chances are your knees will move and feel better. For the hip complex, I’d strongly suggest the pigeon for your glutes and the half kneeling hip flexor stretch. Healthy hip mobility will allow the body to stabilize itself and let your hamstrings and low back relax. As for the shoulder complex, I like to use a stretchy band hanging from a pull-up bar. Hinge yourself forward and let the band pull your arm forward stretching through the lats, then turn around and let it pull your arm back to open up the chest. Healthy shoulder movement will also help the body stabilize and improve your posture. Finally some simple head nods and slow rolls will go a long way to ease tension. Again, this is very elementary but just making time for this will be a great start. For more information, I recommend Al Kavadlo’s Stretching Your Boundaries.

Al Kavadlo Overhead Squat

Tony Robbins once said, “The secret to success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” I have chosen to use my pain as speed bumps or opportunities to improve. I can’t stress it enough: train your lower body three times each week, get outside and run like you’re fleeing the scene, don’t be afraid to take a step back to refine the easier progressions, and stretch out! It will pay huge dividends on the harder stuff. Fire it up!

***

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 fithubby.com, resultsptonline.com or coreyhoward.com.

Strength from Down Under – Aussie Pull-ups & Beyond

Never Stop Learning: My Top 3 Training Tips