Defoor Proformance climbing prep/ PRT prep pull up workout
This is a simple routine designed for use during the workweek with sat/sun off. I came up with this over the years to help guys pass certain PT tests and to prep for mountain excursions. If you perform this work out for a minimum of four weeks you’ll gain at least five reps on your max pull-ups. Once you are able to perform 15 dead hang pull-ups at any time start using the modification piece of the work out for Tuesdays and Thursdays. This will get you to the magical 20 rep place quicker. Once you can do 20 clean, dead hang, no kipping, palm away pull-ups you can go back to the normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine and you will maintain 20 pull-ups for as long as you want to.
First, it is extremely important to have the correct grip when you begin this routine. A lot of people have too wide grip when they do pull-ups. Look at any gymnast, professional climber, or anyone who does over 20 reps and they do not have an extreme wide grip. The ideal grip is just slightly wider than shoulder width and palms always facing away. This will also reduce any possibility of injuries due to over training or lack of proper rest.
Second, begin this routine with absolutely no kipping whatsoever. It has become commonplace lately in many exercise regimens to introduce kipping to the pull-up to make people feel better about the number of reps they can perform. All this does is give a false sense of one’s true strength.
Third, know your math when it comes to pull-up pyramids. For example; a pyramid of five is a total of 25 pull-ups, a pyramid of six is a total of 36 pull-ups. Simply multiply the top number by itself to find how many pull-ups are in that pyramid.
Fourth, the most ideal bar is between 2.5 and 2.75″ inches in diameter. Anything smaller is width causes too much hand and low forearm grip strength which can result in an overuse type injury or reduced total rep numbers. One of the best places to find a good bar is on any public or city playground, like Hannibal does.
Lastly, Monday’s workout was not invented by me but by United States Marine Corps Maj. Chuck Armstrong. Years ago I used his complete routine but I found it to be a little bit of overtraining with some individuals and myself. Also, I found the modifications that I made for Wednesday and Fridays workouts to work better for myself and others that I have been mostly around in the past 10 years. Major Armstrong’s complete pull up routine can be found here: http://www.ososb.com/documents/Armstrong_Pull-Up_workout_Program.pdf
The routine
Monday – from USMC Maj. Chuck Armstrong (if you don’t know you should) – 5 max sets of pull-ups with 90 seconds rest in between. My addition- Add up the total reps for the five sets you performed and find the closest pyramid to your total without going over and this will be the pyramid you will perform on Friday.
Wednesday – using 60% (round low for half numbers) of your max number of current pull-ups (set 1 from Mondays workout), do this number all day until you reach 100 total pull-ups.
Friday – pyramid of pull-ups with 10 seconds of rest between sets for each rep done in that set. start pyramid with your 60% number (ex.- if your 60% number is 10, you do a set of 10 first. This takes care of sets 1,2,3, and 4 of a traditional pyramid, your next set would be 5, then 6, 7, etc.
Modified workout additions (once you can do 15 pull-ups):
Tuesday – hang for 1 min, rest 1 min, repeat for 3 total hangs of 1 min
Thursday – using the number that is 75% of your max (set 1 from Monday) do that number of pull-ups 3-5 times throughout the day.
20 pull-ups is a great place to be.
V/R,
Kyle Defoor
“Trainer of Feeders”
Kyle Defoor is one of the world’s most committed and passionate shooting instructors. Literally growing up with a gun in hand he took his talents into the military where he was combat decorated as a SEAL assaulter and sniper. Kyle helped to create and define modern training while along the way personally teaching thousands of military personal and civilians from around the globe. His shooting prowess led to appearances on multiple TV shows including Shooting Gallery, Tactical Arms, and Tactical Impact, and guest appearances on History Channel. Kyle’s outdoor athletic lifestyle includes shooting, ultra running, stand-up paddle surfing and climbing. He now serves as the brand ambassador for Mission Ready Equipment and runs his own company which offers tactical training, wilderness navigation, TV and film consulting, and motivational speaking.
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn they offer some words of wisdom.
I’m all for the workout as described but kipping pull ups do more than give “a false sense of one’s true strength”. They only give you a false sense of your true strength if you think kipping = strict, which is silly.
Kipping enables you to incorporate more core into your work, and (more importantly) it enables you to act as your own spotter on pull ups after you work to failure on strict.
Otherwise, another good short article from Defoor.
I fully agree with the reply. To only incorporate dead hang pull ups is akin to not using everything that is available to you. I do lots of strict dead hangs but also lots of kipping another day. I find that kipping works out most of my whole body. Dead hang pull-ups work more of a specific area. Sounds similar to a machine versus dumbells. They have their uses, just know their purposes.
Comoletely agree with Mr.Defoor here. Kipping is just a way to betray one self, there are other great ways to build core strenght, for example Muscle Ups.
I always love to work with basic and clean exercises Mike dead Hang pull ups. Kipping, or the Million of burpees that people are doing in the last time arent the right way.
Felix
If I need to climb a beam while tired or have pounds attached (pack, armor, etc…), I’ll use as much of my body as much as possible to do it. Call it cheating if you want, then I’ll say if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t winnin’.
Kyle: worst description of a workout EVER. Seriously, think about what it is you are going to write. I had to sit down with pencil and paper to figure out what it was you were trying to tell someone to accomplish. Just saying,
Not sure what left you scratching your head but seeing as how this wasn’t a one size fits all plan, it would make sense that some of the work was left up to the user.
Pull ups and push ups are great workout tools and can be done just about anywhere at any time. Now the way I try to workout is with what may happen in real life so I look at pull ups as if I had to pull myself up from say a dead hang on a ledge, tree trunk, etc.
I see a goal of dead hanging pull ups as me plus some extra weight, as in if you had armor or a full kit on or a rope climb. If one can do one hanging dead lift with kit on is this not an accomplishment in itself? Perform more than one and I’d say you’re doing great. My goal is 3 hanging pull ups with extra weight on.
Sorry this is a bit confusing, but the percentages and methods to make gains are sometimes more than “go and do this”. I wrote it out as simply as I could, but there may not be enough room here to get the idea across anyway, I.e.- know your pyramid math. Thanks for the advise Rfj98. I’ll keep that in mind for next time I write one of these.
Reference kipping comments- the title is for climbing prep and PRT prep, both of which kipping is not possible, at least in the units I’ve trained with and the rock I’ve climbed. Regardless, it he program can be used any way that the user feels but my notes on kipping are in relation to the title of the post.
Thanks for the feedback,
KD
I’m confused on how to perform the pyramid
Mr. Defoor,
I get it now, I wasn’t thinking about the context.
Great write up Kyle. I’ve never managed to get past 15 pullups, and over the last few months I’ve grown complacent and am down to 8-9 max. I’m going to start this plan today.
However, I’m a bit curious about your bar diameter suggestion of 2.5-2.75″. That seems extremely large – it’s about the diameter of a pair of FatGripz, or possibly even larger. For a grown man in decent fitness they are brutal; I don’t think a child could hold onto them.
Googleing the specs for kids monkey bars, they were all 1.25-1.375″. Did you mean circumference and not diameter?
Take care,
Mark
For the pyramid- you start out the first set at 60 percent of your max. Whatever that number is, see how it falls into the pyramid. Then continue up to the top number and back down.
Ex.-
My total numbers from Mondays workout was 50.
60% of my max number is 10.
That means Fridays pyramid will be a pyramid of 7 = 49 total pull-ups ( that’s close to 50 without going over), the first set on Friday will be 10. This is set 1,2,3 and 4 (equals 10), next sets are 5,6,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.
Hopefully that helps,
KD
diameter not circumference. Hand and thumb on top.
You can do more on a fatter bar. Kids I see don’t have any probs with 2.5″-2.75″.
Kyle, I was tracking your example until – “This is set 1,2,3 and 4 (equals 10)”
What equals 10? I know the first set is 10 reps, but what about sets 2-4?
Sorry, I was dropped on my head as a baby.
The set of 10 replaces the sets of 1, 2, 3, and 4.
1+2+3+4=10 reps
Ah, thumbs on top. Thanks, that makes a huge difference. Trying to grip the fat bar with the thumbs under was killing my grip.
Quick question-if I’m knocking out more than 20 (I’m talking 28 on a PST style test) is that indicative a body weight that’s too low?
This means next wed. I will be doing 33 sets of pushups.