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.

www.kyledefoor.com

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.

The Long Run

“A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.”
– Steve Prefontaine

Long is of course up to everyone’s interpretation, but for the most part here’s a good way to train for any running event longer than 800 m. I use this formula when I am preparing for ultramarathon of 50 miles, a unit’s PRT test of 1.5 or 3 miles, or a local 5K.

Some terms to familiarize yourself with;

Casual pace- typically two to three minutes per mile slower than your race pace. For example if the fastest mile you can run is a six minute mile your casual pace is around an eight minute 30 sec or nine minute per mile pace.

Race pace- just what it sounds like. As fast as your two little legs can pump for the distance that you going. That last part is important. My race pace for a 1 mile PRT is not the same for three-mile PRT.

Threshold pace- typically a pace that is one minute to two minutes per mile slower than your race pace.

Saturday and Sunday- this is perhaps one of the more important combo training days when running. For the ultra marathoners, this is the key to the kingdom. Saturday and Sunday are back-to-back long days. For the 5K and PRT people these are still back-to-back long days with less mileage. Ultra marathoners should be running for a minimum of two hours each day initially, toward a closer time to race date ultra marathoners should be running somewhere around four hours each day not to exceed 18 miles each day. I’ve never seen any benefit to doing a run longer than 18 miles when preparing for an ultra. The only exception is if you’ve never done an ultra before you need to get a 25 or 30 miler in four months or so before the race. For 5K and PRT folks, Saturdays and Sundays should be a minimum of a one hour run initially each day, and runs no longer than two hours each day not to exceed twice the race distance ( i’m putting this in here for some of the units and organizations to do a 10 mile time to run for their PRT. ) The pace for PRT and 5K folks is a casual pace. The pace for ultramarathon at the fastest is a casual pace, but realistically is somewhere around a 9:30 to 10:30 min pace.

Monday- off (remember that somewhere around 50% of all physical activities gains are from recovery. This is true for lifting weights, running, cycling, anything. This is difficult for runners to adhere to who are training especially after they begin to get runners high.)

Tues- 5K and PRT guys threshold pace for one hour. Ultra marathoners, casual pace for two hours.

Wed- 5K and PRT guys 1 mile repeat sprints at race pace. It will depend on how many of these you can do as to the total work out. For a 5K I will typically work up to doing four or five 1 mile repeats with the amount of rest in between the runs the time that I ran that 1 mile in. I have found way more success in PRT and 5K races using this formula for my “sprint” day as opposed to the typical 800 m, 400 m, 200 m, ethos of old. Ultra marathoners- two hour run at a casual pace preferably doing hill work if possible. I have never found hill work to be a necessary part of of an ultramarathon even when I ran ultra’s in the mountains like the iron Mountain 50. However, with that being said keep in mind that without hell work you will never keep up with the guys from out West.

Thu- 5K and PRT guys one hour casual pace then one hour at threshold pace. Depending on the distance you’re running, this could be 30 minutes and 30 minutes or 45 minutes and 45 minutes, etc. Ultra marathoners three hours at a casual pace.

Fri- off

Throughout the schedule ultramarathoner’s need to constantly be running with full kit (full water bottles, all gus, and salt tablets), and also experiment with wet socks, different carry methods, different clothing, body glide, sunglasses, hats, etc. Shoe choice can also be fine tuned during this. PRT and 5K guys should be occasionally training in a racing flat that they will run in on the day.

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.

www.kyledefoor.com

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.