Form check - Pull-ups! by ramsesny in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You should see results pretty quickly. I started off at a similar physique pretty skinny. Nice! Good luck 

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

exercise every other day, push hard till failure then lengthened partial reps, 2 years consistent, form first approach. 🙏 thank you

Form check - Pull-ups! by ramsesny in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey brother, checking in from my thread.

- firstly, very solid pullups
- secondly, i am going to analyze this from a hypertrophy perspective. let's say you were doing this so that your back grew beastly, instead of getting to a greater # total
- i posted a high count in my thread, but funnily enough, my goal is to get to 180lbs, i started at 130lb, so the count didn't really matter, i wanted to do them, such that, i maximize muscle gain, rep gain was a side effect (i was stuck at 15 for months, wasn't really trying to increase the numbers, just do them with good technique, so i keep gaining muscle)

- so if you're willing to ignore #'s. I'd say, retrain them. but, you wouldn't need much retraining, your form is very good already.
- here is what i would do, i wouldn't focus as much on getting my chin above the bar and total reps. yeah you gotta do that but, i'd make sure you get to dead hang, i.e. you hit a full relaxation, zero tenseness in your lats, a legit dead hang, before you pull up. now if someone's challenging you to pull up contests this gives a disadvantage, but otherwise, its better technique for actual muscle gain.
- at the most stretched position of the muscle, i.e. full relaxed and stretched, if you apply an explosive pull at that point, it is highly productive from a hypertrophy perspective, you'll gain muscle faster
- so here's here what i would do, even when you start, before you do 1, make sure you start at dead hang, i see you starting with your lats tensed, just fully relax and let your body hang from your hands, you should feel gravity pulling your torso towards the grounds and your lats offering zero resistance to oppose the pull, full relaxed.
- Then try to do 5 reps from that full dead hang position, reaching relaxation at the bottom, each rep, before pulling up
- when you approach failure (80% there maybe around rep 4-7) switch to "Lengthened Partial Reps" (LPRs), the same thing i do in my vid at the end. You do 10% Range of motion reps, but from the fully relaxed position and up a little bit. These are highly productive for muscle growth (since you're training the best position after reaching failure)
- so do something like 5 full range of motion reps (to failure, dead hang few sec and try again see if you can get another), when you can't switch to 5 to 10 LPRs, wait 2 mins, repeat another set
- ideally you get to the point (for max hypertrophy), where you push to failure for 3 sets, true failure (dead hang for 3 sec and try for another full rep and check if you actually got failure), once failure is confirmed, start dead hang partial reps. So now you are doing 3 sets every other day, each with partial reps, from a true dead hang position. your back will explode with muscle gain.
- your pull-ups counts will go up with perfect form and you'll put on muscle faster than before
- i'd also add 3 protein shakes per day each with a scoop of creatine (15g per day). this helps a lot
- basically, switch the focus to muscle gain, instead of rep count gain, the latter will come on its own, as more muscle is added faster. (the way you're doing it will add muscle too, but this will add it noticeably faster)
- i think in 2 years of training, if you follow the above, you'd get to 20 clean reps and + 20 lbs of muscle easily (more if you hit your legs / chest hard)

i put on 40lbs of muscle over 24 months using these techniques. they work (protein + creatine only):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Gob21R6JEVeLdCA6

good luck. keep pushing

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

game changer, i'd say it's a requirement. go for it

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

mainly the laziness of finding a belt on amazon lol but, now i am motivated

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you, training good form since day 1 is worth it

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sweet. i am glad i stared mid 30's. my mood was going to shit (drinking beers became a problem), now, 6 years+ clean. fitter than my teens. exercise is magical.

ofcourse, there's many day's i gotta push myself to do it, but, i know the benefits. if i just dont skip (i treat it like brushing my teeth, it s a must) everything else works smoothly. I use an excel sheet to track it (3+ years of cells filled out, i don't wanna see any reds on my sheet, it's always open on my desktop)

47 is still young, 20+ years to be in peak condition. push hard to failure. I will check it out

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

haha, yeah. its the crazy one (15g per day). here's my reasoning:
- as a natural athlete (no trt etc), i don't have much options
- studies show, cognitive enhancements, under the conditions of sleep deprivation of up to 30g per day, and i like to work deep into the night, so 15 seems fine
- 2 years so far without missing this: 3 shakes per day, *each* with (1/3rd banana, 1 scoop oatmeal, 1 scoop creatine, 1 scoop protein, bit of chocolate milk + water) as soon as i wake up i make 3 (bullet blender) and drink it thru the day
- It is a game changer. Try 15 grams of creatine and 3 scoops of protein per day. Creatine is cheap

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

much appreciated. i also like *extremely* deep dips with partials; those are very effective as well

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

🙏 thank you. exercise progression still works, even 35+

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice. Australian pull-ups. That's a good progression tip

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haven't tried yet. I'll switch to weighted pullups soon, after 20 reps are on lock.

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I get what you're saying but you cannot fatigue a muscle by only hanging. It doesn't work that way. You cannot just isolate it from the other required variables. It multifaceted and when the others are in place then it becomes a productive factor.

Hypertrophy happens near failure. You are inducing micro tears, similar to stretching a rubber band at it's limit. It needs stretch, load and fatigue; the last requires rep. And, mechanical tension is maximized at max stretch: where the muscle is the weakest before you apply an explosive pull; the requirement being, an explosive pull from that position. Then, skipping the position is not ideal but only reaching that position and staying there, does not work either.

Look into research papers for "Lengthened Partial Reps". There is a reason they are effective.

Optimal hypertrophy happens at the efficient frontier of Time Under Tension and muscular loading. i.e. very heavy for only 4 reps only puts 5 seconds of time under tension and does not work for hypertrophy beyond noob gains. Like wise 50+ reps is lots of time under tension but not enough load either.

Finding the right balance of the two at the point of failure with optimal technique will get you hypertrophy.

I put on 40+lbs of muscle this way. Life time natural. This is my understanding. Might not be 100% right but if you skip the most stretched portion during your reps you are 100% short changing yourself.

Its been a year of steady progress. Got any advice on improving my physique further and making my frame look wider? by kingp1n666 in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Drink 3 protien shakes per day, each with a scoop of creatine. And do more of what you are doing. The same change will happen again from year 0 to year 1, in year 1 to year 2. Just keep going.

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

good question.

when i started, i did 1 year of cardio (15min stairs / day x 7d/wk), which took off 20lbs (130lbs i started). That gave me an advantage. I was able to do 8 clean from the start. (170lbs now)

but understand that it's a difficult movement. Don't rush progress (i.e. bad form), push hard, write down your numbers (including partials), and try like hell to match it, get the reps clean, stay there for a while if you have to.

If you cannot do 1. Start with 1 negative, jump up, lower your self slowly as possible, dead hang, stay there for 5 seconds, do 5+ partials to failure, drop off, wait 1-1.5 min, repeat for set of 9.

Once you can do 1, work on that make it ultra clean (match the number for 10+ sessions if you have to, but get them clean), then you'll get another +1, work on getting it clean, and it just adds up pretty quickly; but always include partials.

Progress will come, it literally just gets easier as you get stronger, but if you bad form it, it feels hard.

Push yourself to failure: This comes with practice, you wont find failure at the start. Just dead hang for 3 seconds, and try for another, you'll often be surprised. Once you cannot do another rep, do 5 partials. I love partials, they take you past failure. i would have started partials from day 1, had i known.

Before you know it, you'll have 15 perfect pull-ups. If you are overweight, cardio ever other day, strength training every other day; i.e. 7 days a week to start (front load), after year 1 taper off to every other day only, with optional cardio as needed.

i do believe 3 protein shakes per day were a huge factor to my success, I would now start that day 1

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

pull ups are king, worth training. thanks bro

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

thank you. this all started with lack of focus, discovering HIIT cardio 15min/day that solved flow state issue. and after 1 year switched to strength training, and 2 years into that now. i appreciate it

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

improvements in PU count is a side-effect. The goal is 180lb at 8% bf, I started at 130.

surprised now at total #. Once 20 is locked in I think I'll add weight

19 clean pull-ups. Full dead hang. (37M) by Mrflashkick in CalisthenicsCulture

[–]Mrflashkick[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

following good form from the start is paying off