Do you ever feel like your triceps kick in on this one? And if so, does it feel like they’re going to tear away from their origins (where they attack to the body at the top of the muscle)?
I used to, when I performed the movement differently. They used to be sore after them too. Now, I get a good stretch at the top, initiate with scapular retraction, and don’t think about moving my arms at all, just contract my lats until my arms can’t go any further.
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Ok, so where do you finish the movement? I’ve been pulling my arms all the way down to my body. I don’t think it’s wrong but my triceps definitely kick in. It’s also at that lower portion of my movement that I feel my mid traps.
Lovin the weighted pull ups! Do you feel they help add reps to body weight pull ups?
I tried the straight arm pull down and it makes my lats look freakin killer while I’m doing them!
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Yeah, all the way down to my body, but try it again and literally forget about the word “pull”. Try it with your eyes closed and just think about flexing your lats. Wherever you feel lat contraction peak, stop. If you start to feel pinching in your armpits, you’ve gone too far.
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Absolutely. Besides just doing lots of BW pull-ups, there is nothing that adds more reps than WPU’s. Add weight slowly - most people only have a bit over 100 lb capacity that they can add to their pull-ups. But when you can bust out a few pull-ups with a plate hanging from you - or two plates - and you jump back up a couple minutes later with just bodyweight - it feels like you’re made of feathers.
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Sweet! I shall do these today.
How do you feel about wide grip pull ups? I’ve started adding a few here and there
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My shoulder, for a while, wouldn’t allow them. Then I got elbow problems from too much supinated work and now they’re all I do, and they are the superior lat builder pull-up variation.
Do a max set of wide grip pull-ups, and drop down with no rest and bust out 15 reps with around your 15RM on the straight arm rope pulldowns. Mind muscle connection the shit out of them. As soon as you’re done with that, squeeze your lats for 10+ seconds as hard as you possibly can. Rest, rinse, repeat! On your last set (2-3 sets is enough), dropset the straight pulls down the stack and go to true failure.
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@Frank_C had to take out the buttloads of volume tag, since my workouts have been trimmed drastically. I’ve continued following along in the Paul Carter thread, and while my results from high volume has been great, I’m beginning to see what it’s like to devote true intensity to 10 sets instead of trying for 20 all-out sets. Even my high rep stuff is still all about effort now, and not numbers of sets and reps. It’s cool how training continues to evolve over the years. Your log is definitely another evolution that’s been awesome to watch. I’m loving where you’re at these days, dude.
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There may not be “buttloads” of volume, but you’re still doing a lot more quality work than most folks.
My entire mentality changed once I started focusing on my effort and muscle fatigue more than sets and reps.
Thanks! I’ve definitely been inspired by you and the other folks around here who don’t train for pure strength on the big three. Up until my recent change in training I was influenced by the big, strong people. I’d see what they were doing and want to catch up or prove something. I wasn’t even being competitive; I think I just felt like I was inadequate because I couldn’t do what they did.
I think physique goals and strength goals are two completely different beasts. There’s definitely some crossover, but the nutrition is way different. If you want to be lean and defined then you can’t just “eat to grow” (by the way, I think that’s overrated and used as an excuse to eat like crap).
I’m learning to view the two types of training as separate entities. I can’t train the way I currently am and worry about my maxes. I benched yesterday and it was awful in terms of strength, but I had a good workout. I can’t let the numbers matter. They’re only there to guide me in terms of progression. The results are what I see in the mirror instead of the numbers I write in my training log.
And one last thing - your log has taught me to suffer more! Just because it hurts doesn’t mean the set is over.
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Appreciate the kind words, brother.
Also, my fucking adductors hurt so much today. I’ve never worked them directly, and they’re obviously ridiculously weak. When I spread my legs it feels like someone’s plucking strings in my inner thighs.
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Keep jumping on that machine or doing lateral lunges. You don’t have to kill your adductors, but they need to be used. The added bonus of those exercises is that they also stretch the muscles so you can improve or keep your mobility.
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Exactly what the guy told me when he suggested I do them! He said once a week for a few intense sets would do the trick.
Was you talking to Dante???
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxnnkaVjbvH/?igshid=f8oqu6crul0a
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No more buttloads (of volume) for you, Flapp?
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What is a boat load of volume anyways?
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Scroll up in his log and find out, dude. He does workouts I’d take a week to recover from.
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Hahah just trimming the fat a bit. Hard to disagree with what’s going on in that Paul Carter thread. And now it’s making me feel like I want to go for DC training @kd13 . Gosh, I have so much stuff I want to try.
Also, I hadn’t ever seen Dante before this. That dude is a fucking monster.
How suiting is in then, when Googling ‘Dante Trudel’ the first photo to appear is fucking Blaha.
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