Often times I workout at work (firefighter), but find that I rarely get a full workout in because I get interrupted by calls. The other day after several such interruptions I decided to simply do a set of pull ups to failure (about 12-15) as close to every hour as I could.
I ended up doing 8 sets over about 12 hours. They felt pretty good, and I can definitely tell I did some work yesterday. However, I’m wondering whether this type of training does me any good?
Is this too hard on the CNS? Does it allow for recovery?
If it does work, could I use it for other exercises (i.e squats one day, bench or pushups another, ect…?)
Throughout the day seems like a little much to me.
I think it largely depends on how hard a pull-up is for you. If you can do, say, 30 pull-ups then 10 is obviously no sweat.
I wouldn’t expect to build much strength this way. If you do figure out an appropriate load, you’d just end up getting better at lifting that load.
Think about it as if it were manual labor. Because lifting constantly throughout the day is more like labor than it is conventional training. Except instead of chopping wood your squatting.
Yeah, guys who work labor jobs like construction are pretty strong in comparison to your average joe. But they’re not that strong in comparison to someone whose trained their squat hard for 5 years and works at a desk.
I think your time would be much better spent doing an organized training session, even if it’s only 30 minutes. But since you’re a firefighter, don’t they allot you time to train since you have to be in fire-fighting shape?
thanks for your post. Yeah, you are allowed to workout out during shift, but if you get a call, you gotta go. Typically what ends up happening on busy days, is that a 45 minute workout can get spread over several hours, with large pauses in between.
I guess maybe the best way to construct workouts would be in two or three parts (morning routine, evening routine) and do them all at once if I have the time, or break them up if it becomes necessary.
I tried doing this only instead of doing it every hour I did it every 10 minutes. I started out only being able to do 4 and in a weeks time was able to move up to 7 and can now also for the first time do wide gripped pull ups. If I started feeling burned out I took the day off and got back to it the following day.
right now I’m not doing this anymore because it started to fuck up my elbows but when they heal I’m probably going to get back to it.
[quote]PrincePaul wrote:
Often times I workout at work (firefighter), but find that I rarely get a full workout in because I get interrupted by calls. The other day after several such interruptions I decided to simply do a set of pull ups to failure (about 12-15) as close to every hour as I could.
I ended up doing 8 sets over about 12 hours. They felt pretty good, and I can definitely tell I did some work yesterday. However, I’m wondering whether this type of training does me any good?
Is this too hard on the CNS? Does it allow for recovery?
If it does work, could I use it for other exercises (i.e squats one day, bench or pushups another, ect…?)
What do you guys think?
thanks,
JJ [/quote]
If your goal is to do your job better, then I think your protocol is ideal. It matches what you may be called upon to do. Pavel Tsatsoline (okay guys, spare me the ripping on Pavel) calls this ‘greasing the groove’ and its good for warriors, cops, firefighters, EMT, and so forth.
If your goal is to get huge, then your routine won’t work for that.
Sidenote: as a firefighter, make sure your testosterone level is near the top of your range. Of course, I know I probably don’t need to tell you this.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Throughout the day seems like a little much to me.
I think it largely depends on how hard a pull-up is for you. If you can do, say, 30 pull-ups then 10 is obviously no sweat.
I wouldn’t expect to build much strength this way. If you do figure out an appropriate load, you’d just end up getting better at lifting that load.
Think about it as if it were manual labor. Because lifting constantly throughout the day is more like labor than it is conventional training. Except instead of chopping wood your squatting.
Yeah, guys who work labor jobs like construction are pretty strong in comparison to your average joe. But they’re not that strong in comparison to someone whose trained their squat hard for 5 years and works at a desk.
I think your time would be much better spent doing an organized training session, even if it’s only 30 minutes. But since you’re a firefighter, don’t they allot you time to train since you have to be in fire-fighting shape?[/quote]
People doing manual labour don’t aim for progressive overload - simply getting the job done. This comparisson is incorrect and underestimates the effectiveness of the workout.
But granted it won’t be as effective as building mass, strength or power then other more conventional lifts/methods.
Its almost like Pavels Grease The Groove.
I once did a 2-weeks GTG programm of pullups only. Worked good for me.
Only thing thats different with GTG is that you don’t go to failure.
I think it will make you most proficient at pull-ups! Additionally, it will definitely build strength and stamina in your back and arms, probably make you wide as hell.
Kepe it up. I cant imagine any detrimental effects for a short time
SUGGESTION: after A few weeks of doing this a few days a week, i would stop. then i would pick it up again a month or two later.
Your body will get so used to it that it wont be of amazing use. ALSOOOO I wouldnt want you to come to rely on this totally. You dont want to neglect the rest of your body.
Is there a way you can add resistance? It would surely make this routine better for your growth and strength.
[quote]JxG wrote:
Its almost like Pavels Grease The Groove.
I once did a 2-weeks GTG programm of pullups only. Worked good for me.
Only thing thats different with GTG is that you don’t go to failure.
[/quote]
I was just about to write on this. I believe pavel recommended doing 1 or 2 pull-ups with lots of time between.
[quote]PrincePaul wrote:
Is this too hard on the CNS? Does it allow for recovery?
If it does work, could I use it for other exercises (i.e squats one day, bench or pushups another, ect…?)
[/quote]
It would work and the CNS would not be hampered at all. Use your duty days to workout and non-duty days as a rest period and you should be OK.
The benefit of training this way would be that you would be “fresh” for every set so you can go balls to the wall every time. This also allows you to become very efficient at lifts as your CNS becomes adapted to the intensity/volume.
Maybe every day you just change the lift and every week use a different loading/rep scheme. I would stick with the compound lifts only.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
Yeah, guys who work labor jobs like construction are pretty strong in comparison to your average joe. But they’re not that strong in comparison to someone whose trained their squat hard for 5 years and works at a desk.
[/quote]
More training sessions per day are better than less precisely because the CNS will not become drained. Someone who trains 10x/day will be much stronger in the long run than someone who trains only once and gets the same amount of volume because on average he will be able to lift more weight/set due to being in a rested state even if he cannot do more reps.
Manual labor jobs do not incorporate rest schemes which is why they cannot go all out for an entire shift. In similar fashion, for example, during a traditional training session one might hold back on near maximal lifts and not go to failure so that he can complete his entire workout. When that same person instead does only one set an hour he can go all out psychologically because he knows this set is all that matters at this point in time.
This is sort of how the Bulgarian method works and I would bet they are much stronger than any hardcore person who trains only once per day.
I remember an article on this. The message was if you wanted to get good at x exercise, do it very frequently but not to absolute failure. Pullups are a great example. You can do these all freakin day, and it should help you increase the number of pullups you are able to do. You’re basically conditioning the CNS to be better at this specific movement.
Sorry I don’t know the name of the article that discussed this.
When you do those throughout the day you cannot do them to failure. You could do an exercise throughout each day. Do heavy squats throughout the day, but not to failure, another day use presses, another day deadlifts. It would work decently as long as you don’t go to failure.
You could also do one exercise at a time. Work hard on the squat for 15 minutes, then later, hit something else. Your workout would last all day, but you could hit each exercise fresh.