2 The Pull-Up It is a movement that causes many athletes to cringe but has such powerful upside. If you’re like me, pull-ups do not come easy. They are something I have to constantly work on and fine tune. However, the transfer of the pull-up to performance is worth the investment. I’m here to help make your pull-up journey a little more clear. This will take time, focus, energy, and will power. I am also here to tell you that you can complete your pull-up goals! At RITTER Sports Performance, we have seen countless athletes start with the bar wiggles and progress to unassisted and even weighted pull-ups.
Why?
The first question we need to answer is, why do we even care about the pull-up? Maybe a better way of putting this is, why do we put up with the misery of trying to master the pull-up?
To start, this is about as “swim specific” as you can get. An overhead pulling position where your goal is to hold the straightest line possible is about as close as it gets to mimicking swimming on land. There’s also positive factors like grip strength, shoulder stability, pulling power, core strength, and, often forgotten, mental fortitude. Completing pull-ups properly can also have an excellent impact on posture.
The ingredients needed to complete a pull-up also show up in other exercises. The ability to complete a pull-up extends well past a singular movement.
Value?
As a performance coach, this is where it gets exciting. The pull-up is viewed so
valuably by the British Swimming Association that even distance swimmers are progressed to weighted variations. I still hear some of the distance swimming choir singing against weighted exercises.
However, one of the top swimming countries in the world sees pull-up value for everyone from distance to sprinters.1
Regardless if you’re an age-group swimmer, college swimmer, post-grad swimmer,
masters swimmer, open water swimmer, or triathlete, pull-up progress will act as a catalyst for the rest of your training.
Let’s dive into your pull-up path!
1British Swimming Standards
3 Disclaimer
This is not an overnight fix. You will have to put in the effort to be successful.
Consistency is key.
The goal of this program is to be simple and effective. That does not mean it will be easy.
This program is to focus on one key component of training (the pull-
up.) This is not a full training plan.
4 Skill Needs
The pull-up requires a a handful of complimentary skills. These are definitely not the only skills you need but are the most common pitfalls that I see with athletes.
Core Stability • Can you hold a perfect plank for a minute?
Row Strength • Can you row 1/4+ bodyweight with each arm?
Grip Strength • Can you actively hang on a pull-up bar for over a minute?
Shoulder Mobility/Stability
• Do you have the proper shoulder mobility and stability to disperse force correctly across the shoulder girdle?
The last skill is something you should
constantly focus on.
As a swimmer, you are going through
countless receptions of similar movement through the shoulder girdle. Failing to have correct range of motion and stability is asking for pain to creep in. Then pain turns into injury. Injury turns into time out of the water.
5 The Accessory Movements
Yes, you will need to focus on the pull-up movement pattern but you will also need to acquire certain skills along the way. This segment will be all about the accessory movements that will accompany your pull-up progression.
You might find all of these movements to be easy. Awesome! Let’s keep them feeling easy.
You might find all of these movements to be really challenging. Even better! Let’s progress to a point where these movements become easier. As they do, you’ll be on your way to your first unassisted pull-up, multiple pull-ups, or a weighted pull-up.
Here’s are five movements that I find very valuable to pull-up performance. Keep in mind, there are plenty of exercises that will achieve a similar result. These are the five that I have found valuable when working with athletes.
Scap Push Up Matrix
• Video: Scap Push Up Matrix
• Start: 1 rep each hand position without rest
• Progress: 5 reps each hand position without rest
Hollow/Plank • Video: Hollow/Plank
• Start: 20 seconds of perfect form
• Progress: 1:00+ of perfect form
Farmer Walk • Video: Farmer Walk
• Start: 1/4 bodyweight in each hand
• Progress: 3/4 bodyweight+ in each hand
Row+Twist+Press • Video: Row+Twist+Press
• Start: light weight
• Progress: 1/4 bodyweight+
Actie Hang • Video: Active Hang
• Start: 20 seconds of perfect form
• Progress: 1:00+ of perfect form
6 The Pull-Up Progression
This is a top-down approach to the pull-up. Again, there are multiple ways to achieve your first pull-up. This is a way that we have found very effective and successful.
From the start, you need to focus heavily on body positioning. Just like in swimming, proper body positioning needs to be maintained on land. The less focus you place on body positioning, the longer this process will take.
Be willing to progress slowly and do small amounts more often. I would rather you complete this routine, or even small portions of this routine, multiple times a week. That approach will be more effective versus doing just one long session on the weekends.
If you follow this routine, you will walk away with some key principles that you can apply to other parts of your training and performance.
Key Principles: • Body Awareness and Control
• Strong, Stable Shoulders
• Pulling Power
• Core Stability
Throughout this program, one thing will be a constant message in the exercise videos. That message is, minimize shrug! When I present this cue in webinars and seminars, I often get some head tilts and questions. Won’t a shrug maximize your freestyle pull? Maybe or maybe not. The bigger question is at what cost?
When you shrug your shoulders to your ears, a few things happen. The first piece is the addition to upper trap tension. Too much tension in the upper trap could play into a deeper rounding of your shoulders and also pain in your neck.
You’re also taking the lower trap and other shoulder stabilizers out of the picture. Turning these muscles will result in atrophy, loss of scapular control, improper dispersion of force in the shoulder girdle, and delayed lat activation.
Do that enough and your shoulder pain will progress to a shoulder injury.
7 Where Should You Start? Beginner/Slow To Adapt:
If you are a person that struggles to build strength or just builds strength slowly, you’re fall into this category. Also, if you’re just new to strength training or pull-ups in general, this is where you’ll start.
Your goal is to do this routine two times a week and you will start at month #1.
Intermediate/Fast To Adapt: If you’re one of those people who walks into a gym, looks at a dumbbell, and puts on muscle, this your category.
If you can do one unassisted pull-up already and you are trying to progress to multiple pull-ups, this is also where you will start.
Your goal is to do this routine two times a week and you will start at month #4. Fast to adapt, you might be able to get away with one day a week, but I would still strive for two days.
Program Understanding: Each month will have one training session planned. This is to be used as an “add on” to your current routine or as a different session. Keep in mind, this is focusing on one movement pattern and is not a complete training plan.
Your goal is to complete the monthly session twice a week.
If a month feels too easy, you can progress to the next month. If a month feels too hard, you can regress to a previous month.
To maintain pull-up capabilities at the end of this program, you should re-visit the principles of this program often during your training.
8 Month #1
Exercise Videos
-Active Hang
-Scap Push Up Matrix
-Flexed Arm Hang
-Hollow
9 Month #2
Exercise Videos -Flexed Arm Hang
-Scap Push Up Matrix
-Assisted SL Pull-Up
-Row+Twist+Press
10 Month #3
Exercise Videos
-Assisted SL Pull-Up
-Farmers Walk
-Dropdown Pull-Up
-Plank
11 Month #4
Exercise Videos
-Active Passive Hang
-Scap Push Up Matrix
-Pause Pull-Ups
-Hollow
12 Month #5
Exercise Videos
-Assisted Pull Up
-Row+Twist+Press
-Pause Pull-Ups
-Scap Push Up Matrix
13 Month #6
Exercise Videos -Assisted Dead Stop Pull-Up
-Farmers Walk
-Assisted Push Start Pull-Up
-Plank
14 What is the next step?
If you enjoyed this resource, let me know! My goal is to compile information that is valuable and effective. Feel free to reach out with any questions to bo@rittersp.com.
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