h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Nerd's Guide to Pull-ups - A23265010
Author: Br. Leo - U519437


( a sick and twisted mind is a terrible thing to lose)

Really, you probably don't need to go into twitchy muscles so much. It's just that: 'In fact, most of the field is based on theory and anecdotal evidence' is more of a popular view among weightlifters and probably not so much among doctors. I suspect that there is quite a lot of research past and present. I would just suggest not calling the two regimens that you present theories, but strategies instead since they both give predictable and reliable, albeit different, results.

This is quite enjoyable on the second read, btw.

(Also, btw, those scary looking muskelmadels are, most of them, in competition trim - ie less than, oh, 6% body fat. When not in competition they would merely look imposing and not like skinned anatomical models.)

"Larson had a sick and twisted mind. The world lost something great when he retired."

Don't say that! I thought'd he'd died when I read this first bit!

Didn't know he'd retired either.

(yes, apparently one can overdo caffeine and bizarre thinking and so require a little quiet time)

Fine Entry

It took me a while to catch on to the grip orientation. I'd never previously tried it that way round, but just have. I can do 'girly' ones, but from fully straightened arms, it hardly seems possible.

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Ooh. That was unexpected. Heya, subbie, do contact me so I can decide on something about twitchiness.

I haven't read the muscular articles yet (I will I will I will): but I'm wondering about its application to pull ups particularly. As user r4registry pointed out, pull-ups differ from regular weight lifting in that one's weight is a constant. Speed does have some effect, but in my experience, faster is easier, though not by much. So intensity is mostly varied by how many repetitions you do. I think.

But for example, lets say (totally theoretically here) someone wanted to knock off quickly the large amount of 15 pull-ups and swagger off without breaking a sweat so as to compel any macho observers to attempt the same and look foolish - which muscles would that use, aside from the incisivii of the face?

PS: are you sure it wasn't monkeys breaking sticks this way? Quite euphonious. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8735785920827468345&q=trashing+the+camp&total=166&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

The particular section in question is actually about weightlifting - so it's arguably a little side-tracked anyway. No matter though. There's nothing really wrong. I was just being a little picky in objecting that the field is based on more than just theory and anecdotal evidence (post #21), but I wouldn't sweat it.

>>in my experience, faster is easier, though not by much<<

Where this is the case, I would characterize each of the reps after the first one as starting from the top rather than the bottom. Consider that you describe the most difficult part of the pull-up as the region between the dead-hang and the girlie position. Once you get past this and continue to the top of bar, then you have stored potential energy - now you drop and convert it all to kinetic energy - finally you store as much of that energy at the bottom of the cycle in stretched muscles, flexed bar, and swung legs - then you bring these all together with only minor exertion to get up past the dead-hang. So, it's easier, but not by a lot because you're still pulling faster which is harder.

So, try this experiment. Starting from a dead hang, pull all the way up as rapidly as you can, then drop back to the dead hang and come to a complete but only momentary stop so that you are again at a dead hang. Then repeat this 10 times and see what you think.

Where exertion is concerned, the body and mind will always work together to minimize the amount to energy expended and this is one reason why in order to move past a plateau in your strength you need to do the exercise in a way that is new to the body so it doesn't yet know how to perform it more efficiently.

(great monkey-boys video btw - )

Oops... Freudian link, there. I meant to link to the actual Tarzan segment of Trashing the Camp, but no harm done.

6 freakin' % body fat - when healthy is 17%! When you say "competition form" do you mean they gain some weight back between competitions? What a life... Pass the please.

Not side tracked. It's interesting. And I've read the stuff so I'm caught up.

Not sure exactly what you mean by "complete but only momentary stop". But I couldn't do 10 reps anyway.
There is definitely momentum involved: the longer the stop, the harder it is to do the next rep, and the less pull-ups can be done in the set. But "swinging, kicking, and bicycling" are strictly forbidden by the SEALs, so that part of the momentum has to be tame.

Thanks!

side-tracked wasn't the right word - it's supplemental and interesting information.

yeah, 6% (men get down to 2%) you can't survive that for long so it's short term competition only supposed to be anyway.

"swinging, kicking, and bicycling" are strictly forbidden
if this isn't in the entry, it should be.

... it's in now. I think.


yo-yo weight is not my idea of a good life. To each their own.