Bars...Au Naturale!

Polished chrome, powder coated, galvanized, padded, textured, painted, etc. The number of questions I have been fielding lately regarding the actual finish on pull up bar surfaces has ramped up; hmm.

Like everything, personal preference is going to ultimately prevail. There is no right or wrong and it comes down to comfort and performance results. As you know, we are all out there using pull ups in our strength building programs in a variety of ways. My personal use of a bar is going to vary from the next guy, so the surface I am hanging from may differ as well. Sometimes the answer is simply, "it's what we get used to".

So what about all those surfaces? Well, if you want it, there is someone out there selling it; a smorgasbord for the taking. From our perspective, we are of the opinion that most of the manipulation is simply not necessary. In our view, raw steel, minimally treated, provides the most natural and most effective all-purpose grip for all pull up variations. A simple agent used to blacken the steel leaves the integrity of the surface in tact, but gives it a rugged and cool look. Over time, with the natural oils from your hands, combined with the sweat and effort from some killer work outs and the bars become well conditioned; perfect for pulling.

As for galvanized bars specifically(think chain link fence),it won't alter the grip surface much. But unless you are using the bar in an outdoor application where weather proofing is a requirement, it's a step and expense that won't add much else.

So, it may not be advisable (unless your motives involve more then strength building)to hit that next set of pull ups in YOUR Birthday Suit...........but for our money, letting the bars you are hang from go "au naturale" is the only way to go!

Avoid Injury and Stay Strong (Minded)

At some point in time, we have all tweaked , strained or down right damaged something in our quest to stay fit. And along with the physical pain comes the mental anguish of not being able to do what your mind is trained for and wants to do. Long recovery injuries can really take their toll mentally; I have been nursing a shoulder issue for 6 months now and can honestly say that it has come close to pulling me down.

To be clear, the goal for all should include avoiding injury at all cost. We often get carried away, push too hard, lose concentration during reps or don't warm up and skip stretching properly; all recipes for trouble. While all work can lead to potential issues, pull ups can leave us especially vulnerable and high volume kipping adds to the opportunity for something to get out of kilter.

A few thoughts to consider:

Try to only go to fatigue when you are testing your maximum. This really includes most exercises that involves lifting external weight and is particularly important when addressing the pull up.

While we are all tempted to push it to the wall each time we hit the gym, don't exercise to fatigue too often. It's easy to do with pull up exercises (especially a WOD with high volume reps required), but it will lead to injury if done too much. Your technique is likely to be poor in the last few reps before fatigue, and there's a danger of straining a muscle....I have been there for sure.

So when that injury does happen(shoulder and back most often) rest is key but SO hard for many of us. The thought of taking a few weeks, months or even more off plays havoc with the mind. It sucks to lose that training time with the pull up, but there is a point when it just has to happen. Of course a doctors visit is always advisable if things don't improve over time with rest but often a visit to a good massage therapist or a dose of physical therapy may do the trick.

While healing the body is the obvious goal, the mental calisthenics caused by physical hurt is sometimes just as hard to cope with, if not harder. From my personal shoulder experience, the best advice I can give is to find something that you need to work on that does not aggravate the injured area, but didn't necessarily earn the necessary training time to master it when at full health. Set goals, make progress and through small victories, the distress from not being at full strength isn't nearly as hard to deal with. Double Unders were one of my focus areas with my shoulder injury holding me back a bit from other work.

The mind game may be hard to manage so one best just avoid injury altogether and stay strong minded with no distractions!

Hanging up the Bands..... for Good

As I have said many times, the "pursuit of the perfect pull up" is a personal quest, defined by each goal we set and each milestone achieved. It is an evolution that moves over time and is as unique as each person who takes on the challenge.

I have had a blast watching the progress of my friends Lisa and Patricia over the last eighteen months. I had casually introduced them to CrossFit and that is all they needed. At first it was an introduction to CrossFit, but it quickly transitioned to a complete commitment to it; to the point where I feel like a light weight most times when comparing notes on recent PR's and work outs. They are loyalists at Potomac CrossFit in Virginia, one of the many great CrossFit affiliates in the DC area (and growing rapidly). As one would expect, I have been particularly interested in their progress with pull ups and Lisa's recent success (30 unassisted pull ups in a morning WOD) has once again confirmed my thinking on the subject. I asked Lisa to share her personal journey including the major milestones, obstacles and successes along the way :

* Started foundations in November of 2008, completed in December; initial introduction to kipping pull-ups
* Practiced kipping pre and post WOD’s in foundations
* Early encounter with PU’s in Foundations 21/15/9 – used green band for assistance
* Ended up with Compartment Syndrome – arms were swollen for days, muscles and tissue were rock hard in my arms
* Got the kip down pretty well with some practice but had trouble with stringing them together
* End of December 2008 was able to string together 3 or 4 consistently), still with the green band
* End of January 2009 I progressed to the blue band with Heavy Fran
* Mid February started experimenting with the tan band – one at a time; still using blue in the longer WOD’s – for higher reps
* In May, started using thin tan band in WOD’s with less reps – coaches comments compared it to a rubber band "so why bother"
* Started playing around with kipping not using a band, was lucky to get one, still needed a blue band for strict pull-ups
* By June pretty much gave up the blue band
* Mid summer was able to get a couple (max of 5) kipping without a band but not large number of reps – still a happy day!
* January 2010 focused more on flexed arm hands and negatives in order to improve strength for pull ups
* January 23, 2010 – MAJOR Milestone; first WOD sans band – was supposed to be strict but did kipping and was happy
5 Rounds
3 Front Squat, 70% 1RM from 100104
6 Strict Pull-ups
9 Burpees
* Coaches recommend reducing reps in the posted WOD in order to do them well and without a band
* Workout recently was highest number of pull-ups yet with no other exercise in between, not unbroken, but legit kipping pull-ups…YES!!!!!!!
20 DB Push Press, 25#
30 Pull-ups
40 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
50 Sit-ups
60 Burpees

Lisa says that It still depends on the day, depends on what the previous few workouts have been and how the arms and grip feel - some days are better than others but it is always a great feeling to do it! Off the record, she shared that all of the above came with the expected share of callouses and torn hands......of course.

What I personally love about Lisa's journey is that it once again proves that the pursuit takes each person down a different path and while she has reached a specific destination, another leg of her journey begins immediately....and The "Pursuit" Continues.

Lisa's final words; "Baby steps…have come a long way and looking forward to the continued improvement! Every day is a new challenge!"

Taking This Week Off

The Steelfit blog is taking a break this week. CRAZY busy with work,family and Steelfit. Managed to run a 1/2 marathon this weekend too; Steel for Strength is spent!!!

Back next week!