• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Flex Arm Hang...Anyone???

S

skittles215

New Member
Alright so...this is my 4th month into this "flex arm hang improvement" and still I SUCK! Any suggestions? The OCC board meets in April...and I'm willing to put in some serious man hours trying to get this thing going. I've put in some time for the past 4 months now and things are not working. I've attempted one PFT before and I'm doing another one this thursday on the 8th...and I'm sure I'll do another one before I've got to officially close the book on my package. I want this really bad and my PFT is the one thing that's holding me back, with the focus being on my flex arm hang. I'm an open book, help me out.
 
S

skittles215

New Member
Well the thing is I can do some serious weights at the gym...and I've had a trainer show me the correct way to work out the right muscles...so my muscles are there but weights are NOT helping my pull-ups at all. At this point I can not do one pull-up on my own. I've built a pull up bar in my backyard that's how bad i want to improve this.

So..I guess that brings me to...how can I make my way to doing a pull-up on my own...
 
Lonestar155

Lonestar155

is good to go
Try to find another candidate that lives close to you that is willing to PT during the week with you. I am not going to lie, it is very hard to try to improve your pullups if there is no one else to spot or push you. You need to tear those muscles and make them work, so you will need someone that can help you crank out 5 more.... etc. Do pyramids. Have someone spot you up to 5 then work your way back down. Good luck!
 
othromas

othromas

AEDO livin’ the dream
pilot
Can you do a pullup, or is the flexed arm hang all you can do? Either way, you can try something Pavel Tsatsouline recommends, which is a technique he calls grease the groove.

The quick and dirty version of it is you do X number of pullups or a certain amount of flexed arm hang time. You pick the number based off what feels comfortable to you, like if you had some time to rest, you could keep knocking that number of reps/amount of hang time out for the rest of the day. Then you basically keep knocking out X number of pullups or amounts of hang time for the rest of the day. You'll be surprised at how many you can do if you have the number right. Don't be afraid to only do say, five seconds initially, or ten. The thing is to keep the relative intensity the same, so you will be increasing the number as you get stronger.

In some ways, I think pullups would be easier than a flexed arm hang, but that's up to you. Either way, I think it could help if you're working on both static strength (the hang) and dynamic strength (pullups). If you can't do pullups without assistance, try using Iron Woody bands (wrap around the pullup bar, then step on them so they take some of your weight). They have an assisted pullup package.

Hope that helps.
 
S

skittles215

New Member
Makes sense. Well, is there anyone willing to team up with me near the Cherry Point Camp Lejeune area(pretty much a 50mi radius)?
 
othromas

othromas

AEDO livin’ the dream
pilot
skittles215 said:
Hmm so do the pull-up bands really help assist?
Click to expand...

I haven't used them personally (I just ordered some so we'll see), but from what I hear from Crossfit trainers they work better than other methods, and quicker, too. Another subsitution would be jumping pullups (jump to assist the pullup, then let yourself down slowly--builds negative strength, which is more important than people realize). Gravitron machines turn pullups into trap pulldowns, which really isn't the same move at all since the pullup is (or can be) a full body exercise. The bands let you move more freely so they mimic the motion of the pullup better.

seanjohn, if you really want to get crazy, you can try working on front levers, or even front lever pullups. You're increasing the force your arms have to pull by increasing your body's moment arm.
 
N

narfmasta

New Member
skittles215 said:
At this point I can not do one pull-up on my own. I've built a pull up bar in my backyard that's how bad i want to improve this.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert so don't be pissed if this doesn't work, but here's my suggestion :)

I noticed you mentioned you've worked with a trainer so I'm assuming you have a gym membership. At my school's rec center we have a machine that allows you to adjust the weight so if you can't do them by yourself you can take a little of your own weight off.

it looks like the machine here on the left
http://www.housing.umass.edu/images/wc_web05_upd.jpg
but you can actually stand on it instead of rest your knees on it. Regardless, it will still serve the same purpose. I say just figure out the weight where you can do about 10, do that until you can do 10 on a lower weight. Repeat until you can do them on your own.
 
N

NapalmRat

Member
assisted pull up machines good to start with. to improve the number of pullups the armstrong pull up plan is great, and to add to that u can use a weight belt with some weight on it.
other than that i'd just say do it all the time. do a flexed arm hang every time u go past ur back yard or do a set of curls or anything relating to that muscle group.
i'm on the computer a lot at my house, so i'd do some push ups every time i was waiting around for something on the internet or had to leave my chair.
 
othromas

othromas

AEDO livin’ the dream
pilot
NapalmRat said:
other than that i'd just say do it all the time. do a flexed arm hang every time u go past ur back yard or do a set of curls or anything relating to that muscle group.
i'm on the computer a lot at my house, so i'd do some push ups every time i was waiting around for something on the internet or had to leave my chair.
Click to expand...

This is essentially grease the groove.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top