Patmos A.O.
PAX: Mister Brown, Optimus, OCB, Crash, LightsOut, The Mick
Q: PacRat
45 degrees and muggy. Funny. It wasn’t too far off from 80 about 2 weeks ago, and we might get into the 90’s later this week. I don’t know if I need to clean the winter gear and store it, or dip into it over the next few weeks.
0530
WarmUp
Bean Picker x10 IC
Arm Circles Complex 10/10/10/10
SSH x30 IC
MNCs x20 IC
Perfect Squats FTH x10
Perfect Merkins x10
Bring coupons to the Amp
Mosey park lap
Pre Thang
Circle up in the Amp. We spoke of utilizing the back, how one might envision engaging the back, and how to do it. Let’s perform a few warm-up exercises:
Coupon Row x10 IC
- Hold up for counts 1-2, down for count 3, and up/contract for count 4
Supported one-arm row (right arm/knee on the Amp) x7 IC
Supported one-arm row (left arm/knee on the Amp) x7 IC
Coupon Row x10 IC
Leave coupons, mosey park lap
The Thang
I spoke on how to engage the back, and discussed that most often, the lowest part of the pull/chin-up is the weakest part. Let form school begin:
1st round, form up in groups of 2. I went solo
PAX1 – Either 1-7 pull/chins, depending on where you are. If you cannot perform 7 pull-chins, we focused on the bottom 25% of the negative. Think jump/pull-up to the bar, slowly lowering to 90 degrees, and a 5-second eccentric lower to smash the underused parts of the lat
PAX2 – Spot/recover
Repeato
Repeato – 3 sets
Mosey park lap
2nd round, form in groups of 3 to permit more rest between sets. I went with Optimus/LightsOut/Crash and worked on an adjacent bar. Same drill:
PAX1 – 3 sets of 7 reps max. If >7, focus on 5-second negatives at the lowest 25%
PAX2 – Recover/spot
Repeato
Repeato – 3 sets
Mosey park lap
Mosey to the Amp
The Finishing Touches
We torched what little was left of the back and arms with the coupon
Curls w/form tips x10 IC
Rows x10 IC
Curls w/form tips x10 IC
Rows x10 IC
Mosey to where the Flag should have been. More on that in a bit
Mary
Flutter kicks (with form tips) x15 IC
Freddie Mercury’s (w/form tips) x15 IC
Hello Dolly’s (w/form tips) x15 IC
0615
Moleskin
Form school is a great idea. It wasn’t a massacre, and it wasn’t a cardio blitz either. It accomplished what it set out to do – give a spot to focus on one of the most important movements, and notch out space to discuss and try it out. I told the fellas that when I started, I dedicated Sunday morning before church to do as many pull/chins as I could (0-11, depending on where I was on my journey) and I took a 90-120 second mosey lap. I shot for 7-10 sets, regardless of rep count. Granted some reps got sketchy no doubt, but I was able to get some decent volume in and I grew in my pull/chins in leaps and bounds. This is one of those movements where volume is one of, if not, the primary way to grow or adapt. The biggest “trick” is to learn how to engage your back, and to learn how to get your brain to fire the nerves that contract all the muscles in the movement. It can really only be performed with practice.
We’ve done merkin, ruck, steps, and burpees challenges. It’s about time we did something for pull-ups. Not necessarily a number goal, but a goal to increase quality. Standby for details.
I left my flag in the garage. Optimus left his at home too. Shame on us.
73’s,
PacRat
KD9GNS
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