My friends say Crossfitters don't do real pullups

      “Crossfitters don’t do real pull ups”.  I hear this all the time.  A quick google search on the interwebs will show that this is a current theme among crossfit critics.  I find that these critics are under the impression that crossfit only does kipping or butterfly pullups.

     At our gym, this is certainly not the case.  Strict pullups, or real pullups as the haters will say, are incorporated into many warm ups.  Additionally, it is not uncommon to expect weighted strict pullups to show up as a WOD or focus.  Strict pullups are a foundational strength builder to being able to handle the kipping and butterfly pullup safely.  A good general rule of thumb is that you should be able to do between 5-10 pullups before moving on to kipping pullups.  If you move too early, there is a higher risk of injury by putting too much strain on an undeveloped muscle group.

     So what is a pullup?  A pullup is a gymnastic movement defined by starting from a fully extended position with palms facing away from the body, followed by movement of the body that brings the chin over the bar, and movement back down to a fully extended position. 

The Pullup...Crossing your legs doesn't make you cool.  It puts you in an over-extended position, so point your toes and keep your feet together kids.

     Before we get into kipping and butterfly pullups, let’s talk about some principles of fitness.  We agree that Power is good, yes?  We can also agree that intensity is a good thing.  Now let’s define what is what.

Physics equation for power.

      That’s physics folks.  Work is equal to force generated multiplied by the distance that force was moved.  So in a pull up, your body weight is the force and the distance moved is the length between the bar and your shoulder at the bottom position.  So for example, let’s say I weigh 185 lbs, have a length of 2 feet, and I can do 30 kipping pullups in 1 minute.  Now let’s calculate my power output.  P = (185*2*30)/60 = 185 ft lbs/sec.   Now let’s calculate my power output given that it would take me about 2 minutes to perform 30 strict pullups. P=(185*2*30)/120 = 92.5 ft lbs/sec. 

   

Getting nerdy.  Also, this is not an over-extended position.  This is global extension, which is completely safe and cool. 

     As you can see from the math above, kipping pullups allow us to create more power than a strict pullup.  Power can be measured by how heavy a load is, how far we move it, and how fast we move it.  In a pullup, by simply increasing the speed at which we perform the movement, we are increasing the power output of the workout.  The same is true of butterfly pullups.  They are faster and more efficient, making the movement less costly on the muscles over time.  Crossfit defines intensity as the result of power.  The more power we generate, the more intense the workout becomes.  This is one reason why scaling becomes important - check out the scaling post below if you haven't yet.

     In addition to the math, kipping pullups are more functional and transferable to other skills than the strict pullup.  In its simpliest form, a kipping pullup is a violent opening and closing of the hips.  We do this in muscle ups, squats, oly lifts - you name it, our hips are the primary engine for energy transfer and power production.   

     To reiterate, strict pullups are useful and have their time and place in a workout program.  However, if intensity and power output are your goals (like crossfit believes they should be), a strict pullup is not going to make sense in a WOD. 

    

 

No Bueno, newbie.

 

      Last thing on pullups, ripping your hands is not cool.  Its a result of not taking care of yourself.  It has probably happened to most of us.  You will develop callouses from pullups and barbell movements.  You need to be shaving the callouses down to prevent them from ripping.  We keep a dremel tool in the gym for this purpose, and you can purchase a regular nail file for less than $3.00 anywhere.  Using chalk, in limited amounts, will help keep your hands dry and prevent ripping as well.   If you are doing a workout that has over 75 pullups I recommend using some athletic tape for insurance.  There are some good ways to tape that will make it stick for the whole WOD, so do some googling, or hit me up in the gym. 

 

Post questions or comments below.