Wod - 130118

Complete four rounds:

Instead of the 10-15 towel pull-ups would 5 with a 525 tempo be sufficient?

Zephyrus said:

Instead of the 10-15 towel pull-ups would 5 with a 525 tempo be sufficient?

"5) Do not rest more than 30 seconds in between exercises.  If you are resting more than this or are unable to achieve the RX'd repetitions, you need to scale down the workout to accomodate your current strength levels."

I think that answers your question. If you can't do 10, scale the exercise down.

Insane grip strenght here... my forearms were going to explode. I'm totally new with wod's in general, I've only done 3 and, good feeling of work. I'm going to read more about the theory behind this form of work, it's interesting... besides, it comes directly from Coach and that's and approach so close to his methods, which it's awesome.

Greetings from Spain ;D

PD: What would be the previous progression of towel pullups?

Letance said:

PD: What would be the previous progression of towel pullups?

You could try a bit of a jump, a foot assist either on the ground or an L-hang with feet on something, a bit of a jump, or all the way down to towel rows.

It's not strictly approved but I was doing 3x sets of 5 towel pullups to begin with, and ramped them up to one unbroken set.

Welcome, by the way

Yeah, I found difficult towel pullup part too, in fact, I had to reduce to x5 reps because I can't do more. It's funny, because in a normal training I'm pretty sure that I would do them, but in a wod and after 10 fl pull, my grip strenght was gone. Ah, and then repeat x3

I have another question.

5) Do not rest more than 30 seconds in between exercises.  If you are resting more than this or are unable to achieve the RX'd repetitions, you need to scale down the workout to accomodate your current strength levels

That means that if I can do x10 reps, I could do x5, for example, and will be ok?

Thanks again! What a great community!

You are better off keeping the reps the same and decreasing the difficulty of the exercise, in my experience. I crammed multiple sets of 5 on that one exercise because my grip was giving out before anything else, but this is really not optimal, I was just trying to brush up the one weak link.
Have patience and keep putting in work, it will come. No point overdoing it and being unable to hold the rings the next day

Charm said:

You could try a bit of a jump, a foot assist either on the ground or an L-hang with feet on something, a bit of a jump, or all the way down to towel rows.

It's not strictly approved but I was doing 3x sets of 5 towel pullups to begin with, and ramped them up to one unbroken set.

 

Welcome, by the way

Jumping will reduce the range of motion of the movement which is not optimal.  You should instead go down to the highest progression that you can while still performing the needed ROM and prescribed reps.  

Daniel Burnham said:

Jumping will reduce the range of motion of the movement which is not optimal.  You should instead go down to the highest progression that you can while still performing the needed ROM and prescribed reps.  

Daniel Burnham said:

Jumping will reduce the range of motion of the movement which is not optimal.  You should instead go down to the highest progression that you can while still performing the needed ROM and prescribed reps.  

Which progression is that? Do we have a list? I was just kicking out ideas.

Charm said:

Which progression is that? Do we have a list? I was just kicking out ideas.

I suppose you could use towel inverted rows. Set rings to face level, put a towel through them and then perform them.

If you want to slightly cheat the towell pullups..

1) put lotion on your hands first and it will compensate for your beginner hand weakness

2)put one hand on the bar and the other on the towell. (alternate hands after 5 reps)

3)light a small but substancial fire underneath you, count to three, and go

2) do these at the gym with a real rope. Climbing a rope is much easier to do than 10 towell pullups. (Obviously keep the feet off the rope)

No reason to cheat the towel pull-ups. Simply do a pull-up variation if you are not strong enough for rope climbs. Trust me the hand strength will probably be the least of your worries in a cirque (unless you are very big).

Currently I'm either climbing a pole in a playground for cirques, or doubling my my jiujitsu belt and twisting it up (like a short rope) to do pullups when the weather keeps me in, switching hands at halfway without coming down. I'd love a rope, but we work with what we have, and I'm not in a position to pack one in my carry-on.

I find it harder than a towel due to the thickness. Sometimes I'll use my gi like this too, doubling or tripling it for a difficult grip exercise. If I'm really stir-crazy I'll climb up the few feet clearance I have several times.

Plenty of good ideas in this thread

I've done cirques on trees. I live right next too some great woods. I try and find a tree that is not quite vertical (one that leans over a path), has smooth bark, and is around 4 - 5 inches thick (and doesn't bend too much when I climb up it  - not that my frame does too much to it!). 

It's pretty fun.

Not possible when it's raining or during the WOD/a workout, but it's way more satisfying than towel pull ups/inverted rows.

Instead of a towel I too use a taijutsu belt. Double it up several times, wrap over my rings or a rafter and perform towel pullups/inverted rows. 

Heh. I'm with you on the trees; I can tell you Toronto skies don't look like this right at the moment though!