And the winner is.............Andrew from Virginia Beach. Congratulations!!
To celebrate our passion for pull ups and to support our on-going Pursuit for perfection, we partnered with Blair Morrison and Anywhwerefit to challenge his followers. The challenge was a simple one; create a pull up "centric" work-out, get it on film and make sure it included tons of creativity and of course.......great pull ups.
With over 60% of the votes from Blair's readers, Andrew's (now almost epic) belt video was the winner and well deserved. It goes without saying though that others were VERY impressive too....and the level of passion and creativity displayed overall was very, very respectable. It is pretty clear now to STEELFIT that there are any others that share our passion for the pull up.
STEELFIT wants to give a shout out to Blair for allowing us to partner with him. Andrew will be getting a STEELFIT classic 48" Straight Pull Up Bar this week along with a STEELFIT "S" T-shirt. For now, he's our newest man of steel. Of course, we are hopeful that Andrew will hang up his belt for a while (or hang it from the STEELFIT bar)...... for his next video attempt.
Thanks to all and remember, why just be fit, when you can be STEELFIT!!!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Just Pulls......again!
Not the first time I have titled a post with this simple pledge. This IS the pursuit of the perfect pull up right?
It's been a couple of weeks that I have been working in some gym time with a buddy Mike. My job was to introduce him to some high intensity, CrossFit style work and on "his" days, we would get back down to some old fashioned weight lifting.
He announced that Friday would be Back and Biceps and I was particularly pleased when he inquired if I was OK with a high rep pull up work out. I think he forgot my alter ego as STEELFIT. The workout:
3 sets of each pull up variety until failure
Each set includes the following, with 2 minute second rest between exercises
Behind the neck pull ups
Close grip pull ups
Upder hand grip chin ups
Wide grip strict pull ups
We finished off our pull up work with some off balance negatives..........giving us a jump start to our bicep work. Overall, it was alot of fun and REALLY torched the arms and back. In fact, the workout reminded be of some thougths that I have written about before and often quote when asked.
FROM A PREVIOUS POST:
Often overlooked for its awesome ability to build back, upper body and core strength, the pull up is really key for anyone serious about building strength. It's as pure as you can get and all you need is a bar, your body and the will.
As simple as they may seem, pull ups can be very intimidating for someone who doesn't have one yet though; it wasn't too long ago that I was right there. I recall when I was struggling to get 1 strict dead hang pull up and could only imagine the day when I could blast out 10 or more. What I learned quickly however, was the absolute best way to do more pull ups was to do more pull ups. Like anything you want bad enough (and particularly for me), practice, practice, practice and eventually it clicks.
While there is a ton of material out there about how to train for pull up performance and in addition to just doing more pull ups, there were several other things I practiced to eventually get better:
Developing the Pull Up:
1) Do more pull ups - repetitions improve performance
2) Doing negatives - starting at the "up" position, slowly lower yourself down
3) Assisted pull ups with resistance bands - attach bands to a bar and place feet or knees in bands and pull
4) Jumping pull ups
5) Lat pull downs - Machine exercise that closely resembles the pull up motion
Advanced Pull up Performance:
1) Do more pull ups - practice, practice and practice some more
2) Add weight; use a weighted vest or hang plates from a weight belt with a chain or hold dumbbells between your feet or thighs
3) Rope Climbs - a variety of rope climb variations all support upper body and back strength
4) Thick Bar Pull Ups - incredible for forearm and grip strength
5) Kipping - allows for increased "work" and achieving high repetitions
6) Vary hand grips for additional challenge
So the case can be made that the pull up is an awesome exercise and clearly there are things you can do when you are building the skill initially and even more you can practice to improve advanced performance.
When all is said and done, however, the best way to get better at doing pull ups, is to do MORE pull ups............JUST PULLS.......again and again!!
It's been a couple of weeks that I have been working in some gym time with a buddy Mike. My job was to introduce him to some high intensity, CrossFit style work and on "his" days, we would get back down to some old fashioned weight lifting.
He announced that Friday would be Back and Biceps and I was particularly pleased when he inquired if I was OK with a high rep pull up work out. I think he forgot my alter ego as STEELFIT. The workout:
3 sets of each pull up variety until failure
Each set includes the following, with 2 minute second rest between exercises
Behind the neck pull ups
Close grip pull ups
Upder hand grip chin ups
Wide grip strict pull ups
We finished off our pull up work with some off balance negatives..........giving us a jump start to our bicep work. Overall, it was alot of fun and REALLY torched the arms and back. In fact, the workout reminded be of some thougths that I have written about before and often quote when asked.
FROM A PREVIOUS POST:
Often overlooked for its awesome ability to build back, upper body and core strength, the pull up is really key for anyone serious about building strength. It's as pure as you can get and all you need is a bar, your body and the will.
As simple as they may seem, pull ups can be very intimidating for someone who doesn't have one yet though; it wasn't too long ago that I was right there. I recall when I was struggling to get 1 strict dead hang pull up and could only imagine the day when I could blast out 10 or more. What I learned quickly however, was the absolute best way to do more pull ups was to do more pull ups. Like anything you want bad enough (and particularly for me), practice, practice, practice and eventually it clicks.
While there is a ton of material out there about how to train for pull up performance and in addition to just doing more pull ups, there were several other things I practiced to eventually get better:
Developing the Pull Up:
1) Do more pull ups - repetitions improve performance
2) Doing negatives - starting at the "up" position, slowly lower yourself down
3) Assisted pull ups with resistance bands - attach bands to a bar and place feet or knees in bands and pull
4) Jumping pull ups
5) Lat pull downs - Machine exercise that closely resembles the pull up motion
Advanced Pull up Performance:
1) Do more pull ups - practice, practice and practice some more
2) Add weight; use a weighted vest or hang plates from a weight belt with a chain or hold dumbbells between your feet or thighs
3) Rope Climbs - a variety of rope climb variations all support upper body and back strength
4) Thick Bar Pull Ups - incredible for forearm and grip strength
5) Kipping - allows for increased "work" and achieving high repetitions
6) Vary hand grips for additional challenge
So the case can be made that the pull up is an awesome exercise and clearly there are things you can do when you are building the skill initially and even more you can practice to improve advanced performance.
When all is said and done, however, the best way to get better at doing pull ups, is to do MORE pull ups............JUST PULLS.......again and again!!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
FREE...............at Last!
I can’t even begin to tell you how many requests we have received over the last year for a solution for those guys looking for a bar, but don’t have the wall space (or wall strength) for a wall mount version. Larger units or racks are out there, but are often impractical for a smaller fitness studio, home gym and garages. Many of the alternatives out there don’t offer the flexibility of being moved easily and the actual pull up bar surface is almost an after- thought.
This site has always advocated the generation of new ideas and new designs and it has been through this feedback that this new product has come to life. Stay tuned later this quarter for even more cool stuff you helped create.
The new STEELFIT® FREE-Bar has finally made it to the market and we couldn't’t be happier with the end result.
Like everything else we have pursued, we were not at all interested in mass production and using cheaper, imported materials. We remain committed to an MADE IN THE USA product and won’t ever break that pledge. Once again, we attempted to limit the number of parts used and always try to focus on incorporating multiple uses for our equipment to add value and functionality. We realize that our approach costs more, but the trade off on quality is not something we are willing to make……..and the growing number of STEELFIT fans out there, have expressed their hopes that we don’t change.
The FREE-Bar is really cool. It’s been engineered to provide the structural stability of wall mount or larger permanent system. But it offers the flexibility of being smaller and movable (if desired). Instead of just a bar, it has adjustable heights so you can get it low enough to do an inverted row and high enough to hang rings for dips, muscle ups and other stuff. Also, brackets have been permanently welded on the front of the adjustable height pull up bar, so you end up with a rack for an Olympic bar too.
Our mission has always been the pursuit of the perfect pull up. For each product we pursue and introduce, we have to be able to stand behind and know that it is of the highest quality and starkly different from anything else out there.
So, for now, the FREE-Bar is our newest toy......at last.
Stay Tuned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)