It’s probably not a big secret anymore that I love a good descending pull up ladder, and after a particularly long day thinking too hard at work, I knew I was barely in the mood to come up with something especially complex to do. Fortunately this workout seemingly happened by accident! This is NOT a complete full-body (at least not equally) workout like you’re used to reading about here. Simply put, I’d done enough thinking for one day – which is actually really funny because during the walking parts of this workout I was actually listening to a (comedic) audio book about quantum physics (more about this later). If you’d like the name of the book, please comment below, but know that it’s heavy on the “adult language” while it makes fun of internet hucksters who’ve been using the words of quantum physics to try and sell you some weird form of woo-woo fabricated spirituality. IMHO the language is pretty justified in this case (the woo woo peddlers are very frustrating for the real scientist author after all) and the book does a great job of communicating the science. Seriously, between listening intently to a volunteer at the Fermilab Science Center for over two hours while working through the demos with him a few weeks ago and this book, I have a fairly good handle on the very basics of particle physics concepts. Who knew!!! Anyway – here’s the workout, and if you pick an audio book you’re very interested in, you may be surprised at the amount of distance you’ll cover.
Necessary equipment/location:
Standard running track and a suitable pull up bar for your height. For me, this means the nearby middle school is just perfect. (Yeah I’m short, so what else is new?) In theory, if you’re in a quiet neighborhood with a loop, you could walk that instead and do the pullups at home if you have a bar there. As always, get creative!
The first set of pullups will be the max number of GOOD reps you can do on that particular day. Don’t cheat! When you cheat your reps you only cheat yourself! The next set will decrease by 1 rep until you get to the number of reps you can keep repeating comfortably (even easily). Even if they’re singles, that’s OK too!
Joint Mobility Warmup:
Start with the standard joint mobility warmup, downdog/updog/instep stretch combo.
Continue with a little with a short active hang followed by a few scap-ups and shoulder rotations hanging from the bar. If you’re up for a challenge try staying on the bar for this complete warmup portion – just don’t overdo it or wear up your grip – your best set of pull ups is right around the corner.
Walking and Pull ups – that’s all it is!
I try to keep a fast pace going, if you can, don’t even stop to text someone back unless you really must!
- One Lap around the 1/4 mile track
- 10 Pull ups (Can’t tell you how happy I am to finally be back in the double digits again.)
- Two Laps
- 9 Pull ups
- Two Laps
- 8 Pull ups
- Two Laps
- 7 Pull ups
- Two Laps
- 6 Pull ups
- Two Laps
- 5 Pull ups (This was the point where I knew I could keep going with this number of reps and stayed with it)
- Two Laps
- 5 Pull ups
- Two Laps
- 5 Pull ups
- Final Lap!
By the end of it, I’d walked 4 miles and did a total of 55 pull ups in a relatively short amount of time – all while laughing and learning about quantum physics! If only everything could be this efficient!
Did you try it? Let me know in the comments!
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