Copyright, Disclaimer, Other Fun Stuff

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2 Copyright, Disclaimer, Other Fun Stuff Copyright 2015 by Mixed Martial Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written permission of Eric Wong or Mixed Martial Media. Published by: Mixed Martial Media Inc College Street, 1 st Floor Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6H 1B5 support@ericwongmma.com Web: I figured I d update my little disclaimer here for The bottom line is that this is an exercise program and as such, will get your heart rate up and increase your blood pressure, which is what any physical exertion is supposed to do. If you can t handle this, then you may need to back off and figure this out. One suggestion is to walk consistently, at least 30 minutes a day, at a brisk pace (no need to power walk but don t dawdle). Do this and eat a diet comprised of whole and natural foods and drink water and you ll soon be able to handle exercise like what s in this program. While I do my best to teach you proper technique, it s up to you to do it. If you don t, you re at an increased risk of injury. Even if you do, there s a risk of injury, just like there is with anything including going up and down stairs. While a lot of time and effort has been invested in making this program as effective and safe as possible, you may still hurt yourself while doing it. You may even die. While both are unlikely, if either happens, it s not my fault. It could ve been just the trigger for something that s been hanging around for a while, waiting to come out. That s why before starting any exercise program, including this one, you may want to get cleared by your doctor. If you have any weird symptoms like dizziness, pain in your left arm, forgetfulness, or anything else that s not normal, stop and seek medical help. If you choose not to obtain the consent of your physician and/or work with your physician throughout the duration of your time using the recommendations in the program, you are agreeing to accept full responsibility for your actions. I don t know what the law says if your doctor is fat and unhealthy, though, in which case you may want to get a new doctor. You can t give what you don t have! This is my legal disclaimer as well as a tidbit of sound advice. Page 1

3 INTRODUCTION I ve recently been working with a new athlete a female boxer who was last year s Canadian Amateur champ for her weight class (81 kg big girl). She is all about RAW power and athleticism, coming from a varsity volleyball background and having taken up boxing only 3 years ago. So she s risen rapidly in the sport and has a big future ahead of her. And after assessing her, I saw how I could greatly help her become more fit as well as more efficient, because like I said, she s all about raw power and athleticism, but doesn t necessarily have the best technique. For example, when she performs Pullups, she overuses her upper traps, pecs and delts, all muscles that should not play a significant role in the exercise. I pointed this out to her and because it can be hard to visualize for someone whose life purpose isn t the study of exercise like mine, I demonstrated. As I was doing them, she uttered two words Wow. Beautiful. Music to my ears, because she could see and appreciate what good form looks like. It s gonna be fun working with her. The fact is that the upper traps, pecs and delts all work much more than they should in a lot of different exercises, Pullups just being one. When using these muscles for Pullups, much more force and energy must be used to complete the exercise, because they re all at a mechanical disadvantage to executing the movement. The body is also forced to compensate to use these movements and it s easily seen by the downward rotation of the shoulders and excessive flexion of the thoracic spine, especially at the top of the movement. So we re hard at work first in cleaning up her technique, which will greatly increase her efficiency, then building strength and power. Page 2

When technique is proper, the muscles relied upon include: The pulling muscles: lats, biceps, posterior deltoids The scapular retractors: rhomboids, middle traps The scapular depressors: lower traps

The thing is, the compensations that she presented with I see all the time when I watch guys doing Pullups it s clear that the focus is hitting a certain # of reps instead of executing them with

4 When technique is proper, the muscles relied upon include: The pulling muscles: lats, biceps, posterior deltoids The scapular retractors: rhomboids, middle traps The scapular depressors: lower traps The anterior core: rectus abdominis, obliques The gripping muscles of the forearm and hand The spinal extensors, especially of the thoracic spine As you can see, Pullups work a lot of muscles! The thing is, the compensations that she presented with I see all the time when I watch guys doing Pullups it s clear that the focus is hitting a certain # of reps instead of executing them with perfect form. That s why I ve put this program together to help guide you, step-by-step, to pulling off not just one but TEN perfect dead hang Pullups. The first thing to understand is what a Perfect Dead Hang Pullup looks like: Page 3

5 The key technique points are: 1. Start from a dead hang with elbows straight 2. Pull the shoulder blades down and shoulders away from your ears 3. Pullup keeping your body straight and preventing it from swinging 4. Get your chin over the bar and keep your chest out 5. Inhale on the way up, exhale on the way down (facilitates thoracic extension at the top) You can also watch me perform a Max Pullup test here, where the first 16 are pretty bang on and just the last two I start to lose form and grind a bit. In training, I never let my form get f-ugly, but for Max tests, I let it slide a bit. So, that s what ONE looks like. Now, how do you get to TEN? Page 4

6 2 Keys to Hit 10 Perfect Dead Hang Pullups Key #1: Get your body fat to 12% or less While you don t have to have a ripped 6-pack, if you re carrying the equivalent of a few 6-packs of beer of excessive fat on your body, you re making it a lot harder on yourself than it needs to be. And to get to 12% or under isn t that hard, it just takes some consistency and time, no matter where you are now. There s no magic, just follow a few basic nutrition principles such as: Eat whole, natural foods Drink only water, black coffee, or unsweetened teas (artificial sweeteners are no good) Create a meal plan and stick to it Don t try to be perfect, aim to be an A student (80% or above) I ve done a 5-part video series on these points and more, which you can watch starting with Part 1 here. Follow these guidelines and you should be able to drop an average of 0.5-1% of body fat per week. Key #2: Commit to 2 days/week of Pullup Specific training That s where this program comes in. There are different programs depending on how many you can do right now, but if you commit to training for Pullups twice a week, you ll make consistent gains week after week. BONUS KEY: Grease the Groove Well-known strength and conditioning comrade Pavel Tsatsouline coined this terms and basically what it means is when you want to get better at something, do it often. In the case of Pullups, whenever you pass by a bar, do a few reps (in perfect form of course). Do this throughout the day, everyday, and you ll accelerate your ability to perform 10. Now, let s go through exactly what to do to get you to 10 Perfect Dead Hang (PDH) Pullups Page 5

7 If you can t do any PDH Pullups Work the Pullup Assist machine twice a week with the following plan: Weeks 1-2: 3 sets x 10 reps, 1 min rest Weeks 2-4: 4 sets x 6 reps, 2 min rest Also do 5 reps x sec holds on SB Planks twice a week. Keep alternating these 2 week blocks until you can do 1 PDH Pullup, then move on to the next stage. If you don t have a Pullup assist machine, you can also substitute the Lat Pulldown exercise instead. This is a simple program working different components of strength, which will quickly build your strength to be able to do your first PDH Pullup. Page 6

8 If you can do 1-2 PDH Pullups Test your max every other week at the beginning of your first workout, after your warmup of course. DAY 1 1) 1 PDH Pullup every 30 sec for 5-8 min (add 1 minute every week) 2) Negatives 2 4 sec 1 min 3 3) Hanging Scap Depressions 3 Hold 2 sec 30 sec 3 4) SB Plank 5 Hold sec 30 sec 3 DAY 2 1) 1 PDH Pullup every 30 sec for 5-8 min (add 1 minute every week) 2) Negatives 2 4 sec 1 min 3 3) Inverted Rows Control 1 min 3 4) Hanging Knee Raises 6-10 Control 1 min 3 Page 7

9 If you can do 3-6 PDH Pullups Test your max every other week at the beginning of your first workout, after your warmup. DAY 1 1) PDH Pullups -1RM* Control 2 min 3-5 2) Top Holds 1 4 sec 20 sec 3 3) Negatives 2 6 sec 1 min 3 4) Hanging Scap Depressions 5 Hold 2 sec 30 sec 3 5) SB Rollouts 8 Control 30 sec 3 * This means stop 1 rep before your form falters DAY 2 1) PDH Pullups Total Reps 18-26* Control 1 min? 2) Negatives 2 5 sec 1 min 3 3) Inverted Rows 3 Hold 2 sec 30 sec 3 4) Hanging Knee Raises 12 Control 1 min 3 * Add 2 reps each workout until you reach 26; each set involves you doing as many reps as you can in good form, then resting for a minute and repeating until the total # of reps is complete Page 8

10 If you can do 7-9 PDH Pullups Set #1 of Day 1 is your max, so you re pretty much testing it each week. After 2-5 weeks (depending on if you start at 7 or 9) you should be at 10. When you hit it, congrats and make sure you shoot me an at support@ericwongmma.com telling me of your milestone! DAY 1 1) PDH Pullups AMRAP Control 2 min 3-5 2) Top Holds 1 6 sec 20 sec 5 3) Negatives 2 8 sec 1 min 3 4) Hanging Scap Depressions 6 Hold 2 sec 30 sec 3 5) SB Prone Rollups Up to 10 Control 1 min 3 * This means stop 1 rep before your form falters DAY 2 1) PDH Pullups Total Reps Control 1 min? 2) Negatives 2 5 sec 1 min 3 3) 1-arm DB Rows 8 Control 1 min 3 4) Hanging Leg Raises Up to 8 Control 1 min 3 * Add 2 reps each workout until you reach 26; each set involves you doing as many reps as you can in good form, then resting for a minute and repeating until the total # of reps is complete Page 9

11 CONCLUSION That s it! Nothing fancy here, I just wanted to provide you with a progressive and logical blueprint on how to achieve something so many will never do. Performing PDH Pullups is truly a thing of beauty and takes concentration and strength. It ll develop your pulling strength and all of the muscles involved (lats, biceps, rhomboids), when done properly, your scapular stabilizers, it improves your posture, trains your body to work together as an integrated unit, boosts your grip strength and will translate to many different sports and activities of daily living. Plus, it feels GOOD to be able to do a good # of them in a row. :) So, that s it. Commit to the program and be consistent and soon I ll see you hammering Pullups out like they re going out of style. Eric Page 10

Copyright, Disclaimer, Other Fun Stuff

Copyright, Disclaimer, Other Fun Stuff Copyright 2018 by Mixed Martial Media All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written