Resolutions. Also, How to Do Your First Pull-Up.

Last year, I resolved to post to this blog once a week.  It’s gone well so far!  Not every essay is about goblin fungus, apian Star Wars, anti-Lovecraftian philosophy, or John McClane’s fairy tale roots, but I’ve had a great time, and the weekly schedule has proved just ambitious enough to inspire.  I fully plan to remain here, and at tor.com, for 2015, though oh my god you all should see my production schedule for 2015!  I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Which is great!  The pie-eating contest’s coolest prize is more pie.  (Though money doesn’t hurt.)  Still, that’s a lotta pie!  More details as I can offer them.

First, for housekeeping: Full Fathom Five made Vox’s Best Books of 2014 list, and io9.com’s Best of 2014 as well!  Huge honors.  I’m thrilled.  The thought that excellent people are putting me on the same list as, seriously, look at every other author else on both those lists—it’s a really cool thought.  More bulwarks against impostor syndrome, for sure.

In other Max-related writing news, I wrote a post for The Book Smugglers’ end-of-year celebration, Smugglivus, about how winter is the best season for readers, including a list of some of my favorite winter reads.  Looking for book recommendations?  Hie thee hence!

And, because it’s Resolution Season—after some conversation about pull-ups on Twitter a while back I mentioned that, as of graduation from college, I’d never successfully performed a single one.  Getting to my first pull-up was a huge milestone for me.  Some folk were interested in how I got there; now, I’m not a personal trainer by any stretch of the imagination, but here’s:

The Pull-up Protocol!

aka WORKOUT ADVICE YOU MAY ALREADY KNOW BECAUSE I’M NOT TOO GOOD AT THIS OKAY??

Pull-ups!  A great movement that I used to feel an utter martial arts failure for not being able to do!  Every time I watched a movie where Indiana Jones pulled himself up over a cliff, I’d feel this stab of guilt—”were I in the same situation, I’d die.”

Then, my first year in China, I had a lot of free time on my hands, and a copy of Ross Enamait’s Never Gymless, and decided, screw it, let’s make this pull-up thing happen.  (Much of the routine below comes out of Never Gymless, which is an insane book written by terrifyingly sane person for insane people—it’s  a bodyweight combat fitness book, and consists of excellent exercise advice mixed with demonstrations that Ross Enamait, the writer, is a superhuman.  TRIPLE HANDCLAP PUSHUPS.  Tiger leaping from plank position.  “Here are some variations on the one-handed pushup if this movement is too easy for you.”  “One-arm handstand pushups develop good core strength.  I strongly recommend this movement.”  Jesus Christ.)

Three concepts that you probably already know, but I enjoy writing, so here we are:

 As you know, Bob, a negative rep is the part of the exercise in which you return to the starting position.  For example, in a pushup, it’s the part where you descend from the plank until your nose touches the floor.  In a pull-up, it’s the part after your chin has cleared the bar, in which you lower yourself to the starting position.
Negative reps work basically the same muscles basically the same way as positive reps, only from a different (& often easier) angle of approach.  So, by working negative reps, you can build strength for full repetitions.  It’s like an assisted rep, but you feel more badass (or at least I did), and don’t need bands or one of those weird assisted pull-up stations.
Isometric exercises (e.g. static holds) are (a) awesome, and (b) build strength for ten to fifteen degrees around the particular angle articulation held.  So, if you chain isometric exercises together like pages in a flipbook, you can improve strength throughout an entire movement.  (Which is a good way to improve punching power and speed, if you’re interested.)

So, Max’s 0 to Pull-up Progression which is really just my implementation of Ross Enamait’s advice:

Start with negative reps.  Jump so your chin’s over the bar (or step up using a stool if jumping doesn’t work for you for some reason), and lower yourself slowly (like a count of five or ten?) with good form—shoulders down, lats engaged.  I started, IIRC, with pyramid sets with rests capped at 30s—for example 1 rep, rest 10s, 2 reps, rest 20s, 3 reps, rest 30s, 4 reps, rest 30s, and back down the pyramid.  I don’t know that there’s anything magical about this method as opposed to three even sets.  Like I said up top, I don’t know what I’m doing!

When you feel comfortable with the movement, incorporate static holds on each rep at the quarter-points of the exercise, so the isometric strength you’re building overlaps (like I try to describe in point 3 above).

Train to the last movement you can do with good form.  (Which is what I tell myself whenever I pick up a weight, and still I find myself trying to beast through the last rep with horrible form.)

Occasionally check max_reps on the movement.  I think for me the first pull-up came soon after I could do a set of ten controlled negative reps with isometric holds—which took a couple months of regular training (3x/week, I think).  It happened so smoothly I didn’t even realize I’d done my first pull-up until it was done.  My wife used the same protocol to do her first pull-up a few years later, so it’s not just me!  That said, if you weigh more, you’ll have to build more strength to perform the movement, which might take longer.

I still don’t have a high max volume of pull-ups, but the exercise remains one of my favorites, and I crank a few out whenever I pass a bar.  They feel great, and they’re one of the few exercises where you can think, “Yeah, I might use this some day.”  Especially if you ever become Indiana Jones.

Anyway, that’s all for the year, folks.  Have a happy one, and I’ll see you around!