We are into the third week of the first test program on the VIP training forum on facebook. I am happy with the results thus far on part of the participants, and we recently did a fun little weekend challenge that I will be revealing this Friday. That being said, I had a question come across on the forum that are worth shedding light on the blog here today.
While the program we are wrapping up online is geared towards mastering the pull up, I had a number of people ask the same question regarding how to increase abdominal tension and strength to assist in pull up mastery.
I’m a big fan of all things hang drills, but if you’re unable to get yourself above the bar for a flexed hang, I recommend training below the bar with different variations of leg raises to increase your overall abdominal strength.
In the video below, I am going to discuss the differences between knee raises, alternating knee raises, l sit holds and full leg raises. For a more comprehensive break down of hang training for pull up strength, pick up a copy of “Raising the Bar” by Al Kavadlo by clicking this link.
Depending on how advanced you are on raises in general, I have a beginner- intermediate progression of sets and reps to train theses lifts and an intermediate-advanced progression of sets and reps to train these lifts as well. Listed below are those training recommendations.
Beginner to Intermediate 4 Week Protocol:
Week 1: 3 reps x 3 sets
Week 2: 4 reps x 4 sets
Week 3: 5 reps x 4 sets
Week 4: 5 reps x 5 sets
Intermediate to Advanced 4 Week Protocol:
Week 1: 6 reps x 6 sets
Week 2: 7 reps x 7 sets
Week 3: 8 reps x 7 sets
Week 4: 8 reps x 8 sets
I recommend incorporating leg raises for an added ab bonus to your pull training no more than 2 days a week, but make those a strong and solid two days a week around the rest of your training. Trust me, you will notice a difference in your core strength, and you’ll probably be looking a hell of a lot more awesome too 😉
Watch out for a fun and challenging weekend workout coming to you live on the blog this Friday that involves the very drills discussed in today’s post. Until then. . .
Press on!
