Tough Mudder & Pull Ups

[GodsTyro 63]

Okay all (Specifically ladies)

I'm training for a tough mudder come April 6th.

One of my main issues is I don't have strength to do pull ups which is a major portion of the tough mudder

Any suggestions on getting to a point to be able to have the muscle built up?

[blondegal_ 1,028]

Just a guess...

Do push ups to build your strength. Seems to be the same muscles.

[GoingforGoal 1,734]

Hello,

Congrats on partaking in such a challenging event and best of luck to you.

As for muscle build up, it all comes down to Protein and far more than your average daily intake. Some suggestions:

1) Alternate core muscle groups when you do circuit weight training. This gives sufficient resting time for each muscle group to rebuild. For example: arms, pecs and upper back on Mon, legs and abs on tues, lower back and accessory muscles on wed etc.

2) liquid Protein is the most easiest/quickest absorbed Protein and is necessary within less than 40 minutes after a workout to optimize muscle recovery. This is when Protein shakes come in handy and an excellent source of additional protein without feeling like you have to eat continuously.

3) Take a day to consult a trainer for them to a) detail how many grams of protein you should be taking in daily for your height/weight and fitness goals to achieve your goals and to outline a good circuit program, specifically when it comes to upper arm/shoulder strengthening.

Hope this helps

[wcn1970 239]

Assisted pull up machine and lower the assisted weight every 3 workouts. Also on the last 4 reps of your 3rd set hold the up position and lower yourself slowly taking 10 seconds to do so.

[aroundhky 1,174]

My current "fitness challenge" for myself is to do 20 pull ups at one time. So I am in the middle of trying to build this up too. I'm currently getting 16-18 reps in a single set and I'm so close I can smell it. Started out doing about 2-4 a month or so after surgery. I've been working toward this goal for months and slowly getting closer. This exercise uses pretty much all back muscles, especially the upper back along with biceps. Here's a few things that I've noticed has helped me with my pull ups.

1-Increase training frequency. For me, once a week wasn't really helping me all that much. I started doing them twice a week, and have now progressed to three times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri).

2-Vary your grips. I concentrate on pronated grips, wide, medium and close grip. Every once in a while I'll train with a supinated grip, but pronated works best for me in pulling in my lats, rhomboids and rear delts.

3-Progression from assisted pull ups (5-10 reps), to non-assisted, body weight pull ups (5-10 reps), then once you're able to do 10 reps of body weight, add weight. I use a weighted vest or put a dumbbell in my backpack and try not to look like a thief. If you're just needing funtional strength for this exercise, you may not need to train with added weight. If you can get to where you can do 5 or 5 pull ups, that may be all you need for the Tough Mudder.

4-Also incorporate essentrics or negatives. That is once you're up in the completed pull up position with your chin at the bar, lower yourself back down as slowly as you can. You can also train this way if you can't do a pull up by holding your hands in pull up place, jumping up to a completed position, then lowering slowly.

5-Patience. It's slow progress with this exercise. But slowly building strength along with some weight loss at the same time will make this exercise easier to perform as your training progresses through the months.

I've not done Tough Mudder, but I've competed in the Warrior Dash twice. I think I'm about ready to move up to Tough Mudder, so let us know how it goes, keep us posted and I wish you the best!

[aroundhky 1,174]

Sorry, I just saw where this was intended for the ladies. My bad. :wub: