smp76 Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 I thought I might share a new to me trick for pull-ups. About a month ago I grew tired of my finger loops for pull-ups and my roommate and I were messing around with some ice axe pull-ups and it hit me. Why not change the thickness of the axe handles or just simulate the handle period. So we went to the hardware store and bought some PVC pipe at 2" and 2.5" and cut them into lengths of 12" and then broke down my pull-up bar and if I had a drill press I would have just drilled the holes equal to the size of my pull-up bar but instead I just heated my pull-up bar with a torch and melted holes in the PVC leaving about 2" at the top. This actually gave a real nice tight fit. Then I slid the new PVC handles on to the bar, once it was cool, and then reassembled the pull-up bar. I guess this is like doing a vertical lift but with your body weight. I would advise wrapping the PVC with tape because the PVC is slick as hell when you get pumping. I have also substituted the PVC with lengths of towels, which is just an adaptation from Brookfield's rope climbing. The towels are great too. Just take two hand towels, fold one in half and pass the bend behind and over the pull-up bar and pull the ends through the loop and repeat with the other towel and you have two vertical towels to do pull-ups from. The softness of the towel forces you to squeeze like hell, especially if you do weighted pull-ups. If anyone has adaptations of these and input to how they have tweeked it or routines they have done like this let me know. I highly recommend it. -SMP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp76 Posted May 24, 2004 Author Share Posted May 24, 2004 Anyone Tried these yet? -SMP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foggymountainmuscle Posted May 24, 2004 Share Posted May 24, 2004 I usually do thick bar work with my pullups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp76 Posted May 24, 2004 Author Share Posted May 24, 2004 Perhaps I was not clear in my explanation of the thick PVC being used. The PVC is vertical, not horizontal to the floor. I am thinking of making a long pull up bar with about ten vertical bars of various thicknesses equally spaced out over about ten feet, so you could jump up, do a pull up and then reach over to the next vertical bar, pull up, then work your way down the bar. These would be hitting varried thicknesses and you hang the whole time. For you climbers out there this will rock. -SMP76 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersqueeze Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 Richard Sorin posted this idea some time ago. His idea was similar to your latter idea of making a longer pull-up bar and mounting more handles. He imagined each handle hanging from a chain and one would swing arm to arm from one handle to the next; like the horizontal ladder on an obstacle course. He also talked about handles of different thickness. I don't know if he ever got around to building it though. It is a good idea. Mike M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foggymountainmuscle Posted May 26, 2004 Share Posted May 26, 2004 Anyone ever have, or get to work with a peg board? This topic reminded me of that intense test of upper body strength. Imagine going thickbar on that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vise Posted May 26, 2004 Share Posted May 26, 2004 (edited) pegboards are okay, i'm sure the thicker pegs would be very benefical for explosive grip strength. you also cannot forget campus boards; doing the incline ones will make you cry. i recently got one of the old Metolius simulators off of e-bay and i love it. the open hand finger tip pull ups are vicious. Edited May 26, 2004 by Vise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp76 Posted May 26, 2004 Author Share Posted May 26, 2004 I like the peg board idea, but with a twist; perhaps thick pipe handles with hooks on the end that you use to move up a ladder that is set at a 45deg angle. Walking up the ladder with your handles. I have seen these in climbing gyms, but it is generally done with your hands grabbing a horizontal bar, with my modification, you climb the same ladder but your hold is on a vertical pipe, and you climb it like you had really fat handled ice axes. Did that make sense? -SMP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp76 Posted May 28, 2004 Author Share Posted May 28, 2004 How many people do weighted Pullups? If so, what kind of bar do you use? Thick horizontal, vertical,, thick vertical, rope, towels, ect... what kind of weight? as much as I can for 5-8 reps or singles with as much weight as you can take? -SMP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SqeezeMasterFlash Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 I've tried vertical rope pull-ups before, but this sounds even harder. Grip's not an issue as I can hang onto the rope all day, but I can't do any pullups. I blame my girth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp76 Posted June 1, 2004 Author Share Posted June 1, 2004 I would think that if you try to do little pull-ups then you would stress your grip because of your "girth". Using PVC is harder than rope because you can not squeeze it like you can a rope or towel. -SMP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp76 Posted June 15, 2004 Author Share Posted June 15, 2004 I have uploaded a few pictures of the PVC pipe pull-up device in my gallery. I hope this clears up any confusion of how it is made or works for that matter. -SMP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp76 Posted June 23, 2004 Author Share Posted June 23, 2004 The pictures are in my gallery now, sorry about the wait. -SMP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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