How to Pullup #14 – Advanced 2

At this stage, we should definitely be thinking about moving into more useful techniques with our pull-up training.

In this episode, I will explain the false-grip technique along with its usefulness and why it is an important thing to learn.

What is the false grip

When doing a muscle-up or a climb-up or a gymnastics ring muscle-up, (all of which require that you go above the bar to a straight-arm position) there was a problem that needed solving.

The problem was that if you were to do a full-range pull-up until your chest was over the bar and then do a push to the point where your arms were straight, you would need to change your grip halfway through.

Think about it, if you grab the bar from underneath, could you maintain that grip position while over the bar? Of course not.

So there are three solutions.

• Change grip by repositioning your hand. Easiest to do, but is inefficient, wastes energy and is slow.
• Change grip by slowly releasing grip and allowing your hand to rotate around the bar as you go above it. Good solution, harder to perform and requires more speed and power.
• The false grip.

Hand position

The false grip essentially puts your entire hand over the top of the bar, ready for the transition into the push of the muscle-up.

Your wrist, which is the pivot point, is directly on top of the bar, with the rest of your hand OFF the edge, gripping nothing.

Just a pull-up

Don't forget that this is just the hand position and the pull-up. We're not doing a muscle-up or the transition into any push positions for now.

However, this training will definitely get us used to being in the right position and ready for that movement.

Wrist raw

One thing you need to be prepared for is that this will not be comfortable. The skin on your wrist will be soft, to begin with, and will need to be thickened up with calluses.

However, this is a good thing. OK, you may not have pretty wrists, but you'll be building up that body armor and your wrists will be stronger and more durable.

Full Range Of Motion

Oh man, not again! Yep, with the false-grip, you will have an especially hard time at that bottom dead-hang position because your forearms will be automatically tense from gripping.

Those forearms switched on will mean you won't be able to relax. This is OK, just make sure you don't do any kipping or swinging at the bottom when you're there.