Pull ups and Push ups

samcorvus

MFP,

I recently began the enlistment process for the USMC. However before I can go to MEPS I have to demonstrate that I can perform two pull ups and ten push ups. Right now I'm at no pull ups and just shy of eight full good form push ups.

My question is:

What is the fastest, most effective means of gaining the upper body strength necessary to do these exercises with limited access to equipment? I have an over the door pull up bar at home and access to a few machines at work but that's about it.

Thank you for your help,

S,

Pinkranger626

Do more pull-ups and pushups. I like to go for failure on these exercises. Start off doing the full form (on your toes for pushups) crank out as many as you can with good form, then, when your form starts to go modify by dropping your knees and crank out a couple more. Each time you should be able to do a couple more before you have to modify, although sometimes you'll find you get stuck at a certain number for a while. For pull-ups you can use a resitance band or a chair to complete them. As you get stronger you can reduce the amount of help that you need, and eventually you should be able to do them without help.

SezxyStef

for pull ups try a reverse one. *read that on a forum post here but lost the link*

This is where you start off holding yourself at the top of the pull up and lower yourself until you can't, repeat.

As well for pushups try with your feet 12 inches apart...no further tho.

I have to say tho I am surprised that the USMC only requires 10 push-ups and 2 pull ups seems low...20 years ago when I joined the Canadian Artillery my test was (as a female) 50push ups (male style) and 4 pull ups...

ahamm002

For push-ups it's easy, just keep doing more push-ups. Same thing for pull-ups but you'll have to start with "negatives" as the previous poster already described.

Yogi_Carl

For pull-ups, use negatives as has been mentioned but if you are in the range of 1 -2 good form pull-ups, it could be good for you to get into a set range of around 8-10 reps to begin to build a good base to work from.

I did this by:

1. using one or two resistance bands hanging from the pull-up bar that you can drop one knee into like a sling to assist the up part of the pull-up and

2. by placing a step ladder just the other side of the pull-up bar and placing your heels on the rung that is just a little higher than your hips at full stretch in the down part of the exercise. Now you are unable to use the legs to assist the pull-up (too tempting) but the weight of both legs has been taken out of the pull-up so you have far less weight to work with.

I've still got a lot of work to do, but these - and losing fat weight - have been the things that have helped me to progress from a set of one quarter of a pull-up to a present 4 reps in around six months.

mnapier3

Check out this article on bodybuilding.com: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/pull-up-3-tips-to-master-the-powerful-pull-up.html

I think pull ups are 10x harder than push ups. I started with "girly" push ups and was able to regular ones shortly after.

Alehmer

'Grease the Groove' training, have never found any way to increase strength faster, especially when muscle mass is not the goal.

http://humanmachine.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/grease-the-groove-for-strength/

Written by a top-notch exercise scientist.

Basics are, strength is largely skill, like hitting a baseball or dancing. The more you practice a skill, the more efficient your neural pathways get at performing that motion. Strength has far more to do with skill and far less to do with muscle than most people think! Tough muscle and connective tissue is just your body's adaptation to increasing the 'safe zone' for expressing strength, IE allowing the body to express more strength without hurting itself. This is where the 'mother pulls car off of child' stories come from, emergency adrenaline overriding the safety limits of the body and expressing all possible strength. (usually leaving the person quite injured in the process)

Also, like any skill, you learn best when fresh. The first lift of a workout is literally the most useful, with diminishing returns for every following lift, because you are your most fresh and able to express strength without limitation. Ideally to gain the most strength, you would lift in small rep sets all day long.

You can actually do this in a way. Set a trigger, either a timer or a situation, and do your target exercise whenever you hit the trigger. I do single-legged squats and pushups every hour at work, my phone always running a timer. You could set a situational trigger like in the link, where every time you go to the kitchen you do a pushup. Either way, you end up doing a TON of very useful reps every day without getting all sweaty or needing to go to the gym.

Again, I have done a LOT of working out, and I have never gained strength faster with any other method.

JoRocka

negatives
inverted
rows
rows
lat pull downs
more inverted
more rows

do them..

and do them often.

gargoylekitty

Huh, I'm a USMC poolee and they had us do pull-ups and crunches. I mean, the IST/PFT is crunches, pull-ups, and a run.

Either way, for push-ups, just do them. Pick a room of the house and whenever you pass by it, drop and do as many as you can. You'll be at ten in no time. For pull-ups, I vote negatives, lat pulldown, and assisted(via bands or a buddy).

samcorvus

Thanks everyone. For those questioning why so few; yes the Corps will require more of me to pass the PFA. This is just the minimum I need to get to MEPS and get the ball rolling towards a set ship date for MCRD Parris Island. I want to get up to thirty pulls and a hundred push ups before shipping out.

As to the crunches I already meet the minimums though I continue to train for those too.

S,

waldo56

The best, fastest way to do more pull ups and push ups is to oddly enough, do more pull ups and push ups.

soldier4242

for pull ups try a reverse one. *read that on a forum post here but lost the link*

This is where you start off holding yourself at the top of the pull up and lower yourself until you can't, repeat.

As well for pushups try with your feet 12 inches apart...no further tho.

I have to say tho I am surprised that the USMC only requires 10 push-ups and 2 pull ups seems low...20 years ago when I joined the Canadian Artillery my test was (as a female) 50push ups (male style) and 4 pull ups...

The 10 pushups and the 2 pull up just get you in to boot camp they are not enough to graduate book camp. When I went in to the army we had to be able to do 13 pushups before our first day of basic training. If you are unable to get to 13 pushups you are put in to a Fitness Training Battery and you have to improve until you can do the required 13 pushups. If you do manage to get in to basic train you have to do 32 pushups to graduate to AIT and then you have to be able to do 42 pushups to graduate AIT. This is all assuming that you are a male between the ages of 17 and 21. It is different for older people and females.

soldier4242

Thanks everyone. For those questioning why so few; yes the Corps will require more of me to pass the PFA. This is just the minimum I need to get to MEPS and get the ball rolling towards a set ship date for MCRD Parris Island. I want to get up to thirty pulls and a hundred push ups before shipping out.

As to the crunches I already meet the minimums though I continue to train for those too.

S,

I am not sure if you have something compelling you to join the marines so quickly but it might be a good idea for you to get in to far better shape before you even consider joining the marines.

2 pull ups and 10 pushups should be a complete joke to you if you expect to meet the physical requirements they will expect from you. The marines are tougher physically than the army I know that when I was in basic training you had to be able to knock out 15 pushups like it was nothing right out of bed.

That was just something we had to be able to do on an average day at the drop of a hat. I am sure I did some pushups in my sleep.I can only imagine the marines will demand that or more from you when you get there.

gargoylekitty

I am not sure if you have something compelling you to join the marines so quickly but it might be a good idea for you to get in to far better shape before you even consider joining the marines.

Agreed. You're going to Parris Island to learn to be a Marine, not to get in shape. You should already be fit so you won't be struggling, unless you plan to make your stay longer and end up in PCP. At least that's what our recruiters tell us all the time, lol.

Seriously though, talk to your recruiter if you're having concerns about your ability to pass the bare minimum. Does your station PT together? If so, start going.

soldier4242

I am not sure if you have something compelling you to join the marines so quickly but it might be a good idea for you to get in to far better shape before you even consider joining the marines.

Agreed. You're going to Parris Island to learn to be a Marine, not to get in shape. You should already be fit so you won't be struggling, unless you plan to make your stay longer and end up in PCP. At least that's what our recruiters tell us all the time, lol.

Seriously though, talk to your recruiter if you're having concerns about your ability to pass the bare minimum. Does your station PT together? If so, start going.

I know when I went to basic for the army we had some people that were barely able to get in and as a result they hated life. The majority of them failed out.

What was an average day like for you in the marine boot camp?

ttippie2000

The following link is written by a former Navy SEAL and specifically geared towards passing the military PFT exams. I have done a couple of these workouts and can report good improvements. Here's the link:

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/fitness-test-prep/pullup-push-workout

/salute

soldier4242

I have had a lot of success with the workouts found on Military.com. I have not tried the pull up routine because the army does not do them but it stands to reason that it should be effective.

soldier4242

'Grease the Groove' training, have never found any way to increase strength faster, especially when muscle mass is not the goal.

http://humanmachine.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/grease-the-groove-for-strength/

Written by a top-notch exercise scientist.

Basics are, strength is largely skill, like hitting a baseball or dancing. The more you practice a skill, the more efficient your neural pathways get at performing that motion. Strength has far more to do with skill and far less to do with muscle than most people think! Tough muscle and connective tissue is just your body's adaptation to increasing the 'safe zone' for expressing strength, IE allowing the body to express more strength without hurting itself. This is where the 'mother pulls car off of child' stories come from, emergency adrenaline overriding the safety limits of the body and expressing all possible strength. (usually leaving the person quite injured in the process)

Also, like any skill, you learn best when fresh. The first lift of a workout is literally the most useful, with diminishing returns for every following lift, because you are your most fresh and able to express strength without limitation. Ideally to gain the most strength, you would lift in small rep sets all day long.

You can actually do this in a way. Set a trigger, either a timer or a situation, and do your target exercise whenever you hit the trigger. I do single-legged squats and pushups every hour at work, my phone always running a timer. You could set a situational trigger like in the link, where every time you go to the kitchen you do a pushup. Either way, you end up doing a TON of very useful reps every day without getting all sweaty or needing to go to the gym.

Again, I have done a LOT of working out, and I have never gained strength faster with any other method.

I don't see how this would do much for muscular endurance. Military exercises and drills tend to focus a whole lot around muscular endurance with only some emphasis on muscular strength.

tonynguyen75

Uh... Easiest way is to lose weight.

No_Finish_Line

pretty sure the marines use thicker then usual bar which is supposed to make them more difficult, so consider that as well

MarineCodie

pretty sure the marines use thicker then usual bar which is supposed to make them more difficult, so consider that as well

lol wat?

Coming from a fatty who lost 20lbs in boot camp - don't get discouraged and continue working towards your goal! Congrats on wanting to become one of the FEW and the PROUD. I agree with the statement that you should be in pretty good shape before shipping however, you most certainly are going to boot camp to get into shape. Yes, yes, you're there to learn "how to be a Marine" but geeze, if you weren't there to improve your physical fitness then why would you be PTing at 0500?

I went from 1 pull-up to 8 in a little over 4 weeks. Some techniques that worked for me:
Dropping body fat
Using a resistance band under my knee to take some of the weight off
Jumping pull ups
Negatives at the top of every one
& doing them A LOT

When are you looking to ship?

MarineCodie

Oh, and to add to my post... I also worked out my back twice a week rather than once. I trained doing my pull-ups over hand to strengthen my back but do them under hand for my PFT.

csuhar

As others have mentioned, plan to EXCEED the standard, and by that I mean the TEST standard, not the entry standard. When it comes to military training, the level of misery rises exponentially if you aren't prepared.

What helped me with pull-ups was a combination of:

1) assistance from a buddy
2) assistance from a bench (choose a bench just high enough you can get your chin over the bar when standing on your toes on the bench, keep a foot on the bench and then ONLY use your legs as a last resort)
3) something I can best describe as "inverted push ups" (lie under a bar that's about waist high and, keeping your body rigid from your head to your toes, pull yourself up until the bar is under your chin)

Once you have the ability to do a push-up and / or a sit up, then the solution is to do more. One program I saw said to do as many as you can, then wait for a minute, then do as many as you can, again, and keep doing this until you reach your goal or exhaustion.

csuhar

if you weren't there to improve your physical fitness then why would you be PTing at 0500?

I was always told "it's because the cadre doesn't have anything better for you to do at this time".

soldier4242

if you weren't there to improve your physical fitness then why would you be PTing at 0500?

I was always told "it's because the cadre doesn't have anything better for you to do at this time".

It is because anyone who wants to be a Drill Sergeant is going to be the type of person who loves to torture people.

Swehl

1. Adaptive pull ups are great for beginners
2. Rows
3. Lat pull downs
4. Bang out as many push ups as you can (push to failure) as often as possible
5. Protein - at least 1 gram per 1 lb of body weight
6. Advice from my husband (USMC active duty 9+ years): TIRE FLIPS! He says that tire flips are the perfect full body workout when performed correctly. Why is this helpful for pull ups and push ups? -- Tire flips will help considerably with grip (very important for pull ups). They will also help a great deal with core strength (back and abs) and biceps. --- Not regular little car/truck tires --

Good luck

JoRocka

pretty sure the marines use thicker then usual bar which is supposed to make them more difficult, so consider that as well

I found a thinner bar to be more of an issue for me.

But women are required to do a hang rather than pull ups- but at my school- we had 2 bars- and technically the thinner bar was for the women- but we all hated it- it was so much harder to use than a slightly fatter 2" bar.

Alehmer

'Grease the Groove' training, have never found any way to increase strength faster, especially when muscle mass is not the goal.

http://humanmachine.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/grease-the-groove-for-strength/

Written by a top-notch exercise scientist.

Basics are, strength is largely skill, like hitting a baseball or dancing. The more you practice a skill, the more efficient your neural pathways get at performing that motion. Strength has far more to do with skill and far less to do with muscle than most people think! Tough muscle and connective tissue is just your body's adaptation to increasing the 'safe zone' for expressing strength, IE allowing the body to express more strength without hurting itself. This is where the 'mother pulls car off of child' stories come from, emergency adrenaline overriding the safety limits of the body and expressing all possible strength. (usually leaving the person quite injured in the process)

Also, like any skill, you learn best when fresh. The first lift of a workout is literally the most useful, with diminishing returns for every following lift, because you are your most fresh and able to express strength without limitation. Ideally to gain the most strength, you would lift in small rep sets all day long.

You can actually do this in a way. Set a trigger, either a timer or a situation, and do your target exercise whenever you hit the trigger. I do single-legged squats and pushups every hour at work, my phone always running a timer. You could set a situational trigger like in the link, where every time you go to the kitchen you do a pushup. Either way, you end up doing a TON of very useful reps every day without getting all sweaty or needing to go to the gym.

Again, I have done a LOT of working out, and I have never gained strength faster with any other method.

I don't see how this would do much for muscular endurance. Military exercises and drills tend to focus a whole lot around muscular endurance with only some emphasis on muscular strength.

If you read the article, you would know that the specific example was increasing muscular endurance for pullups.

Plus, Pavel persuaded his 60-year-old father-in-law, Roger Antonson, to do chins every time he went down into his basement; each day he would do between 25 and 100 chin-ups. After a few months of such training (and a few days of rest), Roger knocked off 20 chins, more than he had been able to do 40 years earlier in the Marine Corps. That did it. I decided to test Pavel’s formula: Specificity + frequent practice = success.

Also, Maximal Strength leads to increased endurance as well. The lower % of maximal you lift, the less it takes out of you, and the less constricted the muscle gets, allowing more consistent blood flow for oxygen delivery and lactic acid removal.

rduhlir

If you can get access to the assisted pull-ups do those. They work great.

Good luck in boot camp! Oh, and welcome to the military.

JoRocka

If you can get access to the assisted pull-ups do those. They work great.

Good luck in boot camp! Oh, and welcome to the military.

on the effectiveness scale of training pull ups - they are completely at the bottom and **almost** useless.

They are the last thing I recommend to people to use.

Alanhalil

MFP,

I recently began the enlistment process for the USMC. However before I can go to MEPS I have to demonstrate that I can perform two pull ups and ten push ups. Right now I'm at no pull ups and just shy of eight full good form push ups.

My question is:

What is the fastest, most effective means of gaining the upper body strength necessary to do these exercises with limited access to equipment? I have an over the door pull up bar at home and access to a few machines at work but that's about it.

Thank you for your help,

S,

I don't want to sound harsh but you're going to be in for a pretty nasty reality check if you're currently struggling to meet the entry requirement. You need to re-assess your goals or seriously work your nuts off working on your push ups every single day.