"straight-arm pulls to inverted hang"

Hi,

as you must probably know, I am pretty new at this. How do you do this one? "straight-arm pulls to inverted hang". Also, I work out at my local YMCA, which does not have rings, parallel bars, or rowers, and to top it all off, I do not have access to a gymnastics gym. Would it be possible for you to give us alternatives for exercises done using rings, rowers, or parallel bars? Thanks!

Hang from a pull-up bar and pull to an inverted hang (where you've rotated 180 degrees from standing and are now upside down and straight). Only the shoulder joint moves. Nothing else bends. In the early going you'll have to flex at the hip and elbow a bit to cheat.

Coach

Chad and I modified this WOD. Wimped out on the number of snatches, I admit it.

Run 400 meters
25 one-arm snatches alternating arms x 55 lbs
25 pull-ups
25 dumbbell swings x 55 lbs
15 pull-ups
20 one-arm dumbbell presses x 55 lbs
10 pull-ups
Run 400 meters

Time = 21:09. One-arm dummbell snatches ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are there any good preparatory exercises to prepare for the inverted hang? I'm not sure I can pull that off just yet. How about hanging tucks or pikes?

Pull with bent arms and bent hip and, if needed, bent legs. Minimize the bending as much as possible, i.e., keep you body as long as you can.

Thank you, sir.

21:55 - 36# kb

Yesterday's WOD left me with incredibly sore hams, glutes, lower back and abs. Even sitting hurts. I decided the 53# bell for swings (72# for swings-not a chance!) might be asking for trouble. I misjudged what I should have used; the 36# swings were too easy. I did them single handed, switching in the middle of a set. All were above the head.

The runs were interesting. I could feel just how sore my glutes were with every stride.

The inverted hangs were the hardest. I did manage several pulls that were solid and straight at the beginning of the rounds, but most were of the straight arm, bent leg variety. The more fatigued I became, the greater the leg bend.

I'll be adding sore tris and lats to my "whine" list a little later today.

I still don't understand how to do the straifght pulls, I wish I had a picture or video to go on. Sorry being neww still sucks at times! Could anyone break it down in preschool terms?

Finally getting back into the crossfit game after a bout of sickness! Alright!

Modified the WOD. Replaced swings with pullups, lowered #'s.

10 pullups
jumprope
10 pullups
jumprope
8 pullups
jumprope
8 pullups
jumprope
6 pullups
jumprope
6 pullups
jumrope
4 pullups
jumprope
4 pullups
jumprope

Oh god.. I was so tired after that one ^_^; My biceps got tired quick.

-Kevin Roddy

OK, I'll take a stab at breaking down the "straight-arm pull to inverted hang".

A) Start hanging from a bar, at full extension (down). Curl yourself up (bending at the hips and knees) so that you're in a "ball" with your knees at your nose. (You're still hanging below the bar.) Now, push the toes upward, toward the ceiling . . . keep extending . . . the toes rise, your knees and hips straighten out, and your head drops lower. (You're upside-down by now.) Your arms stay straight, with your weight hanging by them below the bar at all times. Ultimately, you arrive at a point where you are like an arrow pointed straight down with your head, toes to the ceiling (sky?), body straight. Note: this is not a good moment to lose your grip.

Got that? Good. Move on to the next step

B) Same as before, starting from the regular hang position below the bar . . . except that this time, you don't get to bend the knees . . . you bend at the hips only, raising your toes to your nose in a pike position (knees straight!). When you get your toes up near your face (knees straight!), you can drop your head back, and again begin extending your toes to the ceiling. You should find yourself "dropping through" much more quickly this time (be careful not to move so quickly that you jerk your grip loose). You end up in the same place as before, hanging straight upside down, with your arms straight (below the bar), head down, toes to the sky, body straight.

Got that? Good. So much for the easy part . . .

C) Now we begin the fun stuff. Start below the bar again, but this time you try to bend at the hips (i.e., pike) *as little as possible* while lifting your toes up. Your upper body and head will have to start dropping back much sooner, but try to keep your head in line with the upper body (don't let it drop back independently). You want to keep your whole body as straight as possible while this is happening. You must (should) keep the knees absolultely locked, and bend (pike) at the hips just a *little bit* (to improve your leverage). You will probably also find yourself bending at the elbows a little bit as well. Technically, this is cheating (bad form), but will probably be necessary on your first few (dozen) attempts . . . I certainly still have to do it with bent elbows.

D) In the ideal, all parts of your body (arms, legs, knees, hips) remain completely straight as you lever your way from below the bar to inverted hanging (still below the bar). Only the shoulder joints move.

david , thank you very much. that definitely explains it. it seems extremely hard. i have found my abs so sore from all of this that any ab work kills. i ended up substituting pullups today. i will give those a try maybe tomorrow. thanks again for the thorough explanation, just have to find somewhere with enough ceiling height.

Man, I seemed to have entered a time warp on this one .. . it took me 32 minutes, and I have no idea why. Seemed to me I was working at a nice, steady, breathing-hard-but-not-seeing-Pukie pace all the way, and when I looked up before the last run, 30 minutes were gone. I hope I misread the clock . . . (My runs were more like 300m than 200, because of the setup, but still . . .)

Did the pull-to-inverted-hang on a rope, rather than a straight bar. Interesting variation . . . probably had worse form (more pike), but it didn't feel any harder.

Did some double-ups and a set of Tabata squat thrusts to make up for the lousy time . . .

David,
FAQ-fodder for sure-thanks!

The straight arm pulls to inverted hang were, by far, the hardest part of this WOD. I wasn't even doing them totally legit either. Because of cieling limitations and a bend in my hips it probably looked more like a knees to bar than an inverted hang. Even with this modification I had to break the sets up. Used a 74# dumbbell for the swings. I like how the two resistance moves work the shoulders, arms and core in the same motion but with resistance in the opposite direction (i.e. with the swings pulling the weight up and over your body, the pulls your pulling your body up and (almost) over an object. In both cases the arms (hopefully) are relatively straight). Can't give a time becuase I forgot to start my timer (about 8-9 songs passed on my CD player since warm up so maybe it was 24-30 minutes or so.)

Did this late last night, so posted today:
I decided to practice Handstand Pushups and Handstand Holds against the wall, free-standing, and on paralletes.

To do the inverted hang--is it necessary to be able to do the muscle up first? It sounds like a muscle up with abs.

David, great description. Unfortunately I'm a visual learner. Anyone out there know where I can find a video of someone performing the straight-arm pull to an inverted hang?

Q:

Thank goodness it's not as bad as THAT! No, you don't need to be able to do a muscle-up (I can't).

A muscle-up brings you to a straight-arm support on the rings *above* your hands (and therefore also above the rings).

A pull to inverted hang leaves your upper body below the rings at all times, so it's markedly easier. It *is* a substantial workout for just about everything but your hip extensors, however . . . abs (certainly, you got that right), lats, biceps, grip, hip flexors (in isometric tension) all get worked.

31:28
So much for catching Kelly! The pulls to hang (pull to hangs?) were tough to do fast; I could get about 3 before my form was unacceptable. I was piking at the hips a bit even for the best reps but managed straight arms and legs.

Used 35 lb kb; could have handled more if my back wasn't all fired up.

Completed workout using a 72 lb. Kettlebell. Forgot my watch. Best guess about 25 minutes. Many of the pull to hangs were sloppy. If my hips hit the bar I counted it.