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SPB looks at new research on how upper body strength training with pull ups can be made better with instability!
As has been stated in numerous SPB articles over the past decade or so, the benefits of strength training cannot be overestimated. Most of you reading this will already know that adding strength training to a training program can dramatically improve levels of muscular power and strength, which provides a clear advantage for athletes whose sports require these qualities – for example, sprinters field sports athletes, and athletes whose sports requiring good levels of acceleration and jumping ability(1).
However, fewer sportsmen and women are aware that it’s not just strength and power athletes that can benefit from strength training; studies on a range of endurance athletes including runners and cyclists have clearly demonstrated that the use of lower-body, heavy-weight strength training can improve muscle economy(2). This basically means that the leg muscles become more efficient, thereby requiring less energy and oxygen to produce a certain amount of force, which in turn equates to less fatigue for a given running or cycling pace. Another benefit of strength training is increased muscle and tendon resilience, and a reduced risk of injury(3). Given the potentially disastrous impact of injury on performance, this upside cannot be overstated.
As we mentioned above, the benefits of strength training are well documented, supported by a large body of peer-reviewed evidence in the scientific literature. However, it is fair to say that when it comes to athletic performance, much of this prior research has been based on lower body strength training. This is understandable; the majority of sports entail running as a key element of performance, and even those that don’t such as cycling, rowing, XC skiing etc still involve the large and powerful muscles of the lower limbs to generate the bulk of propulsive force. It follows therefore that interventions to assess strength training strategies have typically involved strength training studies where the lower limbs are trained – most commonly using lunges or the squat exercise (see this article).
Of course, not all athletes rely primarily on lower-body strength or endurance for performance. In sports such as climbing, upper body strength is a major performance factor, while in freestyle swimming, the main driving force for propulsion through the water comes from the largest and most powerful muscles of the upper body – the latissimus dorsi muscles of the back(4). For athletes such as swimmers therefore, rather than incorporating lower-body strength exercises such as squat or lunges, upper body strength training targeting the latissimus muscles of the back is more appropriate.
One excellent exercise that targets these muscles is the simple ‘pull up’, which is known to help swimming performance, especially when performed in the prone position (ie palms facing away from the body)(5). In a study on competitive swimmers published last year, researchers investigated the effect of incorporating prone pull ups into a strength routine(6). Eight swimmers participated in this 7-week program during which they continued with their normal swimming and weight training routine but also added in additional twice-weekly pull up training. Before the intervention and again at the end of the 7-week study, the swimmers’ levels of strength and 15-metre/50-metre freestyle swimming performances were assessed. At the end of the seven weeks of pull up training, all the swimmers experienced significant gains in both 15-metre and 50-metre performances, resulting in faster times in the pool (see figure 1). And lest you assume that training the lats with pull ups only benefits shorter anaerobic-type events, research has also identified that there is a strong correlation between pull-ups and swimming performance, particularly in events longer than 400 meters – ie primarily endurance-type events(7).
As you can see from the study above, the pull up exercise is an important one for swimmers, but it is also recognized as a key performance parameter for upper body strength generally. In fact, the ability to perform pull‐ups has been shown to significantly correlate with the completion of a number of tasks such as climbing, pushing, pulling, lifting, and chopping(8). This ability (to perform pull ups) is also known to be very important for certain occupational settings such as law enforcement, military, and fire-fighting(9). More generally, the pull‐up test has been accepted as a key physical fitness test parameter by a number of sports organizations and military training authorities(10,11).
The pull‐up is a challenging exercise because it demands not only high levels of muscle strength to lift your own body weight, but also requires the motor skills involved in multi‐joint coordination(12). Because of the motor-skill element of this exercise, some researchers have wondered if it’s possible to manipulate the pull up exercise, executing it a way that further boosts the muscle contraction efficiency by altering the motor input, thereby making it even more effective. One way of achieving this might be by incorporating instability into the movement.
Instability resistance training employs unstable conditions to enhance exercise performance. This approach often involves performing exercises on unstable surfaces such as balls(13) and wobble boards(14) or using unstable devices and dynamic loads such as elastic bands(15). The theory behind instability resistance training is that it can provide a more intense stimulus for the neuromuscular system and ensure a higher level of muscle activation, but with less force or loading on the joints under moderate instability(16).
Some research suggests that instability resistance training can bring superior training gains compared to traditional resistance training in both strength and endurance performance(17,18). However, there is a potential downside to instability training because in certain circumstances (particularly when there is a large amount of instability) the muscles may transition from a mobilizing to a stabilizing function - by establishing active muscular constraints to minimize the degrees of freedom in joints, which in turn can lead to a loss in force, power, velocity, and range of motion(19). A good question to ask at this point is could introducing some instability into the pull up exercise produce better results than performing conventional pull ups? Until now, no research has ever been carried out in this area, but brand new research from a team of Chinese researchers has tried to provide answers.
Published in the European Journal of Sport Science, this study explored the effects of an 8-week lat pull-down resistance training program with joint instability on pull-up performance in male college students(20). The researchers chose the lat pull down exercise rather than the pull up (chins) exercise because the muscle recruitment patterns are very similar, but also because performing sets of chins is quite difficult; using chins would have not only limited the number of available participants in any study, but would also have introduced a lot of variation in technique because of the skill element.
Thirty four recreationally active and healthy males were recruited for the study. All the participants had been engaging in moderate‐intensity physical activity 2–3 times a week for at least 6 months, were injury free and were also capable of performing at least one pull up (chin). Following a period of familiarization to ensure an excellent lat pull down technique, the participants were split into one of two groups:
· Eight weeks of traditional lat pull training
· Eight weeks of lat pull training using a modified set up to introduce instability
The two groups undertook a regimen of lat pull‐down exercises three times weekly over an 8‐week duration, comprising four sets per session with 12 x repetitions per set. The traditional group participants performed exercises on lat pull‐down strength trainer (Dr. Iron Fitness Equipment Company, China), whereas in the instability pull down group, a modified setup was used where two elastic belts were fixed to the ends of the bar, which induced an unstable load (see figure 2). Participants in the instability group grasped the elastic belts positioned 10cms below the bar, dropping the seat height by an equivalent amount to compensate. To produce proper movement instability, three capacities of elastic belts were used to match the different workloads – one for 0–30kgs, one for 30–50kgs and one for 50–70 kgs. Importantly, all participants undertook both stable and unstable lat pull‐down practice until they had developed excellent exercise technique.
At the beginning and the end of the 8-week period, a number of tests were carried out to assess 1-rep max for the lat pull down, the maximum force developed during a lat pull down, and the maximum number of full chins that could be completed in an endurance test. In addition, muscle electrical activity of the biceps, triceps, forearm, frontal and rear shoulder, pectorals (of the chest) and of course the latissimus dorsi muscles was recorded during the pull‐up endurance test. This was to see how muscle activity changed with the type of pull down performed and if/how if affected performance in the pull up (chin) test.
When the before and after measurements were compared for both groups, it was clear that both the traditional and unstable lat pull down training programs significantly improved the maximum force generated during the pull down movement, with no significant difference between the programs. In addition, in the pull up (chins) endurance test, both training programs produced significant gains. However, the really important finding was that eight weeks of training using instability pull downs produced a very significant pull up endurance gain compared to traditional pull downs; compared to traditional training, instability pull down training resulted in a 45.5% more reps completed in the pull up endurance test compared to the traditional group (see figure 3)! Another interesting finding was that after eight weeks of the instability pull down training, the activation of the agonist muscles during the pull up test (muscles that have the opposite action to those involved in the actual pull up movement – in this case triceps and shoulders) was reduced, whereas in the traditional group, these agonist muscles showed no change in activity over the 8-week intervention.
In their summary of the study, the researchers emphasized that it was first study to explore the effects of strength instability training investigating pull‐up performance. The key finding was when the lat pull‐down program was performed with the elastic belts to introduce instability, it resulted in superior in pull‐up endurance compared to traditional lat pull downs. Moreover, the researchers concluded that the extra gains seen when instability pull downs were performed was likely due to enhanced prime mover muscle efficiency. In short, the reduced activity of the agonist muscles (which don’t contribute to the execution of pull ups) meant that more neurological input was available for the prime movers (latissimus and biceps), enabling more pull ups to be completed.
How can you apply this information in your own training? Well, the first point to note is that for those athletes who would like to improve pull up performance but struggle to get more than three or four reps out in a set, the humble lat pull exercise – whether traditional or unstable - is a great way to make progress. In the traditional lat pull group, the best pull-up score pre-training was 5 reps, but this was increased to eight reps after the intervention. In the unstable lat pull group, the best scores rose from 5 to 12 reps! Regardless of which type you use, if the goal is to improve rowing or swimming performance, remember to use a prone grip (palms facing away).
The most appealing nugget of knowledge to come out of this study however is that by using unstable resistance, you can enhance your performance gains further. There are a number of ways to introduce instability to this exercise. You can use strong elastic belts attached to a bar as described above, which can also be coupled with a gymnastic ring attachment to enable you to attain a prone grip. Even using non-elastic straps attached to the bar will add instability If you have a pull up bar and are at a more advanced level, you can attach rings and straps to the bar and grip the rings during pull ups (hard!).
Moreover, there’s no reason to limit this instability approach to pull ups or pull downs. For example, performing squats or lunges on a ‘wobbly’ or vibrating surface will add instability. Likewise, you can perform chest press ups using small kettlebells instead of handles. The small footprint of the kettlebell will introduce a degree of wobble as you execute the movement, increasing the loading on the working muscles. It’s important to remember though that as with any new or altered movement pattern, you should focus on strict form, allowing yourself time to adjust and build up reps/resistance. Remember too not to introduce too much instability, which as mentioned above can lead to the muscles performing too much stabilization work and not enough mobilization of the prime movers!
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