CrossFit - Pull-Up Virtuosity: Part 2

CrossFit Journal (http://journal.crossfit.com).


CrossFit Santa Cruz's Laurie Galassi, a gymnast and the fifth-place finisher at the 2011 NorCal Regional, shares her coaching tips for mastering the pull-up. In Part 2 of the series, she focuses on timing—the moment of weightlessness, to be specific.

"When I snap from arch to hollow, in the back of my swing I find this little weightless moment only if I come to an aggressive stop," Galassi says. "If your rhythm is correct and if you're tight, there is a moment."

The feet should be in front, and you become weightless. From there, you can jump your hands off the bar.

"That's the moment when you're the lightest" and when you want to pull, she explains.

Galassi also advises to have as much of your knuckle on top of the bar to shorten the distance you have to pull.

To cycle through multiple pull-ups, remember: chin over, feet forward, reset, arch back, pull again, she says.

In terms of the butterfly pull-up, Galassi says the positions are no different than a kipping pull-up.

"It's still an arch, hollow—that's the foundation of your pull-up. And midline stability," she says.