Josh Hillis' Fat Loss and Fitness

What is a "kipping" pullup?

Kipping pullups are to strict weighted pullups.

What box jumps are to barbell squats.

They're a completely different exercise.

If I have a day where I do barbell front squats, straight legged deadlifts, weighted dips and weighted pullups, that would be a strength day.

If I had a day where I was doing box jumps, clapping pushups, kipping pullups, and kettlebell swings - all in sets of 30, in circuits - you could call that a strength endurance day. Or "cardio".

Kipping Pullups and 300

Kipping pullups have been most recently made famous by Gym Jones, training the actors for the movie 300.  The legendary "300 workout" is bracketed by two sets of 'em - 25 kipping pullups start the workout and 25 kipping pullups finish it. 

Kipping pullups were one of the uncommon exercises that the 300 workout introduced people to.  The other two exercises most people had never seen before were floor wipers and kettlebell clean and presses.

The 300 workout is a good context for the kind of workout that would use kipping pullups - a brutal full body circuit workout.

Kipping Pullups - How To Do 'Em:

A kipping pullup, done correctly, is more than just kicking your feet wildly and flopping around on your way up to the pullup bar.  A correctly done kipping pullup is fluid and powerful. 

While a kipping pullup is easier on your direct pulling muscles, it's much harder on your grip and it's much more cardiovascular.  It's a full body movement where you generate power at your hips - a similar use of the legs and hips to a kettlebell swing or a barbell snatch - just the opposite direction.

A kipping pullup is a pullup with a variation on the gymnastics kip.

The pullup kip differs greatly from the gymnastics kip in that the pullup kip you lead with your shoulders as much as your hips, while you throw your feet behind you.  The gymnastics kip leads with the hips and feet.  Both have a piking motion where you throw your feet up and forward while snapping your hips back.

The bigggest mistake that most people make in the pullup kip is letting their legs swing forward with their hips.  WHEN YOUR HIPS ARE FORWARD, YOUR FEET MUST BE BACK.  Likewise, if your feet are forward, your hips must be back.  This is the single biggest mistake people make when they are first learning the kip - they let their whole body - shoulders, hips, legs, arms - swing forward at the same time.

One way to think about it is that your hips and shoulders are always on the opposite side of the pullup bar from your feet.  Your body should either be forward in like a half moon shape (feet and hands back), or your body should be in a half moon shape the other way - shoulder and hips back (feet and hands forward).  I recommend spending a fair amount of time with your feet on a box and your hands on a pullup bar (like Eva's video below) just pushing your body back and forth and keeping your hands and feet in exactly the same place.  It's how you will get a feeling for the movement.  Every time you let something slip, come back to that drill.

All of these links come from CrossFit.  CrossFit is an organization that, more than anyone else I can think of, truly championed the oft maligned kipping pullup.  The first two links are absolutely essential for anyone interesting in doing kipping pullups with any amount of style, flow, and grace.

Eva T. Teaches Kipping
This link is a MUST if you want to learn the kipping pullup.

CrossFit's Greg Glassman discusses Kipping Pullup Concepts

CrossFit London Pullup Article

The CrossFit Community Discusses Kipping at length

More Functional Movement -

Kettlebell Training:

Advanced Bodyweight Training:

Weight Training and Cross Training for Runners: Myth vs. Fact

Most runners who lift weights do it wrong.  If you do it right, lifting will make you faster, stronger, more balanced, and more resistant to injury.

Most runners I've met do routines that are totally derivative of bodybuilding, and they do it with super light weights – for “endurance”.  Even worse, most runners I've met “don't lift legs” because they “get enough work on their legs running”.  It's not their fault, it's just that in the fitness world most “common knowledge” is exactly the opposite of what actually works.

Myth #1: If I run, I've got my legs taken care of.

The truth is that if all you do is run, at some point you are bound to develop running specific muscle imbalances.  I've trained four marathon runners and a half marathon runner who all had hurting knees because running specific muscle imbalances were pulling their knee caps off to the side.  Do your knees hurt?  We can fix that.

What to Do:

A good balance of squats, lunges, one legged squats, and deadlifts will give your legs a great balance of strength. 

If you compete as a runner, you'd do well to mix it up with all of these movements in the off season, up to three times per week.  For any sport, the off season is the time to do some lifting contrary to your normal training, to balance out muscle imbalances, and to give your body a rest from your normal training.  During the competitive season you could back off to once a week, and stop weight training completely during the championship stretch and the end of your taper.

If you don't compete, you could lift a couple times per week year round.  Or you could have a virtual season where you run more, and an off season where you cross train and lift more, and run less.  The human body responds really well to cycling of intensity and adaptation, and you can find that doing these “virtual seasons” in your training will not only make you a better runner, but it helps to keep training fun and interesting.

Myth #2: I know how to lift weights – 3 sets of 10, curls, tricep kickbacks, leg press, ect.

Step away from the mirror!  Watching yourself do bicep curls and isolating that bicep will do you no good.  Many of the standard gym exercises like curls and tricep kickbacks do a very little  for sports performance.  Anything done on a machine is totally worthless for a runner, unless it's for rehab purposes.  Don't even get me started on the leg press machine.

What to Do:

First, do just about everything with free weights.  Second, focus on movements, not muscles.  The whole idea of “working my bicepts” is a bodybuilding idea, that has nothing to do with running.  Athletics has to do with working in coordinated movements, which is the opposite of isolating muscles.

You want to look at the six basic human movement patterns, and base your weight training around them.  The movements are:

1.)Squat (squats, lunges, deadlifts, jumps, kettlebell Swings)
2.)Push (pushups, bench press, dips)
3.)Pull (pullups, rows, rope climbs)
4.)Twist (cable rotations, full contact twists, hitting a heavy bag)
5.)Bend (deadlift, back extension, ball slam, hitting a tire with a sledge hammer, kettlebell Swings)
6.)Run (you've got this one covered)

Find a powerlifter or Olympic Weightlifter to teach you how to squat correctly, and then say “no” to the leg press machine forever.

Myth #3: Weight Training Will Make Me Big And Bulky

Not with all the running you are doing.  Distance running is extremely catabolic, meaning it breaks down muscle.  You aren't going to put on any extra bulk if you're doing much running at all.  In fact if running over 30 miles per week, it's probably impossible to add any bulk.

And then there is the other side.  What if you are a marathon runner and you want to add some muscle, what do you do?  Well, for starters, stop running marathons.  Cut down on your distance, and start doing more sprinting.  Ever see a 200 meter runner or a 400 meter runner?  What is the difference between a sprinter's body and a marathon runner's body?  About 20lbs of muscle. 

What to Do:

If you want the best of both worlds, train on a four day cycle: 1.) Distance Run, 2.) Speed Work at the Track, 3.) Weight Training, 4.) Rest.  Rinse and repeat.  You can be the rare runner with endurance, speed, and muscle.

Myth #4: Weight Training Won't Help My Running

Weight training, when done right, can not only make you faster, it can also be great cross training for endurance.  And you've probably guessed by now that my routine for endurance does not consist of bicep curls for 30 reps.

One of the best ways to do weight training in a way that will add speed and endurance to a runner is to do workouts “for time”.  What I mean is to have a certain amount of work to do, and then set a stopwatch to time how long it takes to complete it, like a race.  The alternate version is to have a set time limit, and to see how many times you can complete a circuit in that time limit.

Example:
how many rounds can you complete in 25 minutes, of :
250 Meter Row
10 Burpees
5 Split Squats each leg
50 yard bear crawl

You'll notice when you do this workout that not only are your muscles getting a workout, but that it's extremely cardiovascular.  Being a runner, you'll actually be shocked how cardiovascular this workout is.  The majority of people working out can't do 4 rounds in 25 minutes.

The cardiovascular nature of this workout will spill over into your running, making this every bit as good an option for crosstraining as swimming or biking is.  The push/pull/squat action will do an amazing job of balancing out your running specific muscle imbalances (squats) and the runner's natural upper body weakness (with the pushups in the burpees and pulling action in the rowing).   Prepare to look hotter, feel stronger running, and sprint faster.

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES)
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor (RKC) and Combat Applications Specialist (RKC/CAS)
www.joshsgaragedenver.com

© Joshua Hillis 2006

My Arm Routine Has Stalled, What Do I Do?

The body likes to grow in proportion to itself. What lots of people neglect is that it's really helpful to put on size all over your body to get some size in your arms.

And in that way, a heavy cycle of squats, bench presses, and rows would help someone who's arm specialization routine had stalled.

My personal preference for someone working arms is pullups and dips.  Look at gymnasts, gymnasts have some major guns.  Take a bodybuilder away from the skull crushers and curls, give him some gymnastics rings and tell him to do weighted pullups and dips on the rings and magical stuff starts happening.  Every four to six weeks of your normal bicep and tricep work, do a couple weeks of ring work.  Over time you may even work up to a muscle up.

Most people "working arms" have been doing the same damn thing for way too long. Really what they really need is to change things up. In fact if they drastically changed things for at least couple weeks, they could come back to their old routine and find it fresh again.

My quick and dirty ultimate fix would be to alternate, every six weeks, between the 20 Rep Squat Routine (google it) and Charlies Staley's Escalating Density Training (google EDT or "The Ultimate Guide to Massive Arms"). On top of that, eat a cow and drink a gallon of milk every day, and you'll be set.

By Josh Hillis
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Combat Applications Specialist
CrossFit Level II Trainer
and
currently studying National Academy of Sports Medicine Sports Fitness Specialist
www.joshsgaragedenver.com

Do Machines Really Suck?

Machines don't suck, they're just training wheels. 

Lots of people need the training wheels when they first get to the gym.  And I'm all about anything that gets people in to the gym.  But once you get into the gym and get used to it, it's time to start move on.

If you've been lifting using only machines for over six weeks, aren't you bored yet?  Imagine if you never took the training wheels off your bike, how fun would it be?  You could never go mountain biking.  You could never go very fast.  You could never go off any sweet jumps. 

Don't be afraid of slightly more complicated movements in free space, like squats and lunges.  Eventually you can move into basic gymnastics type movements, explosive lifts, all kinds of fun stuff.  It has more carry over to real life, and it's way more interesting.

Sometimes people who are totally new to the gym are afraid of the free weight movements.  In that case, get a good trainer and learn how to do it right.  Invest in educating your body.

By Josh Hillis
Author of The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body From Good to Rockstar
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Combat Applications Specialist
CrossFit Level II Trainer
and
currently studying National Academy of Sports Medicine Sports Fitness Specialist
www.joshsgaragedenver.com

The Best Exercise for Abs

People always ask me, "what is the best exercise for my abs?"

There is only one exercise for your abs that will make a difference - eat smart.  Most people have so much fat covering their abs that no amount of crunches will make any difference for your abs at all. 

You can't spot reduce fat.  You reduce the fat all over your body  by eating right, or you don't lose any fat at all.  Crunches do not do anything about the fat around your midsection.  You want proof?  Look at all the people on the crunch machines at your gym. 

Losing fat is 70% eating smart, and 30% working out smart.  Do the math on that.  If you want abs, 70% of it is going to be eating right.  I don't care if you can do hanging leg raises with an elephant strapped to your ankles - If your food plan sucks, you'll never see your superhuman abs underneath that layer of fat.

Eat smart - This is the best exercise for your abs.

By Josh Hillis

author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.

National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES)

Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor (RKC) and Combat Applications Specialist (RKC/CAS)