At the Arnold Classic Bodybuilding & Fitness Expo there are several strength challenges going on all weekend long… From push up and pull up contests, bench your body weight for reps contests, various grip strength challenges, and even one booth had a mini football combine test set up.
Now normally I like to jump in and give some of these strength challenges a go for shits and giggles. However, this time around I decided to pass on these events because I’m still recovering from a recently torn bicep injury.
One thing that always impresses me when watching these strength challenges is the level of raw strength that some of these guys have. After all the Arnold attracts muscle building and fitness enthusiasts from all over the world so you are bound to find some really strong dudes!
And one guy who really impressed me this time around was one my good friends, Rob King. We both train at the same gym together here in Newfoundland, Canada.
Now I knew Rob had kicked his training into high gear since the new year. He was training like a madman in the gym and his diet is dialed in dam near perfect. But I was still blown away by how strong he is when it came to bodyweight exercises.
I actually caught a quick video clip of him below repping out 16 good pull ups wearing a 50 pound weighted vest. Now for most people simply doing 16 pull ups with bodyweight would be considered an impressive feat of strength, let alone having an extra 50 pounds strapped to your body!
The thing that impresses me the most about Rob kicking ass in the pull up challenge is that he’s not a young buck anymore. He’s 37 years old and he’s had his fair share of training injuries (including tearing both biceps) but he keeps coming back stronger than ever. The guy is persistent and I respect that!
He’s got me all fired up to get back into some serious hardcore training again as soon as my bicep injury heals up.
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23 Comments
Akira
Awesome!
so I live in Hokkaido, Japan, and my gym closed down because of the earthqauke and the power shortage its causing. But I have a pullup bar at home, will hopefully increase my pullups over the 2 months that my gyms closed!
Oliver
I would like to see more impressive feats of strength, like double+ bodyweight chins for reps, and no kipping please! Unless your vids are only to inspire beginners?
TinyTim
I agree with Lee about pullups they are an awesome exercise that everyone should do. Most people I see at the gym doing pullups don’t do a full a range of motion but only do partial reps. Rob King and Lee are good examples of how to correctly perform a pullup.
leehayward
Just by doing bodyweight exercises like pull ups, push ups, squats, lunges, etc. you can get in killer shape. If you add a set of resistance bands like the http://www.BodyLasticBands.com you can get a full workout at home.
leehayward
Heck, I’d like to see that too…
I’ll tell you what Oliver, just send me a video of yourself doing double bodyweight pull ups and I’ll post it up… 😉
leehayward
Thanks Tim,
I have to say Rob really impressed me with these pull ups (hence the video and the blog post). There are not many guys who can bang out 16 good pull ups, let alone 16 good pull ups with an extra 50 pounds strapped to their body!
Gary G Abrams
WOW! This is real kick-butt stuff! I can only do 2 reps – no weights – properly. And he is only 2 years younger! AIKHONA! I need to get working hard. But I like what you said: Rob is PERSISTANT! Bring it on man! Thanks for sharing this, now I am real inspired to go MASSIVE all the way!
Gary G Abrams
Oh, i forgot this piece: …because I can!
Oliver
leehayward,
Hehe, I can’t do them yet, but I’m getting close. Heck, if I could do them I would want triple bodyweight vids. I find to achieve a goal you need to aim much higher than the actual target and for something to be inspirational it has to be a whole level above your goal. I am already close to one handed chins, a normal chin is my warm up. That’s why I ask who the target audience is, beginners, or everyone. My strength is only average for someone that’s been training for 5+ years. There’s a guy on bodybuilding.com that can do them, his username is 225pullup or something similar. What will I get if I post a vid doing them? Any freebies? 🙂
Oliver
37 isn’t old! How dare you! haha. Maybe 50’s is getting on a bit. 🙂 You gotta be in your 30’s Lee now, no? lol 😉
Dan
hey lee hows your injury going? i have problems myself i got my sciatic pinched nerve pain that is causing me to take a break for a while? this pains really f**in sucks! any recommendation on what exercises i can do?
William
Very impressive video!
Hey Lee, remember long time ago you had posted some exercise guidelines such as Squat with 1.5times bodyweight for 12reps etc., could you give us some guildline as target of achivements in pull ups? such as, how many reps we should be looking to excel with a weighted chin up? I currently can bang out 12 reps with added 15lbs to my bodyweight (165lbs).
Thanks.
Bali
Lee would you recommend stopping a bit earlier in the set and not go full out like Rob in the video? I know once in a while its ok but when training consistently its not advisable to grind out those slow and strenuous reps right?
Jeremy
Lee how often do you add weighted pullups to your training?
I usually do pullups and chinups on back and biceps days, but was wondering how often to add weight?
Oliver
Jeremy,
Add weight like you do with any other exercise. Get up to a certain number of reps, then you add weight to your bodyweight (assuming you are doing these already unassisted for several reps, like more than 10).
Oliver
William,
Your bench is equivalent to your chin/pull, and your bench should be 1/2-2/3 your squat. 1.5times bodyweight squat is like 2.5times with your body’s weight added. 2/3 to 1/2 times 2.5BW= approx 1.5BW to 1.25BW for chin/pull. Minus your bodyweight and that means 0.5 to 0.25BW added to your normal chin/pull for 12reps.
leehayward
I do target my training programs, etc. towards beginner / intermediate level lifters because those are the ones who follow my website. You are not going to find pro bodybuilders like Jay Cutler coming to LeeHayward.com looking for workout advice 😉
leehayward
My torn bicep is coming along good, I’m seeing improvements every week.
When doing active recovery workouts you simply have to listen to your body, work within your pain threshold, and do your best to work around the injury. It’s generally best to do light workouts for your injured body part than not doing any training at all.
leehayward
If you can work up to doing 20+ pull ups with your bodyweight that would be at the advanced level.
There were several pull up challenges set up at the Arnold Expo this year and for the most part the best numbers were all around the 25 rep range. Now I’m not saying these are world records or anything, but they are certainly quite advanced compared to the average Joe.
leehayward
For training purposes you can stop short of failure. But this video wasn’t a workout, it was a test to see how many reps you can do.
leehayward
Do pull ups just like any other exercise. So you would adjust the weight according to how many reps you want to perform. Let’s say you wanted to do sets of 10 reps and you can bang out 10 pull ups with bodyweight easily, then in this case you would add weight in order to make it challenging to perform 10 reps.
Steven Proto
I hope to attend in 2012. Current pull-up stats
Max bw reps: 34
Max Reps with +45 lbs: 22
Max reps with +100 lbs: 12
Max reps with +150 lbs: 5
Max reps with +180 lbs: 2
Max reps with + 402 lbs: 1
100 pull-ups: 8:25
http://www.youtube.com/extremistpullup
Steven Proto
Steven Proto,
Max reps with + 202 lbs: 1
not 404 lol it was 404 lbs total.