Griff
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards
Run 800 meters
Run 400 meters backwards

Beginning today we are instating a strict-only pull-up policy for the next 4 weeks. We’ve learned in the past that a month of dedication to any one movement or one aspect of fitness (Remember January Mobility Month?) provides real tangible results. We also know that by dialing back the intensity we can focus more on quality wether it be for an entire workout or in this case a specific movement.
So, what’s the idea? By performing only strict pull-ups it forces us to focus on building strength through the entire pulling range where as kipping can allow us to bypass the strength needed at the bottom of the pull-up and the top. For instance, how many of you can do several kipping pull-ups but struggle to do even 1 strict?
Eliminating the kip also gives us time to focus on stronger, safer, and more efficient pulling positions. We do scapula pull-ups a lot in warmup because that is what we consider to be a safe and strong position to pull from, yet once we switch to kipping we’re often focusing on other aspects that then cause us to lose our engaged shoulder positioning. In addition to keeping our scapula’s engaged, slowing down the overall movement will also allow us to focus on keeping tension in the rest of our body, another aspect that is left in the dust once kipping begins.
If you came yesterday you did a 3 rep weighted strict pull-up followed by 1 max set of kipping pull-ups. We’ll be repeating this workout at the end of the 4 weeks to assess how things progressed. Workouts will continue to be programmed off a 2 week delay with HQ and as usual scaling options will be offered to keep overall intensity high. Benchmark workouts will be the only exception to the strict rule to keep consistent with tracking progress. We look forward to seeing the results!
Checkout this CrossFit Journal article by Greg Glassman back in 2003 on the pull-up. Post questions or thoughts to comments!

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