You've probably never heard of Tactical Pullups before, most likely because I'm pretty sure I just made that shit up now. Before I explain what they are all about, I've gotta issue a disclaimer:
Yes, I’ve been writing about training your back for a while for a few reasons:
- It’s huge and needs to be well developed
- It looks awesome if you have a jacked back
- A strong back makes everything better
- I like training back
So there.
Anyway, a very good friend of mine, let’s call him the Dark Shark, barges into my office almost daily to either sit down and shoot the shit, or ask me a question about training.
The Shark is a SWAT guy and trains his ass off to be better prepared for his duties. And also to look sweet. Just yesterday he came in and asked me to write him a SWAT specific conditioning program because it will only take a few minutes. As if…..
Today he came in and asked what kind of Pullups he should do for more bicep activation.
Great question.
I gave him the answer he didn’t want but the right one.
All of them.
This brought me the idea for today:
Do Tactical Pullups
What the hell are Tactical Pullups?
Well, they are at least 32% more effective than regular pullups because the word TACTICAL is added to them. Makes perfect sense right?
Here is what I told him:
For the sake of the is article, let’s just call anything you do that requires you to lift your body over a bar a pullup. Palms up, palms down, whatever.
All pullups train your biceps. What grip you use dictates how much and when the bicep activates, and all arm muscles for the matter.
- Palms down will hit the forearm a little more.
- Close grip, palms down will hit a lot of forearm and bicep.
- Palms up will hit the bicep a little more.
- Close grip, neutral will hit a lot of bicep and forearm.
- Close grip, palms up will use a lot of bicep.
I can do this all day, I hope you get it.
This brought me to Tactical Pullups.
I told him to do all of them. And also to use mixed grips, one palm up/one palm down grip, fat grips, and any other variety he can make up.
On reps, I said do a low number and a very high number.
Go from dead hang full extension pullups to short range constant tension pullups.
Use body weight, band assisted, and weighted ones.
Why did I tell him this?
Easy answer: sets and reps depend on the goal of your current program. Choose accordingly.
Weighted or unweighted, the answer is the same. What are you trying to achieve?
The big one: use a wide variety of grips, sometimes in the same session and sometimes spread out over different days/weeks.
The last sentence is the essence of Tactical Pullups.
Think about things an Operator or SWAT guy might have to do. (PS, SWAT guy isn’t sexist, it’s a running joke I have with all of my SWAT friends-they aren’t regular guys, they are SWAT Guys.)
Operators might have to pull their body over an obstacle and will almost never be in the same position we are in at the gym. I’d argue that most of the time that the have to execute some type of Pullup it is from a less than ideal position and while wearing 30+ pounds of gear and carrying a Patrol Rifle.
Simply doing regular Pullups at the gym is not going to build the strength they need to succeed.
They have to pull from unusual positions with gripping surfaces that are much harder to hang onto than a Pullup bar-all while under stress and wearing gear.
While training in the gym does not need to be ultra-precise and specific, it does need to build the types of strength required by your activity. Operators have unique needs that state that all situations are unpredictable and you need to adapt.
Using Pullups as one example, if you only do one type, you are leaving yourself less that optimally prepared for the challenges you may face.
Enter Tactical Pullups.
Many years ago when I trained a members of a local SWAT unit, we did a ton of work in gear and in gym clothes. We also did a shit load of Pullups, Pushups and Dips all with unusual grips and hand positions. I did this with the Firefighters we trained for the Fire Fighter Combat Challenge. (Our guys won BTW)
Here is a sample of Tactical Pullup training (this is part of your regular training, not a standalone session)
It is assuming that you can do at least 10 pullups on your own.
NOTE: If you are an Operator and can’t do 10 pullups you better get fucking stronger.
Tactical Pullup Sample Workout
Week 1 Day 1:
Dead Hang Pullups Palms Down -40 total reps in as few sets as possible
Pullup Holds: 3 sets by as long as possible each set
Day 2:
Mixed Grip Pullups with weight-5 sets 5-8 reps
Assisted -Pullups Neutral Grip-3 sets of as many as possible each set
Below are three variations of Mixed Grip Pullups
Week 2 Day 1:
Dead Hang Pullups Palms Down -50 total reps in as few sets as possible
Pullup Holds: 4 sets by as long as possible each set
Day 2:
Mixed Grip Pullups with weight-5 sets 5-8 reps ADD WEIGHT
Assisted -Pullups Neutral Grip-3 sets of as many as possible each set USE LESS BAND*
*If you used a Light band last week, use two mini’s this week
Week 3 Day 1:
Odd Grip Pullups* 4 sets to grip failure/minimum 8 reps each set
If you can’t get more than 5 reps, use a band for assistance
*Use the top bar of the power rack, a towel, a rifle sling, Fat Grips, Grenade Balls or whatever.
TRX/Fat Guy Pullups 4 sets of 20-25 reps
Examples of Odd Grip Pullups Shown Below
Day 2:
Weighted Mixed Grip Pullups 5 sets x 8 reps
Week 4 Day 1:
Odd Grip Pullups* 5 sets to grip failure/minimum 8 reps each set
If you can’t get more than 5 reps, use a band for assistance
*Use the top bar of the power rack, a towel, a rifle sling, Fat Grips, Grenade Balls or whatever.
Tempo TRX/Fat Guy Pullups 8 count up/8 count down 3 sets of as many as possible
Day 2:
Weighted Neutral Grip Pullups 5 sets x 8 reps
There you have one month of Tactical Pullup training. I can think of many more varieties of pullups that can be done and with a little thought, you can too.
Use them all!
Hopefully this make Mr. Shark happy.
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
September 30, 2021
