Al Kavadlo - Raising the Bar: The Definitive Guide to Pull-up Bar Calisthenics

THE DEFINiTIVE GUIDE TO
PULL-UP BAR CALiSTHENICS

By
AL KAVADLO, CSCS

RAISING THE BAR

By
AL KAVADLO, CSCS

Copyright 2012, Al Kavadlo
A Dragon Door Publications, Inc production
All rights under International and Pan-American Copyright conventions.
Published in the United States by: Dragon Door Publications, Inc
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ISBN 10: 0-938045-92-X ISBN 13: 978-0-938045-92-2

This edition first published in May, 2012
Printed in China

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

Book design and cover by Derek Brigham www.dbrigham.com (763) 208-3069 bigd@dbrigham.com

Photography by Colleen Leung www.ColleenLeung.com
Cover photo: Colleen Leung Back cover photo: Tamar Kaye About the author photo: Darius Vick

Illustration on by William Gadol

Models: Christian Barnes, Christina Camerlingo, Kiki Flynn, Rodney Redd Harrison, Meng He, Rob Hollander, Keith Horan, Jennylynn Jankesh, Al Kavadlo, Danny Kavadlo, Colleen Leung, Kristin Leung, Chinyere Sam, Rick Seedman, Lord Vital, Synkwan Syn Yam. Additional models provided by Barstarzz ( www.Barstarzz.com ): Shaun Swiss Bryant, Eduard Checo, Jason Sick With It Fernandez, John Hendricks, Jose Vertical Jimenez, Juan Rosario.

Additional photos: Al Kavadlo, Danny Kavadlo, Tamar Kaye, Abdiel Munoz, Billy Lee Silva

DISCLAIMER: The author and publisher of this material are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury that may occur through following the instructions contained in this material. The activities, physical and otherwise, described herein for informational purposes only, may be too strenuous or dangerous for some people and the reader(s) should consult a physician before engaging in them.

A heavily muscled urban athlete lines up under the high bar and looks up at it grimly. Hes oblivious to his surroundings; the cars streaming past, the kids playing and shouting all around, the noise of the city. All he sees is that barhe knows its the key to the extra muscle and power he needs to build.

A lean, tattooed convict queues up in the yard to work out on the rusty pull-up unithe may only be able to use it twice this week, and hes got to get his workout done fast and efficiently if he wants to stay on top of his game.

An elite gymnast arrives at the gym for her early morning session. After a brief warm-up, she heads to her second homethe horizontal bars. The true training is about to begin.

Some icy rain begins to spit as a tough, grizzled marine hops up to grip the iron chinning bar left outside the barracks. Like endless generations of warriors and soldiers before him, hes mastering his bodyweight. Pull-ups, pull-ups, and more pull-ups for this wily vet.

What do all these fearsome athletes have in common? Theyre using that damn bar! And with pretty good reason, too: the simple horizontal bar is the most important piece of strength and conditioning equipment there isbar none. (Scuze the pun.) My mentor, Joe Hartigenone of the great unsung heroes of physical culturealways used to say that a horizontal bar was the only essential piece of training equipment. He believed that you could replace the barbell with floor calisthenics (one-arm push-ups, bridges, one-leg squats, etc.) but there was no way to replace the value of a horizontal bar. Youve just gotta work that bar!

Joe was right. Bar training is indispensable for strength athletes. Even if you are a hardcore lifter, you still need to train with a horizontal bar to unlock your maximum potential. Why? Physics. I learnt at least one fact back in schoolon earth, gravity only ever pulls things downwards. (I didnt stick around to find out why; something to do with apples, I think.) This means that when you lift weights, or perform floor calisthenics, you are only ever moving things up. Deadlifts, curls, push-ups, squats, cleansyoure lifting things up, right? As great as these exercises may be, if you are only ever lifting up, you are building your body in an asymmetrical way. You need to pull down as welland this requires a fixed bar.

The immortal Jasper Benincasa performs the CTI lever back in the 40s. Try it, and youll see why they call it the Close To Impossible!

Working with the fixed bar unleashes ferocious functional strength. A lot of coaches talk about functional strength, and give different definitions. For me, functional strength is the ability to move your own body through space. Other types of strength may be useful, but they all proceed from functional strength. This is the strength you need to escape an emergencyclimb a wall, ramp over a fence, etc. Bar athletics is the ultimate tester of functional strength. Its totally unforgiving. I know a lot of big, fat power-lifters who can pull huge amounts of iron in the gym. But can they do a muscle-up? A front lever? Five rollovers? No way!

Sadly, very few athletes devote enough time and energy to the bar. When they do, they see bar training as pull-ups. This is a damn shame. Just as an expert lifter can use a barbell to perform a wide number of exercises, so a bar athlete can perform many different types of productive technique. Apart from the extensive family of pull-up techniques (archer pull-ups, anyone?), you can also perform an equally huge range of dips, presses, grip and ab exercises. The bar is also a great place for incredible total-body moves like muscle-ups and skinning the cat.

Why is the bar so misunderstood and underused? Part of the problem is that there has never been a definitive high-quality training manual on working with the bar. If you think about it, this is nuts. There are literally thousands of books dedicated to machine work, barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells. But have you ever seen a comprehensive encyclopedia devoted specifically to bar training? Nope, me neither!

...Until now.

This here book is something very special. Its likely the most important book on strength and conditioning to be published in the last fifty years. Thats a big claim, but I stand by it. Not only is it of historical importance as the only book Ive ever seen thats dedicated to bar athleticsthe missing link of strength trainingbut its also a phenomenal conditioning resource in its own right. In this book youll learn all the techniques you need to succeed; youll find out how to dominate different types of bar setups; youll discover how to combine and balance your bar moves with other advanced training techniques, like handstand push-ups; and, just as crucial, youll be taught to forge all these new skills into a routine of laser-like efficiency.

What makes this book even more exciting is its authorsupertrainer Al Kavadlo. Al is a modern master of bar athletics. His skills on the bar are beyond belief, and his ability to think outside the box in training and coaching are rapidly becoming a thing of legend. I could go on and on about Al, but I wont. Ill just say that after twenty years learning calisthenics behind bars, theres only one man alive I go to when I have questions on bodyweight training. His name is Al Kavadlo.