It’s Cool, I’m With the Band

JT Scott | 10/28/2018 | 3

Banded pull-ups can sometimes be a minor point of controversy among people that like to talk about fitness on the internet. We don’t talk about fitness on the internet, though – we do it with you every day to help you get stronger, and we know that banded pullups can be really helpful for understanding what your body needs to do and making progress towards repping them out as RXd.

The heart of “why this works” is all about not scaling ROM (Range Of Motion). By scaling the load using that band, you’re forcing yourself to keep a full ROM on all your reps – and when it gets hard, you gotta take a break before getting back to it. No dynamic scaling, just an opportunity to train at the margins of your capacity.

Today’s workout has an opportunity for you to do exactly that with a nice mid-range set of pullups each round – so I’m encouraging you to pick a band during the setup and stick with it for all 12 minutes.

Likewise, this is why we prefer scaling pushups on a box than to the knees or some other shenanigans that shortchange you from getting the full effect of holding a plank and taking your arms and body through a full range of motion. The set is short today, so if you’re on the cusp of having great pushups, this is a day to struggle and stick with the sets of 10 from the deck.

A final note on not scaling ROM as it pertains to Double-Unders: it’s easy to drop down to “2x singles” (an option we almost always discourage) or go straight to “happy penguins” for a scale. But when working a skill like Dubs, it is super useful to sit in the struggle sometimes. Since we want to keep moving through this AMRAP, the answer on a day like today is to scale the reps, not the ROM. If you have even a FEW dubs, we’ll help you pick a number to hold to each round and expect you to sweat, curse, and cry your way through that number each round.

The only way to get better and stronger through any given Range of Motion is to practice that Range of Motion. Today (even more than usual) it’s super cool to be with the band.

STRENGTH:
Back Squat
3-3-3-3-3

WOD:
AMRAP 12
15 Pullups
10 Pushups
35 Double-Unders