Why the lat pulldown machine is so popular…
Dear Friend,
I dont know about you, but I know one thing — monkeys, and wild animals in general are amazingly strong.
There was once a silverback Gorilla that was kept in an enclosure in (I believe) a Florida zoo.
The enclosure was I believe the “standard size plus two inches” … i.e. around 14 feet, if I recall correctly, designed specifically to keep the gorilla IN the enclosure, smooth as heck, without a single indentation or “nook” or cranny where the gorilla could “get a grip” and pull itself up.
Yet, there was one tiny little crack in that entire huge enclosure.
One fine day, the gorilla escaped.
How did it do so ?
Well, it put it’s entire bodyweight on the THIRD knuckle of one of it’s hands, pulled itself up … and then escaped.
Now third knuckle or not, I know one damn thing; most modern day men, even most so called “fit” people couldn’t do this, or wouldn’t dream of doing it, let alone actually be able to do it.
Think about it, it’s entire bodyweight on ONE knuckle in a tiny little crack, and then the gorilla pulled itself up — and out.
Let me tell you, my friend, apes and monkeys in general are AMAZINGLY strong.
Chimpanzees have been known to kill adult male crocs with one “grip” ; and let me know tell you, if a baby chimp were to grab YOUR little finger right now, CHUMP, you’d be (as an adult, even a fit one) squealing for mercy.
Chimps are AMAZINGLY strong, my friend, as are all monkeys (they’ve been know to pull weights over 1260 lbs!).
(and not while yanking down on a lat pulldown machine in the gym either ; it’s only the monkeys that want .. ah, but we’ll get to that later … it’s only Bozos that do it, period).
My dislike of gyms is well known (modern day gyms) — and very well warranted and documented as well.
Other than puff and buff, and look at the girls on the treadmill, and “Get offended when people call me a phat phock that can barely hang on to the chinning bar for any length of time” …
Modern day gyms are a waste of money, utterly so , and time. And as I’ve written about so often on my blog, and to my email list (site’s currently down, but we’ll have it back up shortly) …BODYWEIGHT training is really where it’s at.
I’ve neven seen animals in the wild train on split day schedules, or the ape saying “my lats are sore so I wont do upper body tomorrow”, or the tiger saying “I walked 3 miles yesterday, so I’m not going to move today”.
(there’s an AMAZING story about tiger strength and flexibility on the Animal Kingdom Workouts page, by the way!).
To get the sort of brute, “tensile yet flexible” iron like strength that animals in the wild have, that true strongmen, martial artists etc have ; you train like animals do , in the wild.
Pulling, and pushing your bodyweight from all possible and conceivable angles and directions until you cannot push/pull “no mo”.
And back to the apes, our closest “relatives”, just what do they do to get that freakishly strong ?
You got it.
Pull-ups, monkey bar work, swinging themselves (and their little kids hanging off them, hehe) from branch to branch their ENTIRE LIFE (even at birth, the little baby monkey HANGS on to its mother, it doesnt sit in a pouch or something).
There is a reason I keep talking about pull-ups being one of the most important upper body exercises to master, and there is a reason that much like US Marines and Navy Seals, special forces globally, I PRIDE myself on my ability to do pull-ups, and plenty of them, as evidenced in Battletank Shoulders, Pull-ups, from DUD to STUD within WEEKS, and more!
Anyway ………
Those on my list and well versed with my work know this already.
So, without further ado, here’s a great review my compilation on pull-ups recently got.
“Pull-ups — from DUD to STUD to SUPER STUD — within WEEKS!”
This book will TRANSFORM YOU.
First I must address the above review otherwise you’ll find what I have to say regarding the book hard to believe.
The fact is, Glyn Schofield has an ongoing dispute with the author of the book and his review is designed to try and dissuade people from purchasing the book and thereby cost the author potential customers.
Glyn Schofield has not purchased any of the books he routinely reviews, nor does he have the slightest clue as to what constitutes a valid training book, I seriously doubt he’s ever exercised in his sorry little life.Back to the review, this book will transform anyone who has the guts to give the book’s content a good hard try, there is a reason that the top elite military units around the world prize this exercise so highly, having the strength to pull your own bodyweight from full extension to full contraction repeatedly is very rare these days, which is why the easier lat pulldown exercise is so popular, it does not require the same amount of strength, only pulling your own bodyweight will give you that superior strength, if you want that kind of strength you owe it to yourself to get this book and learn from it and prepare to be transformed.
Another excellent book from the bodyweight guru.
This was sent in by John Walker, one of my great customers from the UK.
Amen, John!
Now, the Glyn Schofield part ; if you go to PULL-UPS — from DUD to STUD — to SUPER STUD — WITHIN WEEKS!: The most COMPLETE tutorial on pull-ups — EVER! eBook : Mookerjee, Rahul: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store you’ll see the “so called review” one of the greatest and best trolls and low lifes of all times, a certain “Glyn Bozo” in the UK left.
Truly a nutjob par excellence, Google him, or go here for more on him.
So thats what John is referring to in that regard.
But lets get a bit more into his review.
there is a reason that the top elite military units around the world prize this exercise so highly, having the strength to pull your own bodyweight from full extension to full contraction repeatedly is very rare these days, which is why the easier lat pulldown exercise is so popular, it does not require the same amount of strength, only pulling your own bodyweight will give you that superior strength,
Precisely, bro, precisely!
There is a DAMN GOOD REASON that martial artists, members of the special forces, boxers etc all pride themselves on their pulling ability.
Sure, they use pushups as the BEDROCK of their routines, and they always do more pushups than pullups.
But pull-ups are something they do regularly, and in high reps as well.
And let me tell you,six packs and brute strength and an iron core (which is what pull-ups build amongst other things, along with cardio too!) aside, the kind of mental strength you’ll build in spades when you get on this great exercise is beyond compare, my friend.
When you can knock off 100 pull-ups per workout, not only will you feel great and be able to accomplish any goal you set for yourself, but you’ll be BREEZING past any and all obstacles, either workout wise, or life wise.
A buddy of mine once said the following (he’s an ex Marine).
“Rahul, 100 pull-ups is hard for anyone!”
Maybe it is.
I got to the point where I was saying
“100 pull-ups per workout is easy. Now if you’re talking 100 handstand pushups per workout, thats something!”
His response -
“You’re goddamned right!”
Anyway …….
The craze for gyms, machines, the latest fads on late night TV etc are all designed to keep you away from the BASICS, my friend, which at the end of the day is what really works (and what accomplished athletes use globally as the bedrock of their routines).
You dont see boxers and wrestlers doing the idiotic bench press daily, do you?
No, they do pushups, solid pushups, and lots of ’em daily!
You don’t see swimmers pound out reps on the lat pulldown, do you?
No, they do pull-ups!
The gym is not only easy compared to bodyweight exercise (you sit on your ass and push and pull while ripping tendons and muscles since (like the lat pulldown) most of what you do in the gym is UNNATURAL to an extreme)) … but it also feeds into laziness, and the mind’s tendency to “compensate” i.e.you know it’s not a real workout, but you “feel like you had a good one”, so you go to the gym.
Plus, you can sit around yakking about, watching TV, drinking lattes and other crap, and “spend time at the gym” without actually ever accomplishing much or anything of note, of course, in todays dumbphone addicted world, that is like manna from heaven for most folks, eh.
I could write all day about it, and have probably written books on it alone in my free emails and newsletters I send out daily for my website sign ups…
But bottom line here is this.
If you want to truly TRANSFORM your life and fitness, then you owe it to yourself to get this book, period.
Truly life changing, and that is that …
Back soon!
Best,
Rahul Mookerjee
