My first run of Pavel Tsatsouline’s Fighter Pull-up Program resulted in overtraining. This is hardly a surprise since the routine calls for 25 days of high volume. If you are not familiar with the actual program, it looks a little something like this:
The 5RM Fighter Pull-up Program
Day 1 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Day 2 5, 4, 3, 2, 2
Day 3 5, 4, 3, 3, 2
Day 4 5, 4, 4, 3, 2
Day 5 5, 5, 4, 3, 2
Day 6 off
Day 7 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
Day 8 6, 5, 4, 3, 3
Day 9 6, 5, 4, 4, 3
Day 10 6, 5, 5, 4, 3
Day 11 6, 6, 5, 4, 3
Day 12 off
Day 13 7, 6, 5, 4, 3
Day 14 7, 6, 5, 4, 4
Day 15 7, 6, 5, 5, 4
Day 16 7, 6, 6, 5, 4
Day 17 7, 7, 6, 5, 4
Day 18 off
Day 19 8, 7, 6, 5, 4
Day 20 8, 7, 6, 5, 5
Day 21 8, 7, 6, 6, 5
Day 22 8, 7, 7, 6, 5
Day 23 8, 8, 7, 6, 5
Day 24 off
Day 25 9, 8, 7, 6, 5
Day 26 9, 8, 7, 6, 6
Day 27 9, 8, 7, 7, 6
Day 28 9, 8, 8, 7, 6
Day 29 9, 9, 8, 7, 6
Day 30 off
Explanation: The program above is for people who can do only 5 good pull-ups in a row. You do 5 sets. The first set is to failure. Every following set has one less rep. The next day you add a rep to the last set. One day later, you add a rep to the set before the last one….etc.
I did it for ten days before burning out. My forearms were sore, and my life outside of the gym was affected too. I hated it, but my ego told me to continue. At one point, however, I actually started to regress.
The reason for my failure was not me. I did my part of the deal, but the program failed, and I decided to modify it.
I added 4 days of rest after each session. It worked. My recovery was on point, and I was stronger each session. It took me a few more weeks to finish the program, but I remained injury free and took my reps from 6 to about 14.
I also decided to completely ignore the advice of Pavel to perform the pull-ups in the so-called “hollow” position. His reasoning behind the hollow technique is that when a fighter is in a boxing stance, he is not sticking his chest out. It’s the opposite – the chin is down, and the chest is a little bit tucked in. Well, guess what? Pull-ups done in this fashion irritated my shoulders and hurt the mind-muscle connection with the lats. Instead, I did the classic bodybuilding pull-up on rings with my chest sticking out as much as possible. This version provides a much better contraction and saves your joints.
Having said that, I loved the program. I just don’t think it’s made for average humans like me. When choosing a routine, you need to think from your own perspective. Otherwise, the plan will fail.
Very good article. I already knew this system and I did not want to try it because I thought that what happened to you would happen to me. Now I have almost found your article by chance and I have some doubts:
1- Do you want to say that you did the routine 1 day and you rested 4 until the next day?
2- How much time did you rest between each series: is there a maximum or minimum time or did you do it according to your feelings?
3- Do you contained much other exercises like legs, chest, abs …?
Thank you!