Elliott Heap (EWS) and Ant Hale (EWS) take on Adam Brayton (DH) in an EWS vs DH workout. This was part of a regular session with the boys but I figured it would make some entertaining content for you guys. So here it is.

The guys were going to be doing a lot of pushing up today so any kind of quad/leg bias workout would not have been suitable. Instead, we took the opportunity to work on pulling, namely pul-ups and rowing. Both of which are great for building back strength and of course rowing also for the hinge.

The workout consisted of 10 rounds of 250m row and 10 pull-ups. The volume of pull-ups was high so a kipping pull-up was definitely favourable for a faster pace. That said, remember that inefficient movement is actually where resistance come from and therefore great for improvements in strength. A little more about that…

It may seem like we are always working towards better movement for efficiency, this isn’t necessarily correct. It might be if you are competing in CrossFit however, for strength and conditioning not so much. Inefficient movement, albeit controlled and safe, is actually where muscle recruitment is the highest. Think of bodybuilding partial tempo reps, these certainly aren’t efficient but do elicit a favourable response. We’re not bodybuilding here but we are recruiting muscles.

Take the pull-up then, kipping is efficient at getting A to B but 90% of strength and conditioning coaches will turn their nose up at them simply because they “don’t recruit the same muscles as strict” or they are “unsafe”. But hold on, if you broke running down into the muscles that were most stressed, say the calves, would you simply do calf raises to get better at running? No. So kipping pull-ups do have it’s place, but not only for strengthening. And in the case of this workout, to add extra capacity benefits to a movement that, done well, improves core function connecting upper and lower body, all of which is very athletic.

So skipping back to the workout, although the EWS guys struggled with the volume of pull-ups because they weren’t as efficient, doesn’t mean the workout was less benefit, only different.

I hope you enjoyed this workout and the info that accompanied it, to see more visit our website and the Zone page.

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