On Pull-ups & Strength Conditioning for Thai Clinch | Sylvie Interview (28 min)

above, Kevin's informal interview of me on my return to pull-ups and my experiences with adding weight training

When we filmed with Chatpon for the Muay Thai Library, the very moment he grabbed my neck with his forearm, I felt this unmistakable quiver of "oh sh*t." I've felt that before - Yodkhunpon, when he "hitches the trailer" causes a similar response - but there was something remarkable about this particular latch. There is a word, "anamnesis," which means "the loss of forgetfulness." It's something more than remembering, it's like a veil being lifted off of something that you've known, maybe even in your subconscious or in some kind of collective, many lives kind of way, and suddenly it reveals itself... but again, not new. It felt like that.

Some time ago, I'd bought one of those pullup bars that you wedge into a doorframe. I'd bought it partly as a way to be able to "hang" every day (this is something I have videos or blogs about, as it has been the only aid for a damaged shoulder that has been an issue for many years now), but also because I wanted to get back to doing pullups. When I was in college, I had one of these pullup bars in the doorframe to my room, and I'd bang out a few pullups several times per day. I'm not sure why did that in college... it has no context for me now. But I know why I do them now, which is that a few pullups at a time, sprinkled throughout the day, adds up. When I was training at a gym like a normal person, I had access to a bar to do pullups throughout each training session, and so I think I did probably no less than 50 per day. But now that I'm in a different training situation and moving between spaces all the time, I don't have a place to hang or do pullups within my schedule. Having it right here at home makes the possibility of getting those 50 back into my routine much more likely.

When I first put it up, I would go do 5 pullups and then tick a line on a piece of paper. The type where you do four lines, then a line through them to be a group of five. I tried to get 25 in one day. I was incredibly sore after just one or two days, which let me know that 1) I'd gotten far out of the habit and had previously done them all the time, and 2) they're an acceptionally effective exercise. After filming with Chatpon, I recommitted to the practice of pullups every hour or so, while I'm at home between sessions. And, as an added bonus (and one not secondary), I also am hanging several times per day, which is helping my shoulder a lot as well.

There are so many things like this that I can recall in my life. I used to do a lot of stretches through the accident of the activities I took part in. I used to climb a lot of stairs because I lived on the 4th floor of our building and had no elevator. I used to sprint a lot because I was a halfback in soccer. I used to walk a lot becuase I grew up in Boulder and that was the only way to get around town, prior to friends aging into having cars. All of these things can be brough back into practice by making them accessible. Not necessarily "convenient." It's not convenient to do pullups all day, but there isn't the inconvenience of having to remember while at a place that has a bar or, even worse, having to actually go out to another location to do it. I can do pushups and situps in my livingroom, in the kitchen... anywhere. I think that's part of what makes Muay Thai so accessible, as a sport and a means of keeping kids away from trouble, is that it doesn't require expensive equipment or uniforms. I see kids running in their school shoes all the time (these shoes are horrid, but it works). They train in the same pair of shorts, with someone else's name on them, as a hand-me-down, for years. I've even seen little kids "borrow" a pair of underwear for a fight. You don't need a special machine for pullups, just a bar that supports your weight, at a height you can reach and have range of motion under. I like that so much.

This is the Chatpon Dejrat session we recently filmed for the MTL that got back on the pull-up kick watch it here:

Two of my shares on Pull-Ups over the years:

Grip strength pullups, and pushups on rotations of 5, very likely Andy Thomson's design, back at (old) Lanna in 2012, watch it here.

Here I am when I started doing Commando Pullups back around 2014. Fresh stitches in the face back then, as usual watch it here.

More about the Inspiration of Sylvie Charbonneau, including my interview of her. Female Muay Thai history read it here