Quest for the One Arm/Hand Chin-up

2010 Arnold men pump-n-run results

Another great pump and run was held this year and the weather cooperated wonderfully.

On a side note, I’ve noticed in the many years that I’ve participated that at least one competitor has appeared to employ another runner strictly as a pace keeper for the 5k of the Arnold Pump and Run. While this isn’t against any specific rule, I consider it to possibly conflict with the spirit of the competition. I don’t see any of the other 799 competitors being able to benefit from this potentially unfair advantage in the Arnold Pump and Run. And I don’t know to what extent any drafting may occur during the race as well off of, what appears to be, another runner assigned to set a specific pace.

2009 Arnold Pump and Run Results – Men

59th overall and 52nd in Group – not bad! If I had the age 40+ handicap going, I would’ve been around 18th overall assuming I could do 5 more reps with about 20 lbs. less. I’ll take that bet any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

2009 Arnold Pump and Run Results – Women

Here’s Scott on the bench at the 2009 Arnold Pump and Run. He got 18, but for some reason they didn’t count two of his reps. I think he just got a stickler. Scott ran right around 17 minutes for the 5k and is ready for the Flying Pig in May.

Here’s me on the bench at the 2009 Pump and Run. I got to 10 reps no problem. In fact, it was almost too easy. I got to 15 and re-evaluated my condition – still seemed too easy. Got to 20 and knew I could surpass my goal of 23. Did 25 reps and almost 26. I guess the minute sets really helped. The bench coupled with a 19:30ish 5k got me to a net time of 7 minutes+. We’ll see how that places. Maybe top 40 overall – perhaps top 30. I was happy. My best overall time by far. On to the Flying Pig in May.

The rivalry renewed - Scott and Andy tangle again 21 years later.

Start of the 5k

Other thoughts – I think the minute sets really helped out quite a bit. That was a great suggestion that I got from a weightlifting forum. If you’ve never done a pump and run, it is basically 3 stages of stress. Stage 1 is the weigh-in which doesn’t sound stressful but if you come in overweight you are going to be benching more than you planned on. Imagine going in thinking you will be benching 175 and find out that you have to do 180. Most people will scoff to themselves having read this and think – no big deal, only 5 more pounds. I’ve been training for 4-5 months with the thought of benching 175. Moving up 5 pounds is something I hadn’t planned on for those 4-5 months. A curveball on the day of the event is not something you want to face. Plus, I’m trying to do 175 for as many reps as possible. Now, I’ve got to do 180 for as many as possible? I’m probably going to lose 2-3 reps which translates to 60-90 seconds difference in overall time.

Stage 2 is the bench press. With the time change, we were basically benching at 7:00 in the morning. You’re never sure how your body is going to react. Your only warm up is push ups unless you bench at home beforehand. Scott was unlucky to have two of his reps disqualified. Imagine getting through several reps and then having the spotter tell you that the last rep didn’t count. That will really throw you off your game if you are not ready for it. If that doesn’t do it, imagine having a second rep disqualified. I was happy they moved the bench press out of the corner of the Expo hall. There was a lot more room to move around and it seemed much less cramped.

Stage 3 is the run which takes place almost 3 hours after the weigh in. You’re tired and you’ve already gone through a couple stages. You’ve been up since before 6 am with the time change. It’s tough to keep your mental focus for that long. I kind of lost mine during the run this year. Not that I would’ve gone much faster but I definitely felt like I was resting on the laurels of having exceeded my bench press goals. It would’ve helped to have run a 5k in February as a tune up. That also shows you how important the bench press is. You can make up a lot of time with just a couple more reps. I got two extra than I had dreamed of getting and kind of figured that busting my ass on the run wasn’t going to make as much difference.

I was jokingly telling Scott that they should add chin-ups as well to the event. Maybe if they added a 5 minute deduction for each one arm chin up, I’d win hands down.

photo credit: Madrigal Photography

2009 – 19:35 25 bench presses of 175 = 7:05
2007 – 20:44 18 bench presses of 180 = 11:44
2005 – 20:22 16 bench presses of 180? = 12:22
2003 – 19:26 18 bench presses of 175? = 10:26

Went for an hour run today and did minute sets of 175. Got 7 sets of 6 and then 5,3,3 – average heart rate on the run was 144.

I should be in my best shape ever for this year’s pump and run. I’m looking to run sub 19 and do 23 bench presses. That would put me in the 7:30 range. Let’s make it happen.

I created my own links to these results as runohio.com’s web site is not great for easily finding past race results.
2007 Arnold Pump and Run results

2006 Arnold Pump and Run results

2005 Arnold Pump and Run results

2004 Arnold Pump and Run results

2003 Arnold Pump and Run results

2002 Arnold Pump and Run results

And here’s the 2007 registration form

And blogs from other Pump and runners -
Pump and run blog
www.efalken.com/arnold06.htm

How to train for a pump and run

Here are a few training thoughts for those looking to try a pump and run. There will be another one in Cincinnati, Ohio during the first weekend in May. So you could try a pump and run before the Arnold Pump and Run next year. The first thing you should consider is your body weight, and you should do so several months in advance of the event. Determine your body fat percentage and from there make a decision on what should be your event weight. For every five pounds that you determine to lose, give yourself a month to do so. The more unnecessary body weight you carry, the slower your run time and the less reps you will do.

I’ve always tried to get in running shape beginning 3-4 months before the event. Ideally, I need to continue running year round which will help me get to the body weight I desire. Do 2-3 5k races in the months leading up to the event and perhaps even a longer race. This experience will be vital on race day.

I’ll write more later on benchpress training as I have already written some below. Later this week, I’m going to try 170 (10 lbs. less than I did at the event) to see how many more reps I can get with the lower weight. I think that will be very telling on the body weight reduction and how beneficial it may be.

Well, this is the last week of training before the Arnold Pump and Run that is part of the Arnold Fitness Expo 2007. I’ve been running everyday this week especially since hearing that my buddy is coming down from Michigan to participate in it as well. I had a nice final workout on the bench -

175 – 10 reps – 60 second rest
175 – 10 reps – 60 seconds rest
175 – 8 reps – 60 seconds rest
175 – 4 reps

I never realized how fast a minute could go by until doing workouts like these.

The 175 bodyweight is going to be tough to make before Sunday. I can’t afford to be over 180 so I’ve been replacing dinner with a slimfast (If you are over the 5 pound increment they bump you up to the next weight class which means you have to bench press more). I’m not really that hungry at night anyway. If I cut out 4 dinners maybe I can assure being under 180 on race day. Who knows – maybe I will hit 175. 5 pounds doesn’t seem like much until you have to do as many reps of your bodyweight as you can. It may mean the difference between 1-2 reps more or less.

The Marines always sponsor a two handed chinup contest so I’ll give that a try afterwards.

On the one hand chinup training, I did the one handed come downs again and noticed a bit more control from week 1 to week 2. This will be a long term process.