Recruitment Pulls

Recruitment pulls are a simple way to improve muscle fiber recruitment. The main difference between these and max hangs is that you are pulling down with one arm as hard as you can rather than hanging with two arms with weights attached. By trying hard (RPE 9-10) and pulling for 3-6 seconds, you can recruit the largest muscle fibers of the finger flexors.

Use two grips: one open-crimp and one half-crimp, on a 15-25mm edge. Perform one set for each grip and rest 5 min between grips. Position yourself under the hold so that your elbow forms a 90-120° angle when you are pulling down. This can be done either sitting down or standing up. Don’t “grip and rip”; gradually work up to max force in seconds 2-5. For each grip, you will have the following work/rest structure: