For the last 4-5 years I did small periods of weighted pull-up usually 4 to 6 weeks at a time. Although this was before I even knew the existence of the periodization concept I guess that getting super-fatigued by this particular exercise and abandoning it prevented me from overdoing it and that in itself was a form of periodization.

In the last 18 months I focused mainly on bouldering to increase my absolute finger strength and my upper body power.

After re-reading TFNA (which is awesome!) I stumbled upon your maximum strength pull-up routine. I had not done any weighted pull-up in the last 18 months so I chose a weight based on the upper range I had noted in my sheets 2 years ago.

I did not want to go straight for the 1RM or 2RM, so the first 2 sessions I went for 3RM in order to estimate the next weight I would add for the following session using Brzycki formula.

Today was my third session, I felt that it was truly 3RM, could not have done a fourth repetition. The amount of weight increased pretty quickly and now is 62 pounds (52% of my bodyweight).

Do you have any targets that you use with your athletes concerning “loaded” bodyweight exercises (e.g pull-ups, dips, ring exercises, etc.) in terms of Strength-to-weight Ratio.

For exemple, if I reach 60% of my bodyweight in added weight, is there any more benefits to be gained? Is there a point where it would become detrimental to be “too strong” in this specific exercise? Instead should I focus on the absolute weight and not focus about the ratio (I mean a 30 pounds pack is the same for a light climber vs a heavy climber).

Thanks, and again awesome work with the book and the blog!

JP