SEALgrinderPT Interviews Bar-Barian Lee Wade Turner

Lee Wade Turner is the recent winner of the SEALgrinderPT 2011 pull up contest and is also a member of the famed Bar-Barians.

These guys are the top dogs on the pull up bars with amazing workouts and empowering the inner city youth to be confident and to build their bodies.

SEALgrinderPT catches up with Lee after the pull up contest to see what he is up to.

SGPT: Tell us about yourself?

LWT: My name’s Lee Wade, I’m 35 years old & from Lancashire, North West England but have recently moved with my girlfriend & little girl to Essex & I’m now about an hour from London.

SGPT: Have you always had an athletic background? DId you play sports in school?

LWT: At school i was pretty good at sprinting (100m), Long & Triple jumps but spent most of my time messing around with my buddy’s mimicking the WWE Wrestling stars like Ric Flair & Randy “Macho Man” Savage … hahaha – fun days!

SGPT: How did you get involved in gymnastic style workouts?

LWT: I began working out around the age of 16, either at the local gym or doing the basics at home.
I’ve always incorporated a gymnastic/body-weight element into my workouts – sets of dips, push ups, pull ups etc.

But it wasn’t until about 2 years ago that i really started focusing on the gymnastic side – preferring it to the more routine like gym/weight machine exercises after stumbling over the Bar-barians channel on You-Tube.

Video – Bar-Barian, Lee Wade Turner Reppin’ The Underground

SGPT: Tell us about how you became a Bar-Barian?

LWT: After watching the videos on You-Tube of Zef, Jude & Rick etc I couldn’t believe what i was seeing. These guys were
so creative with their sets on the high & parallel bars & looked like they were having so much fun & I wanted to be part of it!

I checked the web-site for details on how to join the crew – On the site it gives you details of the physical standard that you need to achieve – the notorious “Bar-barian Requirements” : Within 6 minutes you have to complete 5 bar muscle ups, 45 dips on the parallel bars, 25 pull ups, 55 press ups & finally another 5 bar muscle ups to finnish! All exercises must be done with strict form & you can only pause between the different exercises not during them!

What it doesn’t tell you on the web-site is the other attributes you need to find in order to join the crew … this you must find on your own …

SGPT: That is quite an honor to join that select group – what do the Bar-Barians have coming up in 2011.

LWT: There’s a lot going on with the crew at the moment.
Rick & Mark have been running a Bar-barian seminar that they’ve been taking to CrossFit affiliates in the States – showing the way we train to cross fitters.

Video – Lee Wade Turner’s Extreme set 1

Last year Jaz broke the World Record for most consecutive bar muscle ups & in a week or so Marcus his training partner is attempting to break the World Record for most consecutive “chin up” grip muscle ups & one arm pull ups – Those Australian guys are sooo damn strong!

As a crew we are looking to get sponsorship this year with a big sports/street brand & push what we do into the spot light – Look how free-running has taken off recently!

Myself & the only other UK Bar-barian & my training partner Jay are looking at setting up a Bar-barian style training class here in London like the guys over in New York are doing at the moment.
Finally the Bar-barian apparel has just launched in the store on the web-site so check out the t-shirt 7 beanies etc on there.

SGPT: What are some of the workouts that you typically do in Bar-Barian style?

LWT: Myself, unlike most of the guys actually use weights as well as the body-weight stuff.

I’m a Level 1 Certified CrossFit trainer & coach at CrossFit Clitheroe in the UK (www.crossfitclitheroe.com) so i do a lot of stuff using the Olympic bar, Kettlebells etc.

A typical Bar-barian style workout though is one that i do once a week: (Muscular endurance workout)

5 hand stand press ups
10 pull ups
15 press ups with the handles
15 tricep dips off a bench

X 10 sets with 1 minute rest between sets

SGPT: You were the winner of the SEALgrinderPT pull up contest in 2011. Tell us about your training during that event and what enabled you to pull off 41 dead hang pull ups.

LWT: I’m always in decent shape because i’m totally dedicated to my training & I’m usually competing in monthly competitions that are held on the forum of the Bar-barians web-site (www.Bar-barians.com)

For this particular competition i focused on doing a very hard pull up session once a week along with my regular sets that i might do throughout the week.

The workout i did to train for the pull up comp was weighted pull ups with a 20KG vest … I would do my max reps with the vest on, then take the vest off straight away & do as many as possible without the weight.

I would do 10 sets of these & it would take me about an hour … the most reps i got out with the 20KG vest on was 18!

SGPT: What are a few tips that you would give other athletes to help them with their pull ups?

LWT: Never give up on your goals! Most guys who train for pull ups hit a sticking point – mine was 26 reps! … I was at 26 for what seemed like a year but was probably more like 6 months!
Every week i’d come into the gym & start with 3 sets of pull ups & no matter what i did i couldn’t get beyond this number. Then one day i chalked up my hands & did exactly the same – only this time i banged out 28 & from then on it was up & up! … What i’m trying to say is never give up when you hit that sticking point – A lot of guys who can’t get past their sticking point after a month or so give up & don’t go after it anymore – Keep going & believe in yourself!

SGPT: Have you had any injuries in the past? If so, how do you avoid injuries in your training?

LWT: I’ve had one serious injury in my lifetime but it was self inflicted! … In my mid-20’s I jumped from a bridge into the river below – I jumped at the wrong point and hit the rocks just below the surface! Smashed up my ankle pretty bad and severed some tendons! … It set me back about 6-7 months!
Luckily, i haven’t suffered any major injuries in training – I always make sure i warm up/stretch before & cool down after a session.

SGPT: Thanks for the interview Lee and congrats on your stellar win at the SEALgrinderPT 2011 pull up contest.

LWT: Thanks to you SEALgrinderPT for putting up the competition & to everybody that took part – Like i said during the competition, anyone who’s hitting out 30+ strict form pull ups has to be very, very dedicated and all the top 5 guys in the comp achieved this!

Questions from our athletes

Question: Coach Brad; what is a good ebook to start off with and learn more about street style bodyweight workouts?

I want to build lean muscle but also be functionally fit.

Answer: Check out the book “Street Workout” by the Kavadio brothers.

This book will get you on your way to building a Street Tough body that is ready for anything at anytime.

These guys are part of the Bar-Barian crew and can have you doing pull ups and muscle ups in no time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brad McLeod is married with two kids and an all around average family guy. He grew up in Tallahassee, Florida and despite training all the wrong ways – made it to Navy SEAL training in Coronado, California.

He flunked out of Navy SEAL BUD/S training after making it over half way through (6 months of grueling training). After a year in the Fleet Navy on the USS Cleveland (LPD-7) he came back to graduate BUDS and serve on SEAL Team Four.

His story is simple–Don’t Ever Quit on your Dream! Put one foot in front of the other and fall forward.

Proceeds from this website go to help raise funds for the Navy SEAL Foundation.