Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying.

While Marc endures many humiliations at the start of the book, the pull-up bar becomes symbolic of his troubles at school. Unable to do even a single rep, he feels weak when confronted by the bar, a feeling compounded by the humiliation that Kenny Williamson and the other students inflict upon him when he fails. Marc finds help in the form of Jake, a Navy SEAL for whom pull-ups are a matter of course. As they begin their warrior training, the pull-up remains a daunting challenge for Marc, and when Jake has one installed in the garage, Marc says that he is “SCARED and NERVOUS and EMBARRASSED because [he] already [knows] that [he can’t] do a single pull-up!” (52). Jake is more patient with Marc regarding pull-ups than he is with other tasks, at least at first, giving him time to scale up to doing a full rep. However, once Marc is able to do one, Jake pushes him hard to boost his numbers, even making him do 100 to push him to the goal of 10 pull-ups. Once he accomplishes that goal, his training (if not the program) is officially complete.