Pull up bar intimidation...

andygvr96

So I've been weight training for a couple months and i can lift pretty heavy weights now. I just found out I can do push ups today(its kind of a big deal to me bcuz I'm overweight) and I want to start doing some bodyweight excersices, like chin ups... But I don't want to embarass myself at the gym, any advice for starting out? And also anyone know the weight limit on the door pull up bars... I don't want to break

StealthHealth

Some gyms have a pull up bar with a counter weight pad that you kneel on - You can use these to gradually (over a few weeks) decrease the assistance. With the one at my gym it is difficult to see the level of assistance that someone is using so it is unlikely that when using this equipment someone would look derisory on someone because of the amount of assistance they were getting.

If your gym don't have that type of kit, resistance bands can be used to assist and stabilise: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7yqudG7vnow

I'm not sure of the maximum weight allowance of a door bar but I can tel you that with that type of kit you can give yourself a decent assist by placing your feet/toes on a bench or chair seat and applying assistance as you need it. This method is less "quantifiable" than other methods so you need to be disciplined into not cheating yourself and giving yourself more assistance than you need, but it is possible to progress.

good luck with it - you'll be rocking full pull ups in no time!

Sued0nim

negatives
work on your lats
assistance bands
and feck everyone else - you've got you - let them get them

kwtilbury

Three strategies:

1. Lat pulldown machine
2. Pullups using a resistance band (thread each handle through the pullup bar and stand on the middle section)
3. Negative pullups (use a stool to into the "top" position on the pullup bar. lower yourself as slowly as possible)

nordlead2005

Just go do negatives or self assisted pull ups (use a chair), they are better than either bands or machines. There is no embarrassment unless you do stupid stuff, like hanging from the bar by your legs and falling on your face.

Based on my records, I started doing 5 sets of 1 negative on Oct 10th 2015 at 190lb (5'11", so overweight) and did my first pull up (slightly more difficult than a chin up) 5 days later (2 workouts later), but probably didn't do a legitimate pull up without lots of cheating until about 2 weeks after that.

As for weight limit, it depends on the model. The telescoping ones typically max out ~250lb and and the hanging ones can do ~300lb. If your door frame is weak (termites, poor construction, specialty frame that is thinner than a standard 2x4 constructed wall) then it would lower those limits.

JoRocka

Barbell Rows
DB rows
Single arm DB Rows
Lat pull downs
cable rows
Inverted (austrialian pull ups)
and then banded pull ups.

If you're a big guy remember you're picking up ALL that weight- it's going to take time- there is a reason you don't see those big hulking jacked guys doing a lot of pull ups- they are just moving SO much mass around. It's way more then the smaller leaner guys have to move. So keep tha tin mind.

peleroja

I really like the assisted pull-up machine, although I know a lot of people are anti- any machine at all.

I'm a small female with no upper body strength and I started doing 3x10 with it a couple months ago (with 60 lbs assistance, which is about half my weight), and now I'm down to 30-40 lbs of assistance for 3x10, BUT I can do about 3/4 of a pull-up totally unassisted too (not from a dead hang, but from slightly bent elbows.) I don't do a ton of strength training so that feels like great progress to me, I think I'll be able to do one from a dead hang within a month or so for sure.

Pull-ups ARE harder when you're heavier and I'm always surprised and impressed when I see heavy guys attempting them in the gym.

vms4evr

I use one with the assisted band setup. You adjust the length and it has 3 bands. So you can work with the length then subtract bands to slowly adjust resistance.

My door bar says 300lbs max. I think that is just the bar, not necessarily whether your doorway can deal with it.