From zero to twenty pull-ups - No experience necessary!
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Congrats on reducing 110#. That is commendable.
Progress will be limited by staying low on calories, but as I stated to @yamabchi, it really is a matter of figuring out what the most important thing to you is and the most important thing AT THE MOMENT. This also goes for exercise order. If benching is currently more important, do it first.
While having the drive to reach a long term goal is important, you definitely should allow yourself to reassess along the way and make changes as needed (or wanted).
The thing I would suggest is to keep a log of your goals and a daily check-in. The check-in can be as easy as a daily smiley face or a few thoughts on the day. The website for Polar flow(for my watch) does this and while I first though it was silly, it has helped me figure out when I was getting stale from overwork from my cycling.
Yea right now i'm just starting the strength training but not really pushing at full force or expecting major gains. I know the weight goal is well within reach now so I will primarily focus my main push onto that while working on all this kind of stuff. Once I get to weight and swap to maintenance calories I will be 100% focused on taking advantage of the additional input available to work with! I won't miss the pull up goal by the end of the year and will push for it sooner as capable!
I just suspect that progress would be quicker if I wasn't in such a deficit right now is all!
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Interesting
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mom23mangos wrote: »I just got news yesterday that I have to have a small basal cell carcinoma removed from by abdomen next week
That is some unfortunate news. I hope you are OK.
Here's to you having a speedy recovery and getting back to your pull-ups and aerial work as soon as possible.
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finished W2D3 3/3/3/2/4 -2
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An interesting read through this thread. I set my mind in January 2019 that I wanted to accomplish as many pull-ups as I could when I was 17 (between 7-9, I think). Background: I’m 44, follow a non-strict healthy vegetarian diet, and had regressed in my exercise routine since a pinched nerve affected my left leg 3 months prior. I began a program that focused on getting to 20 pullups through chair-assist and isometric methods at the start. For the entirety of my training, my routine has also included pushups, bicep curls and abdominal training, all at home.
January 2019: Max 0.7 pullup, 0.8 chinup. Max 3 situps, but continue to 30 as partial curlups. Max 6 pushups.
Few months: Max 3 pullups, 2 pullups. Can’t break plateau, so I start to practice dead-hangs as well. Baseline dead-hang about 6 seconds. Max 6 situps, but continue to 30 as partial curl-ups. Max 15 pushups.
8 months: Max 5 pullups, 6 chinups. New plateau. Dead-hang max at 45 seconds, so new focus on strengthening core instead. Still max 6 proper situps, so switch to Ab-Roller 45 day workout plan instead. Max 20 pushups, and max 15 narrow-stance (hands near neck) pushups. Decide to include resistance band training that focuses on building scapular strength.
11 months (now): Max 6 pullups, 7 chinups. Max pushups as before. Ab-Roller workout almost maximized (nose-to-the-floor is still a little too difficult).
Max reps: I’m still struggling to achieve my initial goal.
Body weight: no significant loss, but already a healthy BMI.
“Mirror-test”: my waist is a bit narrower, but my shoulders have SIGNIFICANTLY more muscle tone (I now also have upper back muscles). My biceps have always been good, but since the resistance band training my triceps are now noticeable.
Other: It’s been hard incorporating enough protein into my diet. Not sure if it’s just a mental illusion, but I think that the training is a bit easier (and the recovery better) when I meet my protein goals.
Tonight’s my workout night, so maybe I’ll try this new approach. If I can get to 7 max, I’d love to continue to 20 max.2 -
minorzwarpath, I find it interesting that at a healthy BMI and that kind of pull up stats your sit-ups are where they are? What are they at currently?
I'm not into a healthy BMI unless I add in the neck/waist calculation method in which case i'm around 24%. I can't do a single pull up yet in good form, but am doing roughly 150 military arms crossed style sit ups a day, i want to say the split yesterday was 46, 26, 22, 16, 16, 24 or something like that with 60s interval for the first 4 and 45s intervals on the last 2 sets. I also am doing a plank program which uses various forms of planks with 30s intervals, for a total of around 3-5 minutes of planking a day at my current stage of the program.
If you're stuck in a plateau perhaps considering taking the pre-emptive test from twentypullups.com and then following the program from the start where your test results would put you and follow the day to day program. Not doing proper repetitions and sets will definitely reduce improvement. Lots of gain comes from those rest and repeat cycles of these types of programs.
That said, from your start of .7 or less of a full pull up, what did you work on to make the transition to being able to complete one? I've been sticking to negatives on the pull up bar and starting on the bench presses plus working on push ups. I can do 10-12 push ups in good form and my current rep/set for pushups i'm on (in a program i'm using) is 8,8,6,7,6 with 45s intervals and still have a notable amount to go before I can complete a single pull up in good form.
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gemiller87: smartbmicalculator.com puts me at 23.7 which roughly corresponds with other calculators as well.
In my 30s I was fine doing regular situps *with* my feet held in place. I wasn't enjoying trying to break my recent situp/curlup plateau as part of my routine though, so I took another approach with the Ab-Carver (also works shoulders to some extent). My core is a bit stronger, but it didn't translate into increased situp reps. And I admit that's concerning.
A few things to increase my pullup ability in the early days: dead-hangs (I believe these made a difference in stretching the muscles involved), max holds at the top of the movement, and negatives. I very much dislike doing chair-assisted pullups - I end up worrying whether I'm working the proper muscle groups or not. But I forced myself to complete them during my summer plateau.
My form is pretty good, descend until just before my elbows would lock, and if I feel I'm about to "kip" I slightly raise my knees or feet instead to keep my core straight.
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Did W3D1 yesterday -
While I was able to do 4 in the first set, each set thereafter I could only do three (4/3/3/3/3). Plan is to repeat W3D1 on Sunday since day W3D2 starts with 5 and day 3 starts with 6! At any rate, If I don't get through W3D1 a second time, I think I'll drop back a day to W2D3 for a deload day.2 -
mthwbrwn: I worry about this too, in reading ahead at future weeks' expectations. I've come across many "challenges" in the past that suggest things like "60 seconds plank yesterday? great, hold it for 2 minutes today and 4 minutes tomorrow," or "10 pushups yesterday? do 20 today!". Despite my misgivings, I just finished W1 of this challenge. Hopefully this new approach, quite different from my past training routine, is successful though.1
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I took an extra day off since my elbows were pretty sore yesterday. Repeated W3D1 The extra time helped since I was able to do 4/3/4/3/4 today.
@minorzwarpath - I've seen those 30 day challenges as well - The ones where you swing a kettlebell 40 times and overhead press 10x to start and by the end of 30 days the instruction is swing x300 (no sets given)- Umm, at what weight would that work?
Anyway, I really like this training with its three columns based off of testing and its reasonable? progression steps, but like any training program, two people will respond to stimuli differently. The 'weeks' are meaningless to me. They're more like stages.
If I fail to complete reps one day, I'll try it again (and maybe rest two days). If I fail 2x in a row I'll drop back one day. That worked really well when I was doing a squats 5x3 (years ago).
So far, my progression is such that I have only needed to repeat in order to move forward.0 -
I may not have been able to do a pull up yet BUT I am ecstatic with my negative progress. It's definitely the transition thats around the 1/3 of the way up part that I just can't get yet. With a "jump start" to clear that transition I can finish the balance of it.
Took 2 days off from pull up work as my one elbow was bothering me a little bit. Yesterday was able to hang at the top to a count of 15 without a need to begin the lower my stamina, could hold the middle position for about the same count and then catch the dead hang without dropping onto it and hold. Could replicate the negative progress on rep 1,2 and 5. I took a longer break between 4/5 since I saw 3 starting to slip and 4 not as good. Closer every day it seems.
Added 30lb dumbbell bent over rows 2 sets 10 reps each arm over last couple days. Continued bench but lowered weight in lieu of more reps with a pause at the chest. Added snatch at 105lbs yesterday to start. Also added one 30lb dumbbell to the last 20 of my squats (the current body weight program for squats yesterday was at 110-36-24-66) All in garage.2 -
A pull-up bar is on my Christmas list! Looking forward to giving this a try!1
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moonangel12 wrote: »A pull-up bar is on my Christmas list! Looking forward to giving this a try!
There's some nice ones on the market! The one the program of this post is written by is https://www.studbarpullup.com which is what I ended up going with in normal size and using the higher of the two bar locations (i'm 6'6") but another good one on the market I considered is one of the units from Rogue Fitness at https://www.roguefitness.com/bodyweight-gymnastics/rpg-pullup-system
They are very affordable and can be combined with gymnastic rings and other modifications to add more variety to your workouts!
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Thanks for the recs! I have been trying to sort through all the options... there are a LOT out there! We have a small house (both sq footage and ceiling height) so my mountable options are limited, but we do have trees and a shed outside so I might see if hubby can help me rig something up out there. Not ideal, but I can make it work (make it part of my post run routine).gemiller87 wrote: »moonangel12 wrote: »A pull-up bar is on my Christmas list! Looking forward to giving this a try!
There's some nice ones on the market! The one the program of this post is written by is https://www.studbarpullup.com which is what I ended up going with in normal size and using the higher of the two bar locations (i'm 6'6") but another good one on the market I considered is one of the units from Rogue Fitness at https://www.roguefitness.com/bodyweight-gymnastics/rpg-pullup-system
They are very affordable and can be combined with gymnastic rings and other modifications to add more variety to your workouts!
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moonangel12 wrote: »
Thanks for the recs! I have been trying to sort through all the options... there are a LOT out there! We have a small house (both sq footage and ceiling height) so my mountable options are limited, but we do have trees and a shed outside so I might see if hubby can help me rig something up out there. Not ideal, but I can make it work (make it part of my post run routine).gemiller87 wrote: »moonangel12 wrote: »A pull-up bar is on my Christmas list! Looking forward to giving this a try!
There's some nice ones on the market! The one the program of this post is written by is https://www.studbarpullup.com which is what I ended up going with in normal size and using the higher of the two bar locations (i'm 6'6") but another good one on the market I considered is one of the units from Rogue Fitness at https://www.roguefitness.com/bodyweight-gymnastics/rpg-pullup-system
They are very affordable and can be combined with gymnastic rings and other modifications to add more variety to your workouts!
If you have a tree, rings are a great option! Cheap, mobile and versatile.
I can’t do anything that will stretch the incision site on my abdomen for 4 weeks, so I’ll probably be starting over next month.0 -
Hadn’t thought of rings for pull ups - makes sense though! Always just had a bar in mind... I had been wanting to get some rings for my monkey of a 6 year old so they could do double duty!mom23mangos wrote: »moonangel12 wrote: »
Thanks for the recs! I have been trying to sort through all the options... there are a LOT out there! We have a small house (both sq footage and ceiling height) so my mountable options are limited, but we do have trees and a shed outside so I might see if hubby can help me rig something up out there. Not ideal, but I can make it work (make it part of my post run routine).gemiller87 wrote: »moonangel12 wrote: »A pull-up bar is on my Christmas list! Looking forward to giving this a try!
There's some nice ones on the market! The one the program of this post is written by is https://www.studbarpullup.com which is what I ended up going with in normal size and using the higher of the two bar locations (i'm 6'6") but another good one on the market I considered is one of the units from Rogue Fitness at https://www.roguefitness.com/bodyweight-gymnastics/rpg-pullup-system
They are very affordable and can be combined with gymnastic rings and other modifications to add more variety to your workouts!
If you have a tree, rings are a great option! Cheap, mobile and versatile.
I can’t do anything that will stretch the incision site on my abdomen for 4 weeks, so I’ll probably be starting over next month.
Definitely don’t stretch the incision! It’s frustrating to lose progress, but in the long run proper healing will be best.0 -
Rings are fabulous as they can help with shoulder (in)flexibility issues with the pull-up. As you pull, the rings rotate in so that at the top your hands are in a neutral grip position. This helps knock out a few more reps since the biceps are better engaged in the neutral position.
Another thing about rings is that you can use them for dips which make a great antagonistic movement for pull-ups. Dips with rings allow for a narrower grip which makes them safer than jumping on a dip station designed for the 'average' (what is that, like 5'11'' ???) gym member.
But in addition to being safer for your shoulders, actually doing dips of the rings are quite a bit more difficult due to the constant moving around.
Statically, when I've been training, I can do about 2-3 dips per pull-up. Off of rings its more like 1 to 1.
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Attempted W3D2 today - Started off strong and thought I'd maybe I'd end up completing it by the last set got me - I did 5/3/4/3/3. Will repeat W3D2 on Friday.1
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Dang I wished I'd seen this when you started. I've always been interested in doing more pull-ups. Maybe I'll start today.0
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Dang I wished I'd seen this when you started.
Welcome to the challenge. You can start at anytime. Everyone's progress is going to be a little different and the program is structured such that you will likely repeat a few weeks.
I started from zero and when I do my test at the end of week three, I wont be moving to week 4, I'll go to week one column 2 since week 4 requires a max set of 9+. If you can already do 12 or more, starting at week would be your thing.
Also, if you fall off for a while, no big deal. All you need to do is retest and start again -
Good Luck
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