Pull ups / Chin ups

yogicarl

just do them.

- got it! thanks. Doing them tonight and tomorrow and .....

JoRocka

just do them.

- got it! thanks. Doing them tonight and tomorrow and .....

and the next morning- and the next lunch and the next dinner LOL

go forth and lift thyself!!! LOTS!!!

ChaplainHeavin

Hey guys,

Since I was a little kid, I could not do a single pull/chin up. Now that I've lost some weight and I've been exercising regularly for the past 3 months, my goal is to finally do at least 1 pull/chin up. I bought a pull up bar for my home, as well as a chin-up max bands. They were just delivered yesterday. I did 1 chin up with the bands, so I'm pretty happy there. Is there a schedule or a challenge program that teaches you how to do pull ups and chin ups? I really want to get stronger, so I don't have to use chin-up max, but for now, I need additional guidance.

I know it will take time. I'm currently finishing up Power 90 program. Before I started the program, I couldn't do a single push up. Now I bang out over 100 of them. So I'm patient. I just need some kind of structure or plan to follow.

Thanks in advance.

I went from 0 to 9, then pulled something (no pun intended) and had to stop for 6 months and now have to start from scratch. How I built my way up was to do as many half pull ups and chins that I could in 3 sets several times a week. Hope that helps.

waldo56

Chinups/pullups respond well to high volume. Don't be afraid to push the set volume into the double digits.

I used fixed volume workouts to go from doing a few pullups/chinups to being able to do more than are useful (20+)(at which point form/difficulty and added load are necessary for any useful progress). Fixed volume workouts, pick a (high) number such as 50 or 100, and do the volume as fast as you can. Progress by decreasing the time to complete workout to workout.

thanks Waldo.

Would you recommend this approach along with assistance bands in the early stages to make the fixed volume target? Certainly at the moment, I would reach a point where I could only do partial reps or take rest breaks that would result in my session taking too long.

Would you use some negative reps in a fixed volume session or is that too much intensity in one workout? So for example, I set a target of 50 reps total volume and do 5 sets of [2 unassisted, 4 band assisted and 4 negatives]?

also - thanks JoRocka. Loads of brilliant info here.

No. Its not a technique that is all that useful until you can do about 5 or so.

Once you can do 15-20 in a single set, pyramid training becomes about the most effective way to train and continue to progress; its a very strict variant of volume training where you also fix the time and set breakdown, progressing via RPE (when you can do the pyramid without failing, its time to progress a step); it forces you to push the envelope past failure.

SJ46

Is your pullup bar in an area you walk through each day? If so then do as many as you can with the bands each time you walk past the bar. Once you can do one pullup then do a pullup each time you walk past, maybe finish with a set using the band until you can do more than one pullup at once.

If you want to do pullups then you have to do pullups, lots of them! Beware of negatives, they are painful <not that you shouldn't do them but don't feel surprised if you can't raise your arms the next day!>

jwdieter

Keep in mind that pull ups are massively impacted by body weight. Losing (or gaining) just 5-10 lbs will make a large difference in pull up capability. For people at or near normal weight levels.

Topsking2010

Bump

russellvolk

Thank you all for your advice. I can't believe how many chimed in... this is so helpful. I will try to use the bar every chance I get. I tried today a few times and I could do 3 chin ups with chin-up max (all 3 bands). I think once I reach 10 chin ups, I'll remove one of the bands and go from there. I tried pull ups, but those are much harder. I did only 1. I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me.