Ladies who do pullups...

Swimgoddess

How many can you crank out on your first set or when trying to max?

My personal best was 8 in the Marine Corps; granted, I can't dead-hang & lockout each time like the guys were supposed to (otherwise my elbows like, "pop out" and I can't pull them back together enough to bend), but I drop to at least where my arms make a 140-160 degree angle. I got FIVE on my first set today, split-set with 10 pushups then attempted again until I had 3 sets each, but 2nd & 3rd pullup sets were only like 3 each

Any tips/tricks to get more? (Guys, feel free to chip in here too)

Edited to add: Anyone know how to get around the elbow popping thing so I can get around to doing them from a dead-hang each rep? Or is it just a "chicks are stupid flexible" type thing?

crisanderson27

Great subject hun.

It'll be interesting to see what you girls are doing for pullups =D.

Swimgoddess

Great subject hun.

It'll be interesting to see what you girls are doing for pullups =D.

It's that kinda response that might explain why I get a feeling that's why the guys look at me like I broke some kinda bro-code just for trying. The looks are pretty similar to when I'd try to do the calf-raise machine before I found the release handle under the seat *DOH!* (lmao).

AZTrailRunner

tips to get more..... do "Negatives". Work on slowly lowering yourself instead of lifting yourself.

JNick77

Use different grips / angles. When you get to the point where you can't do anymore try doing a leg kip to crank out a couple more. Her's a couple articles to take a look at for some help.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/programs_for_the_pullup_deficient

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/things_you_should_know_how_to_do_1_the_pullup

crisanderson27

Great subject hun.

It'll be interesting to see what you girls are doing for pullups =D.

It's that kinda response that might explain why I get a feeling that's why the guys look at me like I broke some kinda bro-code just for trying. The looks are pretty similar to when I'd try to do the calf-raise machine before I found the release handle under the seat *DOH!* (lmao).

LOL!

As was said above...negatives and kipping are huge. I always considered kipping cheating...but once I started, I improved my 'non' kipping pullups very quickly. The same for negatives. For my negatives, I use my legs to help drive me upward while still pulling at my max with my arms...then let myself down as slow as possible.

You'll get it...8 is pretty respectable lol. That's about what I'm at now...although I'm also 180lbs.

Swimgoddess

Use different grips / angles. When you get to the point where you can't do anymore try doing a leg kip to crank out a couple more. Her's a couple articles to take a look at for some help.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/programs_for_the_pullup_deficient

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/things_you_should_know_how_to_do_1_the_pullup

I'll check those out (along with the "negatives" previous poster mentioned and the "pyramids" by hubby just suggested) Uh, I have a mental block against "kipping" though; male Marines got hazed for that, lol (not to mention they didn't count).

Thanks for everyone's input so far! No dice on the estrogen though

MrBrown72

Most gyms, and most recruiting offices, have an assisted pullup machine. Most of the elbow popping is probably muscular, it'll build up in time. You can also get the same type of machine at home, power tower with assisted pullup.

Beyond that the best bet is to just do them all the time. Set up a pullup bar at home and use it several times a day.

Swimgoddess

Great subject hun.

It'll be interesting to see what you girls are doing for pullups =D.

It's that kinda response that might explain why I get a feeling that's why the guys look at me like I broke some kinda bro-code just for trying. The looks are pretty similar to when I'd try to do the calf-raise machine before I found the release handle under the seat *DOH!* (lmao).

LOL!

As was said above...negatives and kipping are huge. I always considered kipping cheating...but once I started, I improved my 'non' kipping pullups very quickly. The same for negatives. For my negatives, I use my legs to help drive me upward while still pulling at my max with my arms...then let myself down as slow as possible.

You'll get it...8 is pretty respectable lol. That's about what I'm at now...although I'm also 180lbs.

Wow! Kipping "helps"?!? Guess I'll have to invest in a doorway pullup bar at home just for that... there's NO WAY I want to give the gym audience the satisfaction of seeing chick kips.

crisanderson27

Remember, you're not kipping to count towards your max. You're kipping to work your muscles just a little harder than you could otherwise.

crisanderson27

Most gyms, and most recruiting offices, have an assisted pullup machine. Most of the elbow popping is probably muscular, it'll build up in time. You can also get the same type of machine at home, power tower with assisted pullup.

Beyond that the best bet is to just do them all the time. Set up a pullup bar at home and use it several times a day.

My tower was an AWESOME investment, picked it up for $50 on craigslist:



This improved my pullup quality and quantity almost immediately, and did HUGE things for my upper body strength and fat loss. Door bars are virtually useless in my opinion. The frame gets in the way, you can't put any force on it...etc. This also has an assisted mechanism (not interested, for myself...rather kip and do assisted negatives). I also use the legs for my wide grip 80/20 pushups (working towards 100% one handed)...and with the dip bar, it's great for leg raises, dips, and all sorts of other things. I think the normal price is $150 or something. SO worth it.

MrBrown72

Most gyms, and most recruiting offices, have an assisted pullup machine. Most of the elbow popping is probably muscular, it'll build up in time. You can also get the same type of machine at home, power tower with assisted pullup.

Beyond that the best bet is to just do them all the time. Set up a pullup bar at home and use it several times a day.

My tower was an AWESOME investment, picked it up for $50 on craigslist:



This improved my pullup quality and quantity almost immediately, and did HUGE things for my upper body strength and fat loss. Door bars are virtually useless in my opinion. The frame gets in the way, you can't put any force on it...etc. This also has an assisted mechanism (not interested, for myself...rather kip and do assisted negatives). I also use the legs for my wide grip 80/20 pushups (working towards 100% one handed)...and with the dip bar, it's great for leg raises, dips, and all sorts of other things. I think the normal price is $150 or something. SO worth it.

Dang you craigslisters. Unfortunately I paid full price for mine. The captains chair is another great feature of the tower. That and ankle weights make for a good ab workout, or dips.

JNick77

Remember, you're not kipping to count towards your max. You're kipping to work your muscles just a little harder than you could otherwise.

^^^^^
THIS. Exactly, it's just a way to get repetions / volume in on your Chin-Up / Pull-Up, that's it. When you go to max out then you need to do them clean.

Swimgoddess

Will have to see about those Craigslist listings. Thanks for saving me $ on the doorframe options.

*Swoon* SOoO wish I could manage the one-handed push-ups! Hubs was trying to show me how the other day for sh!ts & giggles (not that he can do them either, just tried to illustrate the mechanics), but I have the hardest time with the changed range of motion with the elbow going more back than out...

JNick77

Great subject hun.

It'll be interesting to see what you girls are doing for pullups =D.

It's that kinda response that might explain why I get a feeling that's why the guys look at me like I broke some kinda bro-code just for trying. The looks are pretty similar to when I'd try to do the calf-raise machine before I found the release handle under the seat *DOH!* (lmao).

LOL!

As was said above...negatives and kipping are huge. I always considered kipping cheating...but once I started, I improved my 'non' kipping pullups very quickly. The same for negatives. For my negatives, I use my legs to help drive me upward while still pulling at my max with my arms...then let myself down as slow as possible.

You'll get it...8 is pretty respectable lol. That's about what I'm at now...although I'm also 180lbs.

Wow! Kipping "helps"?!? Guess I'll have to invest in a doorway pullup bar at home just for that... there's NO WAY I want to give the gym audience the satisfaction of seeing chick kips.

Have you seen most of the men at your gym to pullup's / chinup's? The gym I go to there are a handful of men that have GOOD form, most look like they're having some kind of seisure and don' even get their chin to the bar. You're driven and understand good form, you'll be fine wiht a little kip for pushing volume.

Swimgoddess

Have you seen most of the men at your gym to pullup's / chinup's? The gym I go to there are a handful of men that have GOOD form, most look like they're having some kind of seisure and don' even get their chin to the bar. You're driven and understand good form, you'll be fine wiht a little kip for pushing volume.

Uh, the only guys at mine who even approach the cable tower bar are the freakazoids who do like a million crazy-*kitten* modifications that appear way harder than a standard pullup I mean, they all look like MMA fighters with insane obliques. The guys you're talking about I only see on the bar when it was obviously the trainer's idea with much nervous laughter & headshaking on the client's part.

P.S. I'm seriously disappointed by the lack of ovaries on this thread.

AZTrailRunner

My homemade pullup bar. Several different grip angles and diameters. Made from leftover fire sprinkler pipe, the main cross bar is 1 5/8" for more grip strength, and side bars are 1 1/4". I prefer wide grip pullups the most. Makes for a broader back.

JNick77

P.S. I'm seriously disappointed by the lack of ovaries on this thread.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

foodfight247

I'd gladly jump in.....but I don't do pullups! :laugh: Have you seen the size of me! I'm tiny.

I'd initially misread the thread thinking it might be press ups.. How silly is that!....:laugh:

I'd love to be able to do pull-ups and stuff but I have to start at the beginning with dumbells & press ups etc......Haven't done these kind of exercises since my school days! Tried to get a personal trainer with no success and can't afford the gym.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :happy:

Swimgoddess

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :happy:

From one chick to another: pushups DEFINITELY helped me get ready to try pull-ups again! If you're still doing them on your knees, try 'em on your toes with a wide stance... then get those toes closer and closer so you use more of your core for balance. Weights, weights & more weights! I like to do splitsets of "21s" with a 20-25lb barbell (curl halfway up 7x, then start from halfway and curl up to your chin 7x, then curl all the way from the bottom to the top 7x) with skullcrushers (French press? YouTube) with a 30lb dumbbell (started at 20lbs maybe?). Also, splitset bench presses (started with just the bar, up to bar + 15lbs) with dumbbell (started at 8lb, up to 15lbs) chainsaw pulls (stand, dumbbell in one hand, hands just below navel. Rotate dumbbell out in front of you and up back to ear level keeping arm at 90 degrees, return to start, repeat.) But yeah, pushups & 21s I think helped the most! Best of luck & thanks for answering

Edited: just caught the no gym part. Dumbbells are pretty cheap at places like WalMart, you can substitute dumbbells for the barbells. A gallon of milk weighs about 8.5-8.8lbs. Get higher weight by adding sand.

JNick77

You can also buy a chin-up bar for home. I read on one site you if you can't do one, jump catch the bar and use the momentum to help pull yourself up. Do that until you can to multiple good chin-ups.

crisanderson27

Will have to see about those Craigslist listings. Thanks for saving me $ on the doorframe options.

*Swoon* SOoO wish I could manage the one-handed push-ups! Hubs was trying to show me how the other day for sh!ts & giggles (not that he can do them either, just tried to illustrate the mechanics), but I have the hardest time with the changed range of motion with the elbow going more back than out...

LOL! I don't do one handed pushups, yet. What I do (I do the same thing on my horizontal rows too) is use a wide stance, and shift as much of my weight as possible to my left arm first...using my right arm on the other stand just for stability. I then do a pushup, keeping my left elbow tucked, right arm wide as I can. Once I'm up, I shift to the right arm, and repeat. 10 sets (5 each arm), and I break till my heart rate drops to about 145. By the time I hit 25, I'm struggling a bit to keep good form...so I'm about to add a 20lb weighted vest. As I mentioned, same with the horizontal rows...all my weight to whichever arm I'm pulling with.

I think 1 arm pushups are sort of silly...but it's probably just because I don't do them. I used to think hand stand pushups were silly too...now I love them lol.

crisanderson27

You can also buy a chin-up bar for home. I read on one site you if you can't do one, jump catch the bar and use the momentum to help pull yourself up. Do that until you can to multiple good chin-ups.

Exactly, I call these 'ballistic assisted pullups lol'. It's what I end up doing on my last couple reps of my 5x5 set usually.

foodfight247

:laugh:

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :happy:

From one chick to another: pushups DEFINITELY helped me get ready to try pull-ups again! If you're still doing them on your knees, try 'em on your toes with a wide stance... then get those toes closer and closer so you use more of your core for balance. Weights, weights & more weights! I like to do splitsets of "21s" with a 20-25lb barbell (curl halfway up 7x, then start from halfway and curl up to your chin 7x, then curl all the way from the bottom to the top 7x) with skullcrushers (French press? YouTube) with a 30lb dumbbell (started at 20lbs maybe?). Also, splitset bench presses (started with just the bar, up to bar + 15lbs) with dumbbell (started at 8lb, up to 15lbs) chainsaw pulls (stand, dumbbell in one hand, hands just below navel. Rotate dumbbell out in front of you and up back to ear level keeping arm at 90 degrees, return to start, repeat.) But yeah, pushups & 21s I think helped the most! Best of luck & thanks for answering

Edited: just caught the no gym part. Dumbbells are pretty cheap at places like WalMart, you can substitute dumbbells for the barbells. A gallon of milk weighs about 8.5-8.8lbs. Get higher weight by adding sand.

Yer gonna laugh!! I'm sat here reading what you said and thinking....what!, what's that mean? Don't worry, I've cut n pasted your post so i can refer to it along wth cris's workouts....I've got 2 & 3lb dumbells already, so that's a start. I have to say, and it will make you laugh....I can only just get a good 20 reps in a set of 2lb dumbells! I soooo need to
get the weight on and do some of these exercises/workouts to give me some tone and curve!

I'm laughing - I'll get there - just a complete newbie! Thank you sooo much for answering my post tho... Really appreciated.

foodfight247

Oh geez - I'm looking really dumb here, cos I'm sat reading your posts and I don't know or even heard of half of the terminology and excercise names! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I'll get there! :happy: slightly embarrassed.

foodfight247

Oh geez - I'm looking really dumb here, cos I'm sat reading your posts and I don't know or even heard of half of the terminology and excercise names! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I'll get there! :happy: slightly embarrassed.

crisanderson27

:laugh:

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :happy:

From one chick to another: pushups DEFINITELY helped me get ready to try pull-ups again! If you're still doing them on your knees, try 'em on your toes with a wide stance... then get those toes closer and closer so you use more of your core for balance. Weights, weights & more weights! I like to do splitsets of "21s" with a 20-25lb barbell (curl halfway up 7x, then start from halfway and curl up to your chin 7x, then curl all the way from the bottom to the top 7x) with skullcrushers (French press? YouTube) with a 30lb dumbbell (started at 20lbs maybe?). Also, splitset bench presses (started with just the bar, up to bar + 15lbs) with dumbbell (started at 8lb, up to 15lbs) chainsaw pulls (stand, dumbbell in one hand, hands just below navel. Rotate dumbbell out in front of you and up back to ear level keeping arm at 90 degrees, return to start, repeat.) But yeah, pushups & 21s I think helped the most! Best of luck & thanks for answering

Edited: just caught the no gym part. Dumbbells are pretty cheap at places like WalMart, you can substitute dumbbells for the barbells. A gallon of milk weighs about 8.5-8.8lbs. Get higher weight by adding sand.

Yer gonna laugh!! I'm sat here reading what you said and thinking....what!, what's that mean? Don't worry, I've cut n pasted your post so i can refer to it along wth cris's workouts....I've got 2 & 3lb dumbells already, so that's a start. I have to say, and it will make you laugh....I can only just get a good 20 reps in a set of 2lb dumbells! I soooo need to
get the weight on and do some of these exercises/workouts to give me some tone and curve!

I'm laughing - I'll get there - just a complete newbie! Thank you sooo much for answering my post tho... Really appreciated.

You should definitely start with the bodyweight stuff, just to get some basic conditioning in first. If you do it the way I do it...it'll be all you really need for awhile. If you want to push harder (like I do), weights are always an option. They're $1/lb or so where I am...so it gets a bit expensive when you have to have 55lb+ weights to be seriously effective like I do lol.

As for reps...you don't need or want to be doing 20 reps of anything in a row. If you can get 5-8 solid reps, then the weight is just a bit light for you. You should feel its a struggle to maintain good form in that rep range for best gains.

JNick77

You can also buy a chin-up bar for home. I read on one site you if you can't do one, jump catch the bar and use the momentum to help pull yourself up. Do that until you can to multiple good chin-ups.

Exactly, I call these 'ballistic assisted pullups lol'. It's what I end up doing on my last couple reps of my 5x5 set usually.

That's cool. It's funny because I know this but I never apply it... I really need to remember this for next Wednesday. Right now I'm trying to hit 4 sets of a solid 10 reps and I end up only getting 9 on the 3rd and 10 on the 4th. I do a 5th set where I just hold it at the top for as long as I can, seems to be helping too. Then I do sets of heavy lat pulldowns supersetted with straight arm pulldowns.

foodfight247

Cris
You should definitely start with the bodyweight stuff, just to get some basic conditioning in first. If you do it the way I do it...it'll be all you really need for awhile. If you want to push harder (like I do), weights are always an option. They're $1/lb or so where I am...so it gets a bit expensive when you have to have 55lb+ weights to be seriously effective like I do lol.

As for reps...you don't need or want to be doing 20 reps of anything in a row. If you can get 5-8 solid reps, then the weight is just a bit light for you. You should feel its a struggle to maintain good form in that rep range for best gains

*********
Right, I'll do that. Being completely backwards n all, what are you referring to as Reps? (Repitition of the same movement?) If thats the case then, when you log your excercise as say 10 reps in however many sets, then how many sets would you say. Just the one set?

Slightly embarrassing but really interested. No point doing this unless I know exactly what I'm doing.:happy:

Cbandelier

What is kipping?

crisanderson27

You should definitely start with the bodyweight stuff, just to get some basic conditioning in first. If you do it the way I do it...it'll be all you really need for awhile. If you want to push harder (like I do), weights are always an option. They're $1/lb or so where I am...so it gets a bit expensive when you have to have 55lb+ weights to be seriously effective like I do lol.

As for reps...you don't need or want to be doing 20 reps of anything in a row. If you can get 5-8 solid reps, then the weight is just a bit light for you. You should feel its a struggle to maintain good form in that rep range for best gains

*********
Right, I'll do that. Being completely backwards n all, what are you referring to as Reps? (Repitition of the same movement?) If thats the case then, when you log your excercise as say 10 reps in however many sets, then how many sets would you say. Just the one set?

Slightly embarrassing but really interested. No point doing this unless I know exactly what I'm doing.:happy:

Yes, a rep is one movement in an exercise. If I say 10x5, or 5x5...that means 10 reps, 5 sets, for 50 total movements (I only do 10 reps when it's a split exercise, separate for each leg etc). Or 5 reps, 5 sets, for 25 total movements.

So, if you were to do pushups...you'd do 5x5, which means you'd do 5 pushups, rest a short bit, 5 more, rest...etc, repeat 5x total. Then you'd break for a minute or so, and start on your next exercise...which in my case would be horizontal rows.