The Cornerstone of Upper Body Strength: The Pullup

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  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    For those of you that are having trouble getting 1 pullup OR 1 chinup, and cannot buy resistance bands from a Sporting goods store. If you have a significant other help you, have them slightly assist you on the way up. Do 10 sets of 1 pullup this way until you build the strength up to do 1 by yourself. If you don't have a significant other, and ALL other methods are not going to work, THEN you can use the assisted pullup machine. I don't recommend using this though.
  • qtiekiki
    qtiekiki Posts: 1,490 Member
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    Negative pull up is when you start in a pull up position and slowly lower yourself, so you are doing the opposite of a pull up.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opr72q6NKTc
  • jenj1313
    jenj1313 Posts: 898 Member
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    Never mind... found my answer.
  • mollykat73
    mollykat73 Posts: 56 Member
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    Thank you for this great info!
  • lesita75
    lesita75 Posts: 379 Member
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    Thank you for the info. I WILL conquer pull ups!!!
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    lol, I can do 1 and a half... I will get to 10 in a row! THAT will be my BHAG accomplished!
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    For those of you that are having trouble getting 1 pullup OR 1 chinup, and cannot buy resistance bands from a Sporting goods store. If you have a significant other help you, have them slightly assist you on the way up. Do 10 sets of 1 pullup this way until you build the strength up to do 1 by yourself. If you don't have a significant other, and ALL other methods are not going to work, THEN you can use the assisted pullup machine. I don't recommend using this though.

    Does the strength or type of resistance band matter? I have some light weight ones... and a set that came with Billy Banks boot camp series...
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    I'm loving the positive energy in this thread. Ahh-mazing. =)
  • ThatsNotMine
    ThatsNotMine Posts: 75 Member
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    Great info! Love the zombie analogy!
  • NYactor1
    NYactor1 Posts: 9,642 Member
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    bump
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    I'm loving the positive energy in this thread. Ahh-mazing. =)

    And thanks for posting this... I am wanting to do one of those challange course 5k's in November... and it's been so long since I have done any significant strength training.... and while I remember most things... pullups/chinups have always been the bane of my existance and I have only done the assisted kind. So these tips are great....
  • qtiekiki
    qtiekiki Posts: 1,490 Member
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    For those of you that are having trouble getting 1 pullup OR 1 chinup, and cannot buy resistance bands from a Sporting goods store. If you have a significant other help you, have them slightly assist you on the way up. Do 10 sets of 1 pullup this way until you build the strength up to do 1 by yourself. If you don't have a significant other, and ALL other methods are not going to work, THEN you can use the assisted pullup machine. I don't recommend using this though.

    Does the strength or type of resistance band matter? I have some light weight ones... and a set that came with Billy Banks boot camp series...

    The higher resistance the band has, the easier the pull ups.
  • think48
    think48 Posts: 366 Member
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    Bump! Awesome!
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
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    Good post, but I have to disagree on the difference b/w pull-ups and chin-ups.

    Pull-ups don't have anymore back involvement than chin-ups. Just think about where the muscles attach. They dont' attach to your forearm! The reason chin-ups are easier is b/c you have more biceps activation. So you're just using more muscles, which is why the chin-up is the real king of upper body exercises and has been proven to activate more upper-body muscles to exercise levels than any other upper body exercise.

    You couldn't be more wrong.

    I think the real variance between the two is that the chin-up (palms facing you) has more bicep engagement which is what gives you additional leverage in the movement. The Chin-Up based on an EMF (I think that's what it's called at least) study is the #1 most effective exercise for engaging the bicep, not curls.
    5. Use hip drive.
    I don't care what anyone says. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using momentum when starting out to build pullup strength. Granted you need to eventually do pullups without hip drive, but it will help with strength

    My only comment on this is that I would recommend doing good form chins/pulls first and then as you fatigue incorporate a "kip".

    Also, as you fatigue and can no longer do a full range of motion chin-up even with a kip, do partials until you completely fail.
  • bellesouth18
    bellesouth18 Posts: 1,069 Member
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    My first bump so I can read it all later. :bigsmile:
  • epmck11
    epmck11 Posts: 159 Member
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    I mean......................Opinions can vary on this. Chinups and Pullups are a mans exercise no doubt.
    But for me to call it the best its hard to overlook things such as bench, squats, deads. Chinups/Pullups are right there though.
    The information and quality of the post is there and many will learn from it so thats a gret job by you

    But in the scenario below I will take the dealifter
    And I will use PHRAK the guy who posted above

    Phrak. Who can deadlift 800 lbs but onlyp ullup his wiehgt 4 times
    vs
    SUPER HUMAN 10000 PULLUP GUY

    PHRAK=WINNER



    FACT

    Chinups/Pullups don't involve your legs. The biggest muscle on the human body
    Squats/Deads/Bench do.

    I haven't read the entire thread, but has someone pointed out to this guy yet that the thread is about UPPER BODY STRENGTH and so it intentionally leaves out leg workouts?
  • Beezil
    Beezil Posts: 1,677 Member
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    I did pullups for the first time about a month ago at the park...lol. I was so proud of myself because I did 3 - I could barely do 1 in school. I know I probably could have done more, but my kid was running around and I had to get back to watching him. xD
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
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    Good post.

    I don't 100% agree with the degree that you're taking the avoidance of the assist machine, only in that I think people who are clearly nowhere NEAR being able to do a pullup would get good use from the assist machine. Once you get remotely close to being able to do 1 pullup, moving to the real bar with a spotter or resistance band would be a good plan.

    Also curious Joe, you make mention of "number of pullups" being an indicator of upper body strength. I think at a certain point (a given rep range), training goals need to be factored in. For example, I can probably do somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 pullups at a guess, but to me it's not important as I'm adding more weight whenever I can hit 5 or 6 clean reps.

    I'm sure you've got thoughts on the above topic, I just didn't see mention of it so I'm curious what you think on that.
  • lisaisso
    lisaisso Posts: 337 Member
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    bump!
    great info, thanks!
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    Weighted 10-2's. Hmm, must try that.

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