Pull up recommendations?

hypotrochoid

I have a pull up bar and ha've been working on negative chin ups for the past several months and am really not progressing. I fully acknowledge that I may be doing them wrong. I don't have access to an assisted pull up machine, and probably wouldn't use it if I did.

I've tried the chair method thingie from P90x, but the form feels very off. No likey.

So, since a huge goal of mine is to actually do a $%&*(@# chin up, and an even larger one is to do an unassisted pull up, I'm leaning towards using resistance bands to help me get there.

I found this thing: http://www.amazon.com/P90X-Chin-up-Max-Pull-Assist/dp/B005DA64QG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357742610&sr=8-1&keywords=assisted+pull+up+bands

And then a bunch of regular resistance bands. The Chin up Max Pull Assist is tempting as it says it's adjustable and has decent reviews, but I'm waffling.

Any recommendations for resistance bands that will help me attain the elusive chin/pull up? Or should I save my money and keep working on the negatives?

KaydaRN

Look into rubberbanditz.com

hypotrochoid

Look into rubberbanditz.com

Thanks for the response. Those price points are scary, but about par for the course from what I've seen. Have you used these guys?

Simplicity

How many negatives can you do. Are you doing hands at shoulder width palms facing forward? I started be able to do 1 ( proper pull up) after two weeks using negatives I could do 4 full pull ups un assisted.
For the negative ones I focused on coming down as slow as possible. Is weird but the first set is my worst then by the next time I do it 10 mins later I'm feeling warmed up and I go much better.
Hope this made sense. Go slow give it time. It's a hard exercise.
Good luck

KaydaRN

I have 3 different bands, because they are easy to travel with and use as part of a mobil gym. I can do 5 chin ups without the aid of the bands. I recomend the Medium, Heavy, Robust Resistance Band Combo if you use for more than pull ups but otherwise look at their scale for pullups to weight.

hypotrochoid

How many negatives can you do. Are you doing hands at shoulder width palms facing forward? I started be able to do 1 ( proper pull up) after two weeks using negatives I could do 4 full pull ups un assisted.
For the negative ones I focused on coming down as slow as possible. Is weird but the first set is my worst then by the next time I do it 10 mins later I'm feeling warmed up and I go much better.
Hope this made sense. Go slow give it time. It's a hard exercise.
Good luck

I've been following this: http://scoobysworkshop.com/pullups-for-total-beginners/ .

I've made it to phase three, but my attempted chin up consists of me hanging and twitching like a dead fish until I want to cry and drop off the bar. I follow that with five sets of six reps of negatives, doing every other day as recommended. I know this is progress, but after four months I'd like to be able to do at least one of the damned things. Hands are at shoulder width, palms facing me as chin ups are supposed to be 'easier' and are a stepping stone to the elusive pull up.

hypotrochoid

I have 3 different bands, because they are easy to travel with and use as part of a mobil gym. I can do 5 chin ups without the aid of the bands. I recomend the Medium, Heavy, Robust Resistance Band Combo if you use for more than pull ups but otherwise look at their scale for pullups to weight.

Awesome. I'll put these on the short list. Thanks again!

hypotrochoid

Any other pro/con thoughts on this?

Simplicity

i like the line, twitching like a dead fish lol. In P90X they use bands as a substitute so yeah try them. also another exercise to try is.
step 1 grab a small towel or old shirt and find an open a door with handles on both sides
step 2 stand one leg each side of the door
step 3 wrap the towel or shirt around both handles so that you have the ends one in each hand but you can lean back and your weight is taken by the shirt.
step 4. bend your knees and lean back.
step 5 pull yourself up towards the door and back in slow pull up motion contractng the muscles.
step 6 if too easy. move legs further down the door and lean further back till you are pulling your whole body weight towards the door.

Now i hope that made some sort of sense but it was supposed to be an alternative to push ups a while ago. I will try and find a link to the pictures as its a strange technique

Simplicity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPvK5FamZKY
here is a link to a very short video explaining what i meant

Capt_Apollo

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/04/25/do-a-pull-up/

toddis

Are you letting yourself fully drop from the bar or are you retaining some tension at the bottom?

ArroganceInStep

my attempted chin up consists of me hanging and twitching like a dead fish until I want to cry and drop off the bar. I follow that with five sets of six reps of negatives, doing every other day as recommended. I know this is progress, but after four months I'd like to be able to do at least one of the damned things.

How slow are your negatives?

hypotrochoid

i like the line, twitching like a dead fish lol. In P90X they use bands as a substitute so yeah try them. also another exercise to try is.
step 1 grab a small towel or old shirt and find an open a door with handles on both sides
step 2 stand one leg each side of the door
step 3 wrap the towel or shirt around both handles so that you have the ends one in each hand but you can lean back and your weight is taken by the shirt.
step 4. bend your knees and lean back.
step 5 pull yourself up towards the door and back in slow pull up motion contractng the muscles.
step 6 if too easy. move legs further down the door and lean further back till you are pulling your whole body weight towards the door.

Now i hope that made some sort of sense but it was supposed to be an alternative to push ups a while ago. I will try and find a link to the pictures as its a strange technique

Looks vaguely like what the sheet my pull up bar came with calls "Australians". I did those those for awhile, but stopped in favour of pushups, dumbell and barbell rows, and dips. Maybe I should revisit.

hypotrochoid

Are you letting yourself fully drop from the bar or are you retaining some tension at the bottom?

The attempted chin ups are a disaster- I hold on and strain trying to get the lift but it doesn't happen. I do keep tension on the negatives, slowly lowering. Well, if 3 to 4 seconds counts as slow, at least.

hypotrochoid

my attempted chin up consists of me hanging and twitching like a dead fish until I want to cry and drop off the bar. I follow that with five sets of six reps of negatives, doing every other day as recommended. I know this is progress, but after four months I'd like to be able to do at least one of the damned things.

How slow are your negatives?

3 to 4 seconds to lower.

hypotrochoid

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/04/25/do-a-pull-up/

I've seen that one... maybe I should start over?

newcs

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/04/25/do-a-pull-up/

I've seen that one... maybe I should start over?

My goal is a full unassisted pull up and I've been using that plan. I did the dumbell rows and got up to 25lbs for 10 reps so I moved to inverted rows which are HARD. I think I'm at the lowest notch on the smith machine that I can actually get under so I'm going to move my feet to a bench when these get easier. I'm about 30-40% to a pull up now (I had my girlfriend watch and estimate how much of it I can actually do).

Also try asking this on nerdfitnessrebellion.com (the NF forums). Lots of people over there are big into bodyweight exercises and might be a lot of help. I had them critique my workout yesterday and it was great.

demorelli

My kickboxing teacher would have us take turns holding each other's feet. Basically you hold onto the bar and have someone stand behind you standing normally. Bend your knees one at a time until your weight is off the ground. You can push off with your legs for a little extra strength if you need it and it takes a little of the body weight off.

toddis

Is your pullup bar firmly mounted? Could you try kipping? (don't do with the over the door bars)

hypotrochoid

UPDATE: I got a set of resistance bands to use on my pullup bar. Maybe they're helping, maybe it's my newfound determination, but without their assistance I can at least engage my muscles and start to pull myself up towards the bar. Not very far, but it's progress. I'm going to keep working with the band until I can do 20 with it, then go to a lighter band that won't help me as much, and so on until I'm weaned off them. So excited!

Yogi_Carl

I started by looping a full set of resistance bands off the pullup bar and doing five sets to failure then my plan is to take the easiest band off the bar when I can do 5x8 and work up to 5 x8 again, take the next easiest band off and so on until I am pulling up unassisted.

edit: I'm using the resistance bands by dropping one knee into the loops like a sling.

hypotrochoid

I started by looping a full set of resistance bands off the pullup bar and doing five sets to failure then my plan is to take the easiest band off the bar when I can do 5x8 and work up to 5 x8 again, take the next easiest band off and so on until I am pulling up unassisted.

edit: I'm using the resistance bands by dropping one knee into the loops like a sling.

I'm doing it the same way, with the knee in the band. Good luck!

miriamwithcats

I have a toddler granddaughter going through potty training, so I was thinking of a different kind of pull up!

creech6317

If you are still looking for help, one of the posters here on MFP turned me onto this website.

Al Kavadlo - We're working out.

It is great, he has a lot of step by step tutorials on how to do body weight exercises, that work up to being able to do some really amazing things (human flag and whatnot).

hypotrochoid

If you are still looking for help, one of the posters here on MFP turned me onto this website.

Al Kavadlo - We're working out.

It is great, he has a lot of step by step tutorials on how to do body weight exercises, that work up to being able to do some really amazing things (human flag and whatnot).

Shiny! I'll have to play there.

Yogi_Carl

checking out the Al Kavadlo - We're working out thing as well - good luck with your pullups!

Hadabetter

There is no skill to a proper pull up - no technique. You jump up, grab the bar, hang in an extended position, and then overcome gravity with your Lats. Nothing more. Nothing less. No kicking, no squirming, no gyrations. You pull yourself up smoothly in a demonstration of your power over gravity. You release the bar, and then you give the "stink eye" to everyone who doubted you. Victory!

Key #1. Pull less weight. Get lean. Women over 20% body fat, or even in the high teens are going to have difficulty.

Key #2. Develop strong Lats. Find a Lat pull-down machine and go hard on it. By "hard" I mean, use the most weight you can while still getting 8 good SLOW reps. A good rep has perfect form (no squirming, as mentioned above). It is slow and controlled. The negative portion of the rep is slower than the positive portion. Up and down should take around 8-10 seconds. Your set "to failure" should take ~ 90 seconds.

There are 3 types of Muscle "failure" (or more accurately, "temporary muscle exhaustion") - positive, neutral, and negative.
Positive: You can no longer raise the weight.
Neutral: You can no longer keep the weight from lowering.
Negative: You can no longer slow the descent of the weight.
You should have a close, intimate relationship with each of these on the last rep of every set you perform. If you cheat, you're just cheating yourself. I have no tips on this other than to just learn to love the discomfort. Go Medieval on it!

If you do these with proper intensity, you should not do them more than twice a week. Every time you do them your goal is to do one more rep (with perfect form) until you get to 12 reps, then you increase the weight 5 pounds. When the weight on your lat machine equals your body weight you are ready to make your statement!

Key #3. We want pictures of your success.

Yogi_Carl

Thanks Hadabetter - I prefer to do it without the Lat machine, but thanks.

sarafil

just bumping for later.....I am also working towards pull ups and this is great info.

toddis

When I was in the military the women had to do flexed arm hangs,
basically holding themselves at the top of the bar for as long as they could.
Not sure if that would help.

If you do try to do that, make sure you have someone around to help you
get off the bar (some people's muscles would lock)