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    Need tips on how to complete my first pull up/chin up ever!

    Posts: 78 Member
    edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
    I need help! How to you succeed in completing a pull up or chin up? I am doing P90X and then only exercises I can't do so far are the pull ups and chin ups. Right now I am using an exercise band and pulling down like the girl on the video. If I try to do one, I get nothing except like I am going to strain my biceps and shoulders and pull something.

    What needs to be built up to get that first one done? Do you need bicep strength, shoulder strength, back strength?? Should I be using a chair as an assist or a family member to spot me?

    Thanks!

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    Replies

    • Posts: 797 Member
      For me, it was a mix of bicep and shoulder training that helped me.....I added a lot of bicep curls and tricep dips. I don't know if you have a gym membership, buy my gym has an assisted pull up machine that basically is a big pull up rack that has a platform you stand on that raises with you, so your feet are never off of it. It's hydrolic, so it lifts a little bit on it's own, but you still have to use your own effort to really get it. I worked out on that a bit to learn what muscles I needed to isolate in order to really do a pull up.

      And just keep at it. It took me MONTHS before I could even do one!!! I could be wrong, but I think it's one of the harder tricks to master. :)
    • Posts: 2,001 Member
      google progressive pull up routines
    • Posts: 437 Member
      I agree to google progressive pull up :)

      I use the assisted pull up machine at the gym... started with 260# of assistance... down to 180# :)

      I also do negatives when I am out with the kids at the park... just trying to hang there as long as I can... when I started I couldn't do 2 seconds... now I can do 9-10... soon I will try pulling up...
    • Posts: 1,322 Member
      Try negative pulls ups.
      If you are using the chair to assist you, put it as far as you can take it. Then Pull yourself up and slowly come down.

      I did this and I went from being able to do 1 chin up and no pull ups to about 8 chin ups and 5 pull ups by the end of the 90 day program. Today I can do about 12 - 15 chin ups and about 8 - 10 pull ups.
    • Posts: 1,490 Member
      I did negatives. I tried chair pull ups, but I felt like I used too much of my leg.
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