Negative reps

Yogi_Carl
Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am working on chin-ups and pullups. I cannot do one pullups or chin-up yet but I am gaining strength from the assisted chin-ups and pullups I am doing.

Assisted is by putting a chair just forward of the pullup bar and using one foot on the chair seat to assist just enough to do the rep and assisting less on the way down; 3 set of 8-10 reps with one minute rests between. This is for chin-ups as these are slightly easier than pullups.

I am also doing 3 x 8-10 inverted rowing (let-me-ups) before I do the chin-ups. That way, I am warmed up for the harder exercise and I get the benefit or over and under grips between the two exercises.

I have planned to do these (as part of a full bodyweight exercise routine) three times a week.

My question is I want to add in some negative reps, but am not sure how much is too much.

My gut feeling is I do 1 set of 5 reps for chins and then pullups and only do these on one session per week and not the other two.

edit: I should add I am 2 stone overweight and that would be about 17% of my ideal bodyweight (I should be around 10 stone at 5'3" and am currently 12 stone) - so that is not helping me pull up. It may be of benefit to my negatives though! I'm working on reducing BF.

Any advice really appreciated.

Replies

  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    You can do more sessions of chins/pulls than you think: maybe 3 sessions a week. M-W-F?

    Negatives (say 4-6 seconds down) will rapidly improve them. Aim to add an extra rep every time you hit them. Pulls are easier because there is extra bicep work in there. But you should vary your hand position between sets to rapidly gain upper body strength....

    You should dispense with assisted chins/pulls almost immediately when you can do a couple in a row unassisted. You'll develop more rapidly this way. Negatives are the key!
  • DonC77
    DonC77 Posts: 92 Member
    You can do more sessions of chins/pulls than you think: maybe 3 sessions a week. M-W-F?

    Negatives (say 4-6 seconds down) will rapidly improve them. Aim to add an extra rep every time you hit them. Pulls are easier because there is extra bicep work in there. But you should vary your hand position between sets to rapidly gain upper body strength....

    You should dispensing with assisted chins/pulls almost immediately when you can do a couple in a row unassisted. You'll develop more rapidly this way. Negatives are the key!

    Agree 100%. slow negs and working them 3 days a week I went from only being able to do 5 -6 to 3 sets of 8 in a 4 week span. These were pulls.
    I just switched to wide grip and dropped in reps by a couple a set, will work them back up. But definitely varying the hand position is a solid idea.
  • dan95130
    dan95130 Posts: 78 Member
    I just finished P90X and my one disappointment with the program and the only area where I did not make a major improvement, was that I did not increase my pullups. I suspect that it was because I did all assisted pullups. I followed all the published suggestions but my ending number was the same as my starting number. Begining next week, I am going to try they "20 pullup challenge" which relies on negitives to build strength in the early weeks. It's worth a try. http://twentypullups.com/node/1
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    Thanks. So I am already working chin-ups into my strength days three times a week, but I'll be putting in negative reps each time. I was thinking only once a week with the reps because they are a really intense way of working, but I'll see how it goes.

    edit: I've saved the 20 pullups link to use. Thank you.

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