How to do a pull up?

Slow negatives can help, as can horizontal rows which tend to work many of the same muscles as pullups. Dips apparently have a very strong lat component like pullups too, even stronger actually according to some.

The pullup and row progressions from the bodyweight strength programme I do myself I'll include below, but find progress in pullups the slowest of all my movements. Weight will be an element, and I definitely find things easier now that I'm only somewhere between 5 & 10lbs above a weight that would be optimal for my current build. You may need to lose more weight, but in the meantime you can work through the progressions.

One thing I found myself, was there's a mindset involved, as I would try do a pullup most days just out of curiousity to see how far I would get, which would usually be no more than a couple of inches. Then one day I decided to just pull as hard as I could, and keep pulling, and found I was actually pulling myself up! Once you are anywhere near a full pullup, I would say to try do one whenever you can, and 'grease-the-groove'. Your body should tell you when is a good time to try, and when is a good time to leave it, as personally I found and find pullups very hard on the system in terms of recovery.

http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/pull-up-progression.html

http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/horizontal-pulls-progression.html

A solid progression will help. I wouldn’t start with negatives though. Many gyms have an assisted pull up machine (it has a weight levered pad that helps push you up).

Short of that, I’d find a smith machine and with the bar just higher than you can reach from your knees, do pull ups and use your legs to help just enough that you can complete the set.

Or, if your gym has bands, you can then use the bands on the pull up bar. After you master one band, get a thinner one for the next go. Keep your body straight so you’re doing the work and not bouncing (kipping).

Once you can do a single pull up unassisted, then you may want to use negatives to improve. The muscles will be trained and should be able to handle a negatives workout from time to time (not every time).

And yes, every pound you lose is one less you have to pull.

I weigh approximately the same as you and I can do pull ups. However, it took me a year to get there. I also lost 10% body fat but stayed the same weight. In that year, I worked on pull ups 3-5x per week with negatives, bands, jumping pull ups, inverted rows, barbell rows, scap retractions, dumbbell rows, lat pull downs, seated pulley rows, and a TON of core work.

I got a 315 deadlift before I got a pull up.

The only thing that finally got me a pull up was just hanging on the bar every day and trying to pull up another millimeter until eventually all these muscles I'd been working engaged. That was in October. I still work on them the same amount but am only up to two consecutive most days; once I did three. But, I usually do a total of about 10 dead hang pull ups most days I work out.

The assisted pull up machine was a joke. I would start with bands or negatives.

The way I start my clients off is to do inverted pull ups (or horizontal pullups), then progress them to standing on a step or box step, then slightly jumping up to help with the pullup and coming down slower, to eventually doing a pullup without jumping. But as mentioned, to get good that them, you actually have to do them. IMO, pullups are a "real" way to help test your strength. Many people can squat and bench press press a lot of weight, but even some of the strongest guys in the gym have trouble doing just 3 pull ups.

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The only way to get better at pull-ups is to do pull-ups, is what I've heard. I bought "Serious Steel" brand pull up assistance bands, which come with different levels of assistance. The idea is that you transition down to lower assistance levels the stronger you get. Here's their table:



I'm 149 lbs (recently.. was 160 when we bought the bands), I can do zero unassisted pull-ups, so I have a level 4 band. I am about to start doing multiple sets with it. Then I think I'll buy the level 3 band and see how I do with it.

Edit: I just realized how much this sounds like an ad. My husband bought these bands off of amazon and I quite like them, but any band will do, just look at the manufacturer's chart to make sure you have the right one. We bought a level 1 band because we didn't read the chart and were like, "herp-a-derp, I'm new so I should start with level 1." Level 1 is the least resistance. Oops.

Getting strong enough to do a pull-up is one of my goals for this year. I found this article on Pullups for Total Beginners and I think this is the method I will use to get there: http://scoobysworkshop.com/pullups-for-total-beginners/