Pullup game getting weaker

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justinkimcentral wrote: »

Warmed*

I do them every session. Two days a week with added weight and one day just body weight shooting for speed and max reps. One of the things I've noticed is that for me, if I don't breath properly I get gassed early. I like to kinda hyper-ventilate and get my blood flooded with oxygen right before the attempt and make sure I get a big deep breath on the way down and get it all out on the way up. When I start losing steam I may pause at the bottom for a couple of seconds and get a couple of deep breaths in before I start pulling again.... sounds odd maybe, but it means the difference of a 3-5 pullups for me on a max attempt.

justinkimcentral wrote: »

jseams1234 wrote: »

justinkimcentral wrote: »

Warmed*

I do them every session. Two days a week with added weight and one day just body weight shooting for speed and max reps. One of the things I've noticed is that for me, if I don't breath properly I get gassed early. I like to kinda hyper-ventilate and get my blood flooded with oxygen right before the attempt and make sure I get a big deep breath on the way down and get it all out on the way up. When I start losing steam I may pause at the bottom for a couple of seconds and get a couple of deep breaths in before I start pulling again.... sounds odd maybe, but it means the difference of a 3-5 pullups for me on a max attempt.

Do you do them first thing in the gym or like after some exercises or at end and why

I do them after Bench Press. I also have a significant warm-up for them since my elbows are always crunchy. I'll use the lat machine and do 10 reps at 130, then 8 reps at 150, 5 reps at 170 and then 3 at 200 and 2 at 220. Rest a few minutes and then hit the bar.

Some days and weeks are just weaker. On a good day/week I can do 10. On an average week 7-8. On a bad week 5-6. It just varies between how much rest I've had, hand placement, what stage in my workout I'm doing them, etc. You might also want to check if you have any vitamin deficiencies. Check your Vit. D and B levels especially as well as your iron. Dehydration and anemia can have a huge effect.

paulmwood wrote: »

A good approach to improving pull ups is to gradually add volume, rather than doing all-out sets, which you're likely to plateau on fairly quickly. This may be what happened in your case.

If you're struggling to get 3 reps, I'd suggest doing lots of singles spread throughout your workout, so you might initially aim for, say, 10x1. Make sure all of these are perfect, from dead hang, if they start to turn into grinders, call it a day. Add a set or two each workout, until you get to, say, 20x1, then start doing doubles and work back up again, then triples etc. After a few weeks of this, take a few days off and retest your max.

That's an interesting approach, I'll have to try it as well. I can do 1 perfect pull up just about any time I want, it's more than that that start to wear me down. By the time I hit the third it's not clean at all, and anything more is just plain sloppy.

jseams1234 wrote: »

One of the things I've noticed is that for me, if I don't breath properly I get gassed early. I like to kinda hyper-ventilate and get my blood flooded with oxygen right before the attempt and make sure I get a big deep breath on the way down and get it all out on the way up. When I start losing steam I may pause at the bottom for a couple of seconds and get a couple of deep breaths in before I start pulling again.... sounds odd maybe, but it means the difference of a 3-5 pullups for me on a max attempt.

I've also never thought about breathing technique when doing pull ups. That's something else I'm going to try.

Thanks to the OP for the question, lots of great info here.

Now if someone can tell me how to get past a bout of tennis elbow I've managed to give myself attempting more than 4-5 pull ups hah. I think some days my body is just telling me "hey doofus, stop trying to do those!".

Spliner1969 wrote: »

paulmwood wrote: »

A good approach to improving pull ups is to gradually add volume, rather than doing all-out sets, which you're likely to plateau on fairly quickly. This may be what happened in your case.

If you're struggling to get 3 reps, I'd suggest doing lots of singles spread throughout your workout, so you might initially aim for, say, 10x1. Make sure all of these are perfect, from dead hang, if they start to turn into grinders, call it a day. Add a set or two each workout, until you get to, say, 20x1, then start doing doubles and work back up again, then triples etc. After a few weeks of this, take a few days off and retest your max.

That's an interesting approach, I'll have to try it as well. I can do 1 perfect pull up just about any time I want, it's more than that that start to wear me down. By the time I hit the third it's not clean at all, and anything more is just plain sloppy.

jseams1234 wrote: »

One of the things I've noticed is that for me, if I don't breath properly I get gassed early. I like to kinda hyper-ventilate and get my blood flooded with oxygen right before the attempt and make sure I get a big deep breath on the way down and get it all out on the way up. When I start losing steam I may pause at the bottom for a couple of seconds and get a couple of deep breaths in before I start pulling again.... sounds odd maybe, but it means the difference of a 3-5 pullups for me on a max attempt.

I've also never thought about breathing technique when doing pull ups. That's something else I'm going to try.

Thanks to the OP for the question, lots of great info here.

Now if someone can tell me how to get past a bout of tennis elbow I've managed to give myself attempting more than 4-5 pull ups hah. I think some days my body is just telling me "hey doofus, stop trying to do those!".

I've got you covered there! Go get an elbow tendon strap. Did wonders for me. I actually got a large and used it up near my armpit for a while to help with some shoulder tendonitis.

https://www.amazon.com/McDavid-Elbow-Strap-Tendonitis-Tennis/dp/B002DPJEW0

@mom23mangos and @jseams1234 thank you both! I will give it a shot. Been dealing with it for probably about six months now. I'll quit using the arm for several weeks last fall and it got better then as soon as I start up again.. bam it's an issue. Been working on technique which helps but it's still a problem. Hopefully those straps will help! Ordering one today.

A lot of great advice in this thread. One thing I've been doing recently since I've started doing heavy dead lifts is using weight lifting chalk. This chalk is really helpful on pull ups as well. Having the extra grip strength makes me feel stronger and more confident through out the set maybe gets me an extra rep or so.

Spliner1969 wrote: »

paulmwood wrote: »

For tennis / golfer's elbow issues, using a neutral (hammer) grip can help to not aggravate it.

Gonna need to get a new bar for that. But you may very well be right. My first one was a removable one that had those grips, but I gave it away and installed a bar in a doorway that also folds down to do rows. I'll have to go shopping

Get rings instead if you can. You can just hang them from your existing bar. That way your wrists will just automatically move to the most ergonomic position.

mom23mangos wrote: »

I've got you covered there! Go get an elbow tendon strap. Did wonders for me. I actually got a large and used it up near my armpit for a while to help with some shoulder tendonitis.

https://www.amazon.com/McDavid-Elbow-Strap-Tendonitis-Tennis/dp/B002DPJEW0

Strap arrived Saturday and it works wonders. I can't believe what a little pressure does for that issue. Thank you! Have not tested pull ups just yet, took a few weeks off those to hopefully let this heal, but was noticing it more and more just lifting free weights and the pain is gone with that strap on. I guess time will tell if it's actually solving anything long term but love the strap so far.

Spliner1969 wrote: »

mom23mangos wrote: »

I've got you covered there! Go get an elbow tendon strap. Did wonders for me. I actually got a large and used it up near my armpit for a while to help with some shoulder tendonitis.

https://www.amazon.com/McDavid-Elbow-Strap-Tendonitis-Tennis/dp/B002DPJEW0

Strap arrived Saturday and it works wonders. I can't believe what a little pressure does for that issue. Thank you! Have not tested pull ups just yet, took a few weeks off those to hopefully let this heal, but was noticing it more and more just lifting free weights and the pain is gone with that strap on. I guess time will tell if it's actually solving anything long term but love the strap so far.

I've gotten so paranoid about my tendinitis that I wear my straps whenever I lift - regardless if I have a current issue or not.

I mentioned before but you might invest in a type of lifting "grips" that have built in straps too - I use them when grip strength would compromise a workout (shrugs, heavy pulldowns, etc) and especially when my elbows start acting up.

Solid advice in here.

I'd also recommend the following if you are struggling with pull-ups:

1.) Negatives. Lower yourself as slowly as possible (the eccentric movement of the pull-up)
2.) Isometric Holds.
3.) Bands. If they have a squat cage you can do them in bands are great. Start with as many as you need to do a set and then remove a band, rinse and repeat.

When i was power-lifting using Wendler's 5-3-1, i had to do all of these in the beginning to get my 50 reps in. In the particular program i was doing in-between each push set (either shoulder or bench) you would do a set of pull-ups. Each set i varied the grip too.