[Built to Fade]

At the moment, I can only do 5 strict, controlled dead hang body weight pullups before my arms tire out. But I'm trying to earn each rep to maximise the efficiency of each rep.
My criteria for a strict, controlled pullup is as follows:

• 2 seconds upward phase, minimum 1 second top hold, 2 seconds downward phase & 1 second dead hang. Repeat until either meeting the goal reps or failure.
• Neck touching the bar at the top to ensure that the elbow is fully bent.
• Feet together like in this picture.
  
• Tension of the abdominals and glutes to prevent excessive kipping.
• "Tight shoulders" (a slight pull down of the shoulders) to ensure your arms don't stretch out too far away from the joint to prevent shoulder injuries.
• Having a comfortable hang grip. Choose one that involves all fingers and also the thumb. The thumbs tend to be neglected a little during pullup training.
  Here's the different types of bar hang grips:
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
    

If you're doing explosive/speed/power pull ups, kipping and momentum reliant training methods are preferred, which is the opposite of the "slow reps" criteria listed above.

I'll conclude this post with some motivation and inspiration to improve your pullups. Enjoy!

This one is next level! Weighted one-armed pull/chin ups.

I first watched this man's videos more than 5 years ago and I'm still amazed to this day!

Here's the famous Rocky uneven pullup scene (scroll to 2:18):

_______________________________________________
"Respect the strict, controlled one-armed pullup. They're an endangered species after all." #153

[The Catalyst]

(11-08-2018 10:15 AM)Sender Wrote:  

(11-08-2018 09:57 AM)Horus Wrote:  

I've noticed that I can do different numbers on different pull up bars at the gym, even with identical hand spacing, which I haven't been able to work out. Perhaps one bar has more flexibility than others allowing a spring effect to help with upward momentum. Anyway, I've been focussing on these lately and I've got up to 8 (on the "easier"bar) from only 3 a few months ago, partly due to strength gain and partly weight loss. It's a slow process.

It may be the thickness of the bar? Thick bars are much harder coz they force you to employ grip strength -- which is often the weakest link in the chain.

Lifters do the same when they use those 'fat grips' or whatever they're called.

I'm at a point where I can barely do 10 pullups on standard bars but 12+(haven't gone at my strength peak, so don't know) on springy gymnastics bars.

I want to try muscle ups. However, at this point even negative muscle ups are impossible for me.

I am very light for my strength(68 kg), so it's possible all the easy gains are gone.

[Richard Turpin]

Well, I hit the pullup bar at the weekend with the intention of hitting a new PR of 14 so that I could brag about it on here.

For some reason, I decided to record it on my phone for posterity.

I started strong and knew I was going to get 14 even though the last 2 or 3 felt very iffy.

Exactly how iffy? Here's where it got depressing. When playing them back on my phone I was horrified to see that what I though were nice strict, dead-hang pullups looked absolutely dreadful in playback! Truly awful, almost like partials than anything, even though I could have sworn they 'felt' strict!

I stewed for a few minutes till I was recovered then tried it again, this time as dead-hang as I could (no 'bounce') and only got 7.

Very depressing, to think I've been kidding myself for so long. But at least now I'm on the right road. But I'd recommend filming your pullups and having a quick look, otherwise you might be cheating yourself, cos it's easy to think they look good cos they feel good, when in reality you aren't using the full range of motion from extended arms at the bottom to chin over the bar, chest touching at the top.

[Shemp]

@Richard Turpin: same problem occurs with pushups, too easy to cheat in both cases. The military has rules about what counts as correct, but at the end of the day, it's up to the guy counting reps to enforce the rules and everyone enforces differently. That's why I always ask how long someone can hold an unsupported handstand to see if they are in shape or not. You can do the handstand against the wall, and gently kick off each time you fall backwards, but you can't rest against the wall. There's no way to cheat on free-standing handstands, since bent arm harder than straight arm, banana style harder than straight vertical, wobbling harder than motionless, etc. And as with pullups, handstands get much harder when overweight.

[Freebird Flying]

Zero!

I can run a 5k though...

How important is it to be able to do some pullups?

Maybe i can get inspired here...

[Trumps Intern]

This is a great thread. So far, my max 5 rep for chin-ups is with 75 pounds attached (I weigh 158).

My max unweighted is 20 military style.

[Richard Turpin]

(11-14-2018 02:00 AM)Freebird Flying Wrote:  

Zero!

I can run a 5k though...

How important is it to be able to do some pullups?

Maybe i can get inspired here...

@Freebird Flying, stick with the 5k runs as they are legitimately useful. But so are pullups, as you will see from reading this old Art of Manliness article;

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/...st-master/




There's more detail in the article but basically;

Quote:

In 1926, strong man and physical culture enthusiast Earle Liederman wrote a book called Endurance. In it, Liederman makes the case that every man should be physically fit enough to save his own life in an emergency. He sets out five fitness benchmarks that indicate whether a man is up to this task. None require you to be able to bench press 500 pounds or have six pack abs. Rather, the benchmarks focus on having the strength and endurance to run, swim, or pull yourself to safety. If you’re looking for a fitness goal, the five fitness benchmarks Liederman lists are a good place to start.

According to Liederman:

“Every man should be able to save his own life. He should be able to swim far enough, run fast and long enough to save his life in case of emergency and necessity. He also should be able to chin himself a reasonable number of times, as well as to dip a number of times, and he should be able to jump a reasonable height and distance.

You only have to imagine how massively fat people would struggle to get away from trouble when shit hits the fan; running at speed over distance while pulling yourself over walls and fences and climbing over shit is about as real-world useful as it gets I would venture.

Regarding the 'dips' in that old-time Lieberman book; I read this article years ago and used to struggle to think of the applicability of dips, until I next needed to climb some ladders and pull and push myself through the loft hatch! Mind you, I should really invest in some proper pull-down loft-ladders!

But yeah, I wouldn't feel comfortable having a fitness routine that didn't include pullups nowadays.

As an aside, I remember from my Judo days that pullups were thought of as being exceptionally good at building useful 'grappling' strength for rolling around on the mats. You can see from any wrestling/grappling/bjj/judo sites that pullups are ubiquitous in any of their training articles.

Stick with the running, but throw pullups in there too as they give back the biggest bang for your buck and won't interfere with running at all. I wouldn't worry about doing zero, you have to start from somewhere; try lowering yourself from the bar as slowly as you can to build up strength that way, you'll soon be able to get your numbers up.

[Freebird Flying]

(11-14-2018 09:27 AM)Richard Turpin Wrote:  

(11-14-2018 02:00 AM)Freebird Flying Wrote:  

Zero!

I can run a 5k though...

How important is it to be able to do some pullups?

Maybe i can get inspired here...

@Freebird Flying, stick with the 5k runs as they are legitimately useful. But so are pullups, as you will see from reading this old Art of Manliness article;

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/...st-master/




There's more detail in the article but basically;

Quote:

In 1926, strong man and physical culture enthusiast Earle Liederman wrote a book called Endurance. In it, Liederman makes the case that every man should be physically fit enough to save his own life in an emergency. He sets out five fitness benchmarks that indicate whether a man is up to this task. None require you to be able to bench press 500 pounds or have six pack abs. Rather, the benchmarks focus on having the strength and endurance to run, swim, or pull yourself to safety. If you’re looking for a fitness goal, the five fitness benchmarks Liederman lists are a good place to start.

According to Liederman:

“Every man should be able to save his own life. He should be able to swim far enough, run fast and long enough to save his life in case of emergency and necessity. He also should be able to chin himself a reasonable number of times, as well as to dip a number of times, and he should be able to jump a reasonable height and distance.

You only have to imagine how massively fat people would struggle to get away from trouble when shit hits the fan; running at speed over distance while pulling yourself over walls and fences and climbing over shit is about as real-world useful as it gets I would venture.

Regarding the 'dips' in that old-time Lieberman book; I read this article years ago and used to struggle to think of the applicability of dips, until I next needed to climb some ladders and pull and push myself through the loft hatch! Mind you, I should really invest in some proper pull-down loft-ladders!

But yeah, I wouldn't feel comfortable having a fitness routine that didn't include pullups nowadays.

As an aside, I remember from my Judo days that pullups were thought of as being exceptionally good at building useful 'grappling' strength for rolling around on the mats. You can see from any wrestling/grappling/bjj/judo sites that pullups are ubiquitous in any of their training articles.

Stick with the running, but throw pullups in there too as they give back the biggest bang for your buck and won't interfere with running at all. I wouldn't worry about doing zero, you have to start from somewhere; try lowering yourself from the bar as slowly as you can to build up strength that way, you'll soon be able to get your numbers up.

I'm working on it. I need to cut my body fat and work my way up. If I could build up to 10 pulls up that would be a really nice achievement.

[Trent W.]

Last time I did 8 neutral grip (easier than overhand, but a good way to get stronger for them) decent ones. Not perfect but no kipping and with a good tempo, probably around 2-1-1.

(11-12-2018 06:49 AM)Richard Turpin Wrote:  

Well, I hit the pullup bar at the weekend with the intention of hitting a new PR of 14 so that I could brag about it on here.

For some reason, I decided to record it on my phone for posterity.

I started strong and knew I was going to get 14 even though the last 2 or 3 felt very iffy.

Exactly how iffy? Here's where it got depressing. When playing them back on my phone I was horrified to see that what I though were nice strict, dead-hang pullups looked absolutely dreadful in playback! Truly awful, almost like partials than anything, even though I could have sworn they 'felt' strict!

I stewed for a few minutes till I was recovered then tried it again, this time as dead-hang as I could (no 'bounce') and only got 7.

Very depressing, to think I've been kidding myself for so long. But at least now I'm on the right road. But I'd recommend filming your pullups and having a quick look, otherwise you might be cheating yourself, cos it's easy to think they look good cos they feel good, when in reality you aren't using the full range of motion from extended arms at the bottom to chin over the bar, chest touching at the top.

Make it a habit to FILM yourself when you do any exercise. At least until you get the movement right according to the VIDEO, not your feeling. I had to regress numerous times in different exercises because my form was bad, sometimes even atrocious.

[JackinMelbourne]

At the moment I'm doing 1 set of 8 pullups followed by 3 or 4 sets of 8 chinups, changing grip position for every set, starting from wide grip and finishing with pinkies touching. I weigh 88kg, so that's about 195 pounds.

Never really did a single set of max reps, just picked a number when I started and increased reps 'n sets. When it gets to 10 I'll be adding weights to keep the reps low.

I despise wasting time on lots of reps. It's boring and there's no benefit in working the slow twich fibres on upper body.

Legs on the other hand, I reckon there's a benefit in being able to run for longer...

And there's my whole philosophy on training. It's got to be functional.

[Trumpian]

^Actually disagree when it comes to pull ups. My back blew up when I started doing 15-20 rep sets. The time under tension is key here. Also has a lot of carryover into climbing if you're into that.

The big benefit with a steady pull up regimen is you'll have very healthy shoulders. I've never had shoulder pain from bench, pressing, dips,etc because my rear delts are so developed.

[joecolombia]

around 25 full reps. Don´t know about chinups since i rarely do those. I´m 22 and about 160lbs. I include at least one pull up variation in my back training routine (wide, narrow or parallel) and seems to be helping since 3 months ago it was pretty hard to reach 12-15 reps.

[StrikeBack]

My best is 18 deadhang pullups, but I was pretty light though, in the low 70 kgs. I've done 19 at 84kg but my arms weren't fully extended (had some elbow issues).

[Heightcel]

18, 85kg 190lbs

[JayR]

Most I ever did was 22 in high school (weighed about 100 pounds then).

A few weeks ago I set a goal to break that 35-year old personal record. My new baseline max. was a single set of 5. So I started on this program:

http://www.50pullups.com/

Three weeks in and I've doubled my initial max. and can do 10 again with good form, shoulder-width grip. Past couple sessions I'm sensing the plataeu and the gains are coming more slowly now. I plan to keep at it until 23 though.

I installed this bar in my bathroom so I would have no excuses for skipping sessions (it's great for abs/leg lifts as well):

https://www.roguefitness.com/p3-pullup-system

I love Rogue equipment -- USA made and rock solid.

[Richard Turpin]

I've yet to follow any sort of specific pullup program, instead I've treated them like any other exercise.

Following my recent lack-of-form shock from recording my pullups, I've lowered the reps and gone strict. I did 3 sets of 7 really good ones last night and will try and improve on that later in the week. At the weekend I'm gonna see how many loose-ish ones I can do for reps again.

I'll continue this till I can gets 3x10 strict pullups, then I'll start adding weight. Once a week I'll go all-out for reps.

[tomzestatlu]

My record is 24 strict pullups (judged by pt guy) at 194 lbs.

It´s my favorite workout. It involves almost whole upper body and I think you can get in shape by only doing them.
I am training them few times a week. I would say that my performance is just going downward, but I haven´t applied any inovation to my workout yet. At golden times I was doing 240-250 strict per one training (30 x 8), but I stopped doing so much, because it caused me pain problems in elbow and other joints.
My long-term goal is to do 30 once..

[Shemp]

I'm only going to update my accountability thread weekly, to avoid flooding the forum with junk updates (they should probably put those personal threads in a subforum that doesn't show in the view new posts list) so I thought I'd mention here why I go mostly for reps and don't care about form.

I will be doing pullups outdoors, often from objects that are not strict horizontal pullup bars, for example open concrete stairs, with no warmup and often in cold weather, when I'm very tired from hiking or bicycle touring and happen to notice am object suitable for pullups, perhaps just after eating a big meal. High reps as the norm gives me lots of room to drop under adverse conditions. Thus if 15 is normal, maybe 10 under adverse conditions.

Unweighted high reps less likely to cause injury when not warmed up and cold outdoors.

I enjoy high reps much more than weighted low reps.

Bad form is actually functional, since under real conditions, like pulling yourself onto a tree branch, you would jump or use body English to rise the first few inches from a dead hang, versus using pure arm strength. Muscles have less leverage at bottom of dead hang and top positions versus middle, so if you use strict form, you will limit how hard you hit muscles at the more important middle position. Same idea behind Nautilus machine technology.

Kipping is very functional under real conditions, but bad for joints if done frequently, which is why I world never do it as part of daily exercises.

I'm not seeking hypertrophy, I should note. Just want to balance the 60 pushups I now do every morning with some pulling.

[Donfitz007]

Just got 1 pull up with 120 pounds under me. At 230 (gained some weight, unfortunately) I feel that's pretty impressive.

My goal is to be able to do a pull up with my body weight added. Hopefully, at 190 i'll be able to do a pull up with 190 under me.

[lunchmoney]

13 wide grip in the gym today. In my "prime" could do 20 proper form (at 190 lbs, present weight 200)

[NickDunne]

Personal best - 15 on bodyweight with full arm extension.

[Investment Bro]

I don't train pullups anymore (have switched to weighted chins instead). My all time best was when I was 20, and I managed 33 in one set. I definitely was not going all the way down and I weighed in somewhere around 170 pounds at the time. Before I switched over to chins, my all time max was 135x3.

I would train pull ups 3 to 4x a week, and my back did blow up from it.

[Richard Turpin]

(11-21-2018 05:22 PM)Investment Bro Wrote:  

I don't train pullups anymore (have switched to weighted chins instead). My all time best was when I was 20, and I managed 33 in one set. I definitely was not going all the way down and I weighed in somewhere around 170 pounds at the time. Before I switched over to chins, my all time max was 135x3.

I would train pull ups 3 to 4x a week, and my back did blow up from it.

@Investment Bro, I'm just curious as to why you don't do them anymore? I know, it's hard to fit everything in but I can't see me ever taking wide grip pullups out of my routine, they are so effective. With pullups and Bent Over Rows, I feel like my back is sorted.

Are chins, the close-grip, biceps-intensive version of pullups? I've started throwing a few sets of those in too instead of arm curls cos they feel so good.

[Nardo]

Lots of weight numbers thrown in here but height matters too. Both height and weight can drastically change potential. I won't get into the nitty gritty of it, but it's mostly down to grip.

At 73 inches tall, and 205 lbs I could do 15 pull ups and then go on to do 110+ in 30 minutes. After 40 days of not doing a single pull up due to travel, I returned to the gym at 190 lbs, again I managed 15 pull ups (maybe from the sheer excitement) but could only do 50 in 30 minutes. It is essential to note that at 190 the first few pull ups are quite easy compared to at 205, but by the end of the set 205 had much better form.

I hope to keep a lower weight but build muscle of course, to really improve the numbers.

[bahtiyar]

I have not been doing pull-ups for a while. However, I think I will be able to do at leat 20 pull-ups.