How can I improve my pullups?

[Leeroid]

Hi guys,

I can only do 13 pullups in one go and it's been like that for at least a year. I have gained about 12kgs in that time though so I have gotten stronger but I still feel they are not as strong as they should be.

Currently I do them once a week at the start of back day. I go to failure on my first set which is usually 12 or 13, then rest about a minute and go to failure again, which is 6 or 7. Then another set where I get 4 or 5 reps.

Someone said that I should be doing about 5 sets of 8 rather than simply going to failure on every set.

What do you guys think?

[ohjoshua]

Hey man, I am similar to you I have always liked chin ups. The most I have ever done is like 17 or 18. But im pretty fat (105-7kg).

When I was most successful with pull ups I would do them frequently ( three times a week if possible)

But 17-18 isnt many.

There was a really good thread on here years ago about a guy who got the word record for chin ups. He would max out (max reps). then after take say 50% off his total and do that the next day. adding a rep (or number of reps in his case) each day building back up to the old max and beating it.

I might be getting it a bit wrong, but you could try seaching the old thread lol.

[Shutupandsquat]

I used to do however many sets it took me to get 50.

Me rep per set would go like this

15

10

8

7

6

4

So as you can see it took me 6 sets to achieve 50 and I was fucked, but once I dumbed it down per set I just did 10 per set, got to 50 in 5 sets, and still had room in the tank for another set.

Over a period of time this increased my ability to do more reps on pull ups. HOWEVER, everything else I was doing allowed me to add an extra rep onto it as well. By adding in an extra rowing movement, my back grew like f*ck in width, thickness and strength (remember natty fiends, I'm not natural so it may take you longer to notice).

Try beginning with pull downs every 3-4 weeks just to give yourself a small rest from pull ups.

Hope that works, but I'm sure someone will bring something more interesting to the table. Chyeah.

[southernsamurai]

Kind of on the same page as Dolan biby....

Wide grip pull ups (max reps)

45-60 sec rest

Medium grip chins (max reps

45-60 sec rest

Narrow neutral chins (max reps

45-60 sec rest

Start back at wide grip pull ups and keep going till you get 60.

Builds work capacity and you'll be able to get more reps in less sets as time goes on. Do that for about 4 weeks or till you can do the 60 reps in 5 sets or less, move onto weighted pull ups after that.

[Leeroid]

Hmmm, some good ideas. What do you think about this program here? I'm not sure if there's any methodology behind this but it seems alright. Pullups 3 times a week, slowly increasing reps per set every session with 5 sets a sesh. http://50pullups.com/50-pullups-programme/12-15-pullups

[karm015]

i managed to get to the point where i could do 30-40 of them in one go back in high school. i didn't do this following any research, i just came up with a methodology that made sense to me and went with it

i would have a number in mind - i started with 25, since i could only do around 5-6 clean pullups in one go - then every 2-3 days i did as many clean reps as i could, rested a couple of mins, then went again until i met my target. if i knew i had nothing left and was shy of my target i did negatives to make up for it, then revised the target. i shifted the target a small amount when i got to the point where i was consistently doing more clean reps than i had aimed for

i can't remember how long it took me to get to the point where i was pushing 40+, i took it pretty slow...

[Leeroid]

i managed to get to the point where i could do 30-40 of them in one go back in high school. i didn't do this following any research, i just came up with a methodology that made sense to me and went with it

i would have a number in mind - i started with 25, since i could only do around 5-6 clean pullups in one go - then every 2-3 days i did as many clean reps as i could, rested a couple of mins, then went again until i met my target. if i knew i had nothing left and was shy of my target i did negatives to make up for it, then revised the target. i shifted the target a small amount when i got to the point where i was consistently doing more clean reps than i had aimed for

i can't remember how long it took me to get to the point where i was pushing 40+, i took it pretty slow...

Pretty much sounds like how Dolan and SS are doing it. Arnold and Franco recommend this method as well. Arnold reckons 50 to start off with. Franco could do 10 sets of 20 or 30 apparently, and he had one of the best backs in the business. Cheers for the input!

[Bluto]

After you can no longer get at least 6-8 Reps per set, use the smallest band to assist you to complete 6-8 perfect form reps each set.

1st Set - 10-15 Reps (unassisted)

2nd Set - 6-8 Reps (unassisted)

3rd Set - 6-8 Reps (mini band)

4th Set - 6-8 Reps (medium band)

etc etc Untill lats hit failure.

Make sure when you use bands you slow reps down on negative and engage lats not shoulders and biceps.

I like to do 50 reps of chinups as first lat exercies, aiming to do it in as few a sets as possible, and only using bands when I can no longer get at least 6 reps.

[Mantis]

I found this article quite interesting - http://jasonferruggia.com/top-10-ways-t ... -pull-ups/