need help with pullups

L

leckbass

0
literally!
I have made great progress in most excercizes except pullups, but I can only do about 1 to 2 pullups without asistance on my first set. Usually i pyramid down the asistance from 60 to about 20 lbs on my last set. I have moved it to my first exercize in my back workout. Any suggestions to help me build more strength would be great.

Thanks
 
My suggestion is to just keep doing them ;) Eventually you'll get stronger.

I see guys spotting other guys doing pull ups and chin ups all the time. And the more the guy weighs, the tougher it is. Little guys can do a bazillion of them. Bigger guys are lucky to pull out 8. Strength athletes are lucky if they can do 5.

I'm extremely impressed with any guy who can do 10 pull ups without using his legs (that means 10 straight legged pull ups). Most people do not do pull ups without bending their knees ;) That makes it easier.
 
Just keep training it man and work your upper body strength and you will get there!
Remember do it in proper form otherwise you will grow into bad teqnique if you start that way now.

Good luck!
 
Isometric holds worked well for me, pull yourself up so your elbows are bent at a 90degree angle and just hold it there. It builds a lot of shoulder stability and soon you'll be doing more reps
 
What typhon said is a good idea, also if you have a spotter do slow, controlled negatives on the sets you cant get up yourself.

And like the others said, just keep doing them.
 
I will definitely keep doing them. Should i keep using 60 lbs assistance in the beginning of my workouts or should i use less assistance and incorporate in the negatives and 90 degree holds?
 
If you can only do 1 or 2. Id do like 8 sets of 1 or 2 pullups. And do say lat pulldowns as an assistance exercise.

And if you want to, add in the Iso holds and/or slower negatives.

Experiment, different things will work best for you. Trial and error :D
 
Men's Health had a great article a couple of months ago on this very topic.



ILM: yeah, keeping the legs straight is hard, especially on the last ones.
 
I think she meant thrusting your legs upward to give you the extra momentum up.

I used to be able to do 15 back in school during our progression testing with the trainers. Right now I am up to 8 on the first set, 5 on the second and 3 on the 3rd. I want to incorporate some ISO and negatives though as the pull-ups are by far the best back exercise out there and my back, shoulder and biceps have exploded by incorporating them.
 
do as many standard pull ups as you can then use an alternating grip and you'll be able to do a few more. Just helps build strength so you can keep progressing.
 
I was the same way and I simply kept at it...Pull up/chin up progress tends to be slow going in my experience, but it still happens.

Now I can do 8 with 35 lbs on my belt (actually I might be able to squeeze out 9 or even 10, but I do 8 for my first set)

...and ILM, I bend my knees, but I don't use them for momentum, they stay in place to hold the weights in place
 
The best thing I did for myself was ditch the assistance...I never really got better when I used that. As soon as I did them solo, I could do a couple, then I started adding one every couple of workouts...can do 8 on my first set now, and I was doing 1 or 2 a couple months ago.
 
firefreak said:
I think she meant thrusting your legs upward to give you the extra momentum up.

I used to be able to do 15 back in school during our progression testing with the trainers. Right now I am up to 8 on the first set, 5 on the second and 3 on the 3rd. I want to incorporate some ISO and negatives though as the pull-ups are by far the best back exercise out there and my back, shoulder and biceps have exploded by incorporating them.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I meant.

If you used to be able to do 15, I'm impressed x 1.5 :) That's awesome, firefreak!

theGOOCH said:
I was the same way and I simply kept at it...Pull up/chin up progress tends to be slow going in my experience, but it still happens.

Now I can do 8 with 35 lbs on my belt (actually I might be able to squeeze out 9 or even 10, but I do 8 for my first set)

...and ILM, I bend my knees, but I don't use them for momentum, they stay in place to hold the weights in place
Click to expand...

Again, I'm impressed! Doing pull ups with weight is really tough :)

Pound for pound, men are just so incredibly strong. I wish I could do what you guys do ...
 
i think i'm going to try to ditch the assistance, i have been doing it the other with assistance without much success anyway, i'll try this for a few months
 
leckbass said:
i think i'm going to try to ditch the assistance, i have been doing it the other with assistance without much success anyway, i'll try this for a few months
Click to expand...

I compete in an event where pullups is one of the 'events'. I train pullups specifically.

Here is what I tell you, and anyone for training purposes: Train your weakness.

Applying that to pullups... if you can only do 2 pullups... where do you fail? Can you get 1/2 way up, 1/4 way up?? ... etc.. where ever you fail, train that body part. So if your grip/forearms give out... then train those for a few days... if your biceps give out... train those more than the actual pull up. If your lats give out... do lat pull downs for two weeks, then go back to pull ups...

TRAIN YOUR WEAKNESS TO GET STRONGER!
 
i_love_muscle said:
That's exactly what I meant.

If you used to be able to do 15, I'm impressed x 1.5 :) That's awesome, firefreak!



Again, I'm impressed! Doing pull ups with weight is really tough :)

Pound for pound, men are just so incredibly strong. I wish I could do what you guys do ...
Click to expand...

Before you start your set just look in the mirror and say "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!" works every time:yelrotflmao:
 
BigTomW said:
If you can only do 1 or 2. Id do like 8 sets of 1 or 2 pullups. And do say lat pulldowns as an assistance exercise.

And if you want to, add in the Iso holds and/or slower negatives.

Experiment, different things will work best for you. Trial and error :D
Click to expand...

I agree 100% 8 sets of 1-2 pullups is better than no pullups, and eventually you'll be doing more and more as your muscles grow
 
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