The pullups thread

[Quickdraw]

The pullup: your best friend and your worst enemy. Arguably the greatest body weight exercise... But a serious ass-kicker. Share your tips, tricks, and struggles against this worthy foe here.

My background: When I enlisted in the Marine Corps five years ago, I couldn't do a single pullup. We're required to do at LEAST 3 on an annual fitness test, up to a scored maximum of 20. With a lot of hard work I gradually fought my way up to 20 last year, and recently just set a new personal best of 22. I remember what it was like to get zero, though, and I especially remember what it was like to spend months at a time plateaued out, gaining nothing. I wrote up a guide for friends of mine who were trying to enlist, and I've been sharing it around for years with great results. I've had a few requests for it here on NF, so here goes!

Several pullup exercises to alternate amongst. Always aim for complete, can't-do-one-more-pullup burnout, then do a little bit more to hit actual-burnout repeatedly. Those last few pullups are the ones that do the most good building your maximum capability.

For longer-term exercise sessions, throw in a round of pushups or alternate 2 core exercises between each pullup exercise. The combinations are practically limitless.

Top-half focus

Execute a full pullup, but only come down halfway (upper arms parallel to the ground). Pull back up. Repeat until you can't remain up. Do 10 narrow-grip pushups, rest half a minute, repeat. Do at least 3 sets, or until you can't get at least 3 pullups out of it. Keep your legs straight and together. You'll find that this adds pullups quickly, as the last few inches of your final pullup depend on the weakest muscles while the rest of your body could still give more. This exercise equalizes the strength of those muscles. As a bonus, it also works the upper half of your abs.

For those of you stuck at zero pullups, this is your money maker. Get a boost, use a step stool, just get your chin over the bar and execute this. I went from zero to seven pullups utilizing this technique before bootcamp in a matter of three weeks.

Ladder

Do one pullup, wait 5-10 seconds. Do 2, wait 10-20 seconds (basically, maintain the same amount of break-time-per-pullup throughout). Continue to build up until you cannot complete the next set of pullups. Still do as much of it as possible; if you KNOW you're not going to get seven, but still get 5, those 5 are still worthwhile. For added challenge, immediately do 20-40 pushups and ladder again. (Note that, unlike a pyramid, you only count up until failure; there is no coming back down).

21-15-9

Do 21 pullups in as many sets as necessary to get 21 altogether. Then do 21 dips. If you have dip bars available, use them, otherwise do dips with your hands on a chair behind you and your feet together on the floor straight out ahead of you. Repeat with 15 pullups-15 dips, then 9-9. Once you can finish this reasonably easily, add 3 to each set.

Negatives

Pullup, then stay hanging for as long as possible at each stage as you come back down. Do until you can't pull up.

Three halves

Divide your max pullups in half, round down. That's your number. Do three sets of that many. After the first set, rest 30 seconds. After the second, rest 45. If you complete all three sets at your target number, add one the next day. This exercise improves short-term recovery, and will build your ability to do longer sets of ladders.

Leanback

Position your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, overhand grip. Lean back until your upper body is nearly parallel with the deck. Pull up quickly and come back down slowly. This will burn you out faster, but long-term it builds your back muscles very effectively. My old squad leader used this when he wants PT to be done quickly.

It should be noted that overhand grip is widely preferred for all of these exercises. If you're doing underhand right now, you'll see a short-term dip in your max set, but long-term it's more effective to work overhand. It works the back muscles and leads to greater overall upper body strength, and in the end you'll do more pullups than with the same amount of training had you kept working underhand.

Feedback/commentary/additional suggestions welcome!

[Thrillho]

Is there a proper form / technique for negatives? How many should you do at one time? Say I can take ten seconds to lower myself the first time, and four seconds the fifth time, should I keep doing them beyond the fifth, even though I'm resisting far, far less?

[Quickdraw]

Negatives are a good thing to toss in toward the end of a workout when you don't have a lot of straight multi-rep pullup sets left in you.

Pullups are very much a "point of failure" exercise. If you still have four seconds in you the fifth negative, keep going until you aren't getting more than a second or two.

[Thrillho]

I can't do one pullup. I can't even hang. A negative is all I CAN do.

[ETFnerd]

my PB is 56 or so which i did ~10 years ago. a couple of weeks ago i was able to get 44 in one set. PB for +45lb weighted pull is 15 again a few weeks ago in one set. currently i'm only doing BW to try to rest an injured shoulder...

i generally do 100+ pulls every other day...

after you get the first one, you can be off to the races if you keep at it. for me the limiting factor is my left shoulder... earlier it was my grip. the lats seem to never tire or so it seems because i have trouble working them to failure. in the next week or so i should hit 10,000 wide-grip (WG) bodyweight (BW) and weighted pullups in the last 12 months...

[Denny]

Thrillho >> If you manage to do a negative, give yourself a pat on the back because you're not weak, you're just working with a lot more resistance than many of us. Comparing us two you have 122 pounds more weight to work with, I doubt I would even manage a negative if I added that to a weight belt.

[ETFnerd]

I can't do one pullup. I can't even hang. A negative is all I CAN do.

one of my things is thinking: "it's only a matter of time until i'm ripping dozens of pullups" is key to getting there... it also helps to line up other aspects of your life like rest, diet, exercise habits to help you succeed in your goal...

[morethanjustamom]

Thrillho >> If you manage to do a negative, give yourself a pat on the back because you're not weak, you're just working with a lot more resistance than many of us. Comparing us two you have 122 pounds more weight to work with, I doubt I would even manage a negative if I added that to a weight belt.

This logic just makes me even weaker! I've only got about 130 lbs. to haul up to the bar and I can't do it yet!!

Yeah, yeah I know...women have less upper body strength that men. I'm going to go do some more stinking negatives, then.

[ETFnerd]

women have less upper body strength that men.

this woman is 44 years old...

[morethanjustamom]

this woman is 44 years old...

I meant it sarcastically...because that's what we women get told. Cool video though, she rocks! I'm gonna be able to do that at 44, and y'all are going to be showing my videos to new women on this board, haha!

[ETFnerd]

here's crystal setting the world record at 45 years old...

[Thrillho]

Yeah, I am a pretty massive fat guy, so I can do painful, shaky negatives. LOTS of resistance. My goal for the Six Week Challenge is ONE pullup, because when I can do one... oh man, I am going to go out there and do one every hour of the day, until I can do two, and three, and four... and so forth. My diet is focused around weight loss and my exercise regimen is focused around my core and upper body right now, since my legs are already pretty strong (I walk around with a lot of extra weight )

Thanks for the support!

[morethanjustamom]

SWEET! They are hot, thanks! New inspiration for my pullup goals!!

[morethanjustamom]

Yeah, I am a pretty massive fat guy, so I can do painful, shaky negatives. LOTS of resistance. My goal for the Six Week Challenge is ONE pullup, because when I can do one... oh man, I am going to go out there and do one every hour of the day, until I can do two, and three, and four... and so forth. My diet is focused around weight loss and my exercise regimen is focused around my core and upper body right now, since my legs are already pretty strong (I walk around with a lot of extra weight )

Thanks for the support!

My goal is to be able to do one by the end of the 6 week challenge as well, Thrillho. I'm right there with ya.

[Denny]

Does anyone have a good guideline for how far down you should go to do a proper non-dead-hang pullup?

morethanjustamom >> We all start somewhere. I couldn't do pullups before either, I can crank out around 7-8 dead hang these days if I'm lucky. There's a lot of technique involved in the beginning, you need to make sure you use all necessary muscles and not only your arms and grip. The back muscles can be really hard to use when you don't know how to target them, the lats can be really hard too when they're barely non-existent. (that I know because they've started to appear lately and it's a lot easier to engage them when there's a little bit of mass)

Just keep working at them, do hangs too. Make sure you don't hang loosely, engage the muscles, because you can hurt your shoulders if you don't. I also recommend trying, from dead hang with narrow grip, lift yourself as high as you can without bending the arms at all. It should feel like you're doing an inverted shrug, this way you're only engaging your back and shoulder muscles. It might help to learn to engage those areas better.

[SomeoneOrOther]

I've always taken 3 seconds to be the minimum useful decent time for a negative. I try to start the timer after my static hold at the top starts to give way. Timing this can be more difficult than actually doing it because your trying to focus on all sorts of other things like breathing and not dying, a second person with a stop watch helps. I believe a "dead-hang" refers to the fact that your elbows are straight, and your legs do not swing in order to give you momentum on your way up. Your shoulders can become injured if you allow them to relax too much too soon.

I use a few mental notes when doing pull ups, both on the way up or down. The first is that I'm trying to pull the bar down to me, not pull myself up to the bar. Second, I'm pulling that bar to my chest. The criteria I use for a full pull up is arms straight at the bottom and chin over the bar at the top, so even if I can't make it to my chest every time, I keep it in my mind to aim for that area. Third, I try to touch my elbows to the floor. An impossible task when my hands are 8 feet in the air, but driving my elbows down and chest up helps the whole process go smoother. I try to keep my glutes tight and push my hips forward a bit to tighten my abs, this keeps me from swinging.

I've been using a 10 set system with constant reps over the entire ten sets, increasing by one rep every week. So on week 3 I do 30 reps, and on week 7 I do 70 reps total. The most I've ever done was 17 when I weighed 140lbs. I weigh 147 now, and with a 45lb plate I can do 16, or three chins with a 100lb plate. I use an overhand thumb-less grip, using my thumb seems to limit my range of motion in my wrists.

[Deanna]

Since we're talking about pullups here, what brand of pull up bar do you guys have? I'm looking at door ones and am wondering if one brand is better than another.

[161803398874989]

The criteria I use for a full pull up is arms straight at the bottom and chin over the bar at the top, so even if I can't make it to my chest every time, I keep it in my mind to aim for that area.

I like until clavicles pass the underside of the bar better. I think 'passing the chin over the bar' will get people to crane their necks.

[SomeoneOrOther]

I like until clavicles pass the underside of the bar better. I think 'passing the chin over the bar' will get people to crane their necks.

That's something I forgot to mention, tucking the chin to the chest keeps all your back muscles active and firing, craning your neck to get your chin up higher and over the bar turns off some muscles and makes the pull itself a bit harder. Thanks for the reminder

Edit to add: I didn't like the options available for bars on the market so I built my own, you can see it in the picture under my name.

[morethanjustamom]

Since we're talking about pullups here, what brand of pull up bar do you guys have? I'm looking at door ones and am wondering if one brand is better than another.

I have your basic Iron Gym. It fits in every doorway in my house except one, and that one is super wide, like a double door opening without the doors.

[LessJos]

Can I ask about pull up option as in where to do them (for total beginners)?

I have read tons of ideas for pull ups but can't come up with a solution. Table is too light, door frames I don't trust (old, old house), trees I don't trust either (old and fragile), playgrounds are too far away (living rural), etc.

The only option I can come up with is the treadmill. I can lay down and try to pull up on the bar. Is that a good idea to start?

[Anivair]

This logic just makes me even weaker! I've only got about 130 lbs. to haul up to the bar and I can't do it yet!!

Yeah, yeah I know...women have less upper body strength that men. I'm going to go do some more stinking negatives, then.

Negatives and BW rows (and maybe some barbell rows) are going to help a lot here.

[Waldo]

If you don't trust your door frame, pop an extra nail or two in the molding. I think you are underestimating how strong things are though (two finish nails in the molding, the real skinny ones, are strong enough to hold the full rated weight of a doorway pullup bar). In structural terms the weight of a single human is pretty much irrelevant. Door frame pullup bars make use of friction as well. Old houses tend to be built stronger, the 1980's were pretty much the low point in construction quality in the US in the industrial era. My house is 70 years old and my door frames are more than strong enough.

[Anivair]

Yeah, I am a pretty massive fat guy, so I can do painful, shaky negatives. LOTS of resistance. My goal for the Six Week Challenge is ONE pullup, because when I can do one... oh man, I am going to go out there and do one every hour of the day, until I can do two, and three, and four... and so forth. My diet is focused around weight loss and my exercise regimen is focused around my core and upper body right now, since my legs are already pretty strong (I walk around with a lot of extra weight )

Thanks for the support!

What sort of diet are you rocking? When i started paleo I dropped weight like a bad habit.

[Thrillho]

75% paleo, and cutting way back on non-paleo meals with the family. Also stopped drinking, eating sugar and fast food.