Getting better with pull ups

[PurpleOnes Senior Member Member of the Month June 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close PurpleOnes]

Heya!

So I want to get better with pull ups I'm not that good with them.

I have pull up bar at my house.

What is the best way to improve with pull ups as far as getting more reps done?

These are some methods I know myself. First one is doing negatives basicly jumping or using a chair so you get to the top and then slowly lower yourself. Repeating that for certain amount of reps.

The next step after that is again starting from the top and stopping in the middle and pausing.

I was wondering if something like this would be productive daily or every other day?

Doing reps for 10 sets lets say I can do 5 pull ups so I would be doing 5x10 daily and taking enough rest in between sets? When that feels easier increase it to 6 reps for 10 sets.

[BigO AdministratorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close BigO]

Hey Purp, have a look at the Convict Conditioning routines. There's a progression chart that starts you off doing easy levels (like using a wall, table, etc.) then moving to the next harder level when a certain rep count can be maintained.

Here's a reduced shot;
qj7xV.jpg

[PurpleOnes Senior Member Member of the Month June 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close PurpleOnes]

Hey Purp, have a look at the Convict Conditioning routines. There's a progression chart that starts you off doing easy levels (like using a wall, table, etc.) then moving to the next harder level when a certain rep count can be maintained.

Here's a reduced shot;
[ATTACH]77005[/ATTACH]

Funniest thing ever I'm actually following that program but now finishing with reading for my entrance exams so looking something to bring up my pulls ups meanwhile.

Planning on continuing with Convict Conditioning program.

[akaTrex Senior Member Member of the Month Jan 2016 Find all posts View Profile Close akaTrex]

You may also want to consider:

LL-PullUpRevolutionPro.jpg
Lifeline | Pull-Up Revolution Pro

I use one in my home gym when I'm fatigued and want to push to new limits.
It's adjustable so as you get stronger you can reduce the amount of assistance.

[pudendal Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pudendal]

You can also support yourself with a foot on a chair below the pull up bar to increase your reps and move the chair farther away to make it harder as you improve. You can start the set with your foot off the chair, reach your max, and then use the chair to get a couple extra reps.

[Park Lib Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Park Lib]

I also want to be able to do a pull-up. I have been looking in to it a bit and negatives and doing the movement very slowly (like 20-30 secs per rep) are some of the tips recommended. I will try out some of this and try to keep you posted on whether they have worked for me. I have never really focused on upper body strength before outside of normal push-ups but have been trying in the past year.

[Bill Thane Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bill Thane]

Push-ups help as well, I've found. Since doing push-ups daily (normal for chest, diamond-grip for arms) I've found pull-ups have become a lot easier. Once you can do 5 pull-ups, push-ups are much less useful though, since you can just do pull-ups instead.

[kickinthemebs Senior Member Member of the Month Feb 2014 Find all posts View Profile Close kickinthemebs]

Best way to get good at pull-ups is just DOING pull-ups in my opinion. Determination and getting a little more at a time and you will get stronger at them. I used to not be able to do 1 pull-up. I went to the pull-up bar everyday and couldn't do one. I eventually got 1/2 rep one day. Then another day 1 rep. Then another day 3 reps. And on this went until I was easily able to do 10 reps in a row. Now I have a pull-up day in the gym where I try do multiple sets of pull-ups until I get near 150 total.

Just keep at them is my best advice.

[ScootyPuffSr Member Find all posts View Profile Close ScootyPuffSr]

Also a dead hang is good for building strength towards pull ups Have a goal of a 15 second dead hang one week, then 20 second, then 30 etc. Another good back workout with the bar is if you take the pull up bar and hang it between two chairs, australian pull ups are a little easier and work out your back well too.

[CottonEyeBob Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CottonEyeBob]

I got better with pull-ups through using a simple resistance band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Hg-rCJwDY

This isn't the best video in the world (I can't find the one I watched a few years back) but the idea is to secure a resistance band onto the bar like in the video and then rest one knee on the band. The resistance band will make pulling yourself up easier (the lower the strength of the resistance band, the harder things will be). Since I couldn't even do one pull-up and hated the chair method since it didn't feel like I was working anything out, I invested in a band that was only strong enough to allow me to do 1-3 pull-ups. I then slowly worked my way up until I could do 20 pull-ups, at which point I didn't require the band anymore and could do roughly 2-5 unassisted pull-ups.

[Bryan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bryan]

Hey Purple! How many pullups can you do right now? What is your height and weight?

Negatives are definitely a good way to get stronger and build up the amount of pullups you can do. Do them VERY slowly; you want to lower yourself as slow as you possibly can when you do them. Also, when you're doing regular pullups, lower yourself a little slower than most people typically do. Unless you're doing specific explosive work, you should always be taking 2-3 seconds on the negative of any exercise, slow and controlled always, I don't care if it's pullups, bicep curls, bench press, whatever. Half the movement, half the exercise, is the negative. So when you see (and this is extremely common in any gym) someone doing X exercise and just dropping the weight/body on the negative, they're really missing out on a lot of gains they could be making.

Remember, and I can't stress this enough, QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. I don't care if that means you're in there curling 10lbs; control the movement, always, and you will absolutely see great results. Leave the ego at the door when you walk into the gym (or at home, wherever it is that you work out).

[Bryan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bryan]

Oh also, what is your general goal with exercise? Are you looking to lose weight, get bigger, get stronger, just look good, what?

[Bryan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bryan]

Another good back workout with the bar is if you take the pull up bar and hang it between two chairs, australian pull ups are a little easier and work out your back well too.

Do you mean an Inverted Row? Those are definitely good for a beginner (as well as someone more advanced) good exercise

[Nunanik Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nunanik]

I wanted to point out an important detail refering to pull-ups that some people dont know or tend to forget: the grip.

woman-neutral-grip-pull-up.jpg

With a neutral grip you gonna use more your biceps, thats true, but you wont but any pressure on your shoulders, elbows and wrists.
Heres a way better explained thread: Improving Chin-Up Performance! - Bodybuilding.com

Im linking you so much info in case you wanna buy pull-up machine or something like that.

[PurpleOnes Senior Member Member of the Month June 2014PEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close PurpleOnes]

Hey Purple! How many pullups can you do right now? What is your height and weight?

Negatives are definitely a good way to get stronger and build up the amount of pullups you can do. Do them VERY slowly; you want to lower yourself as slow as you possibly can when you do them. Also, when you're doing regular pullups, lower yourself a little slower than most people typically do. Unless you're doing specific explosive work, you should always be taking 2-3 seconds on the negative of any exercise, slow and controlled always, I don't care if it's pullups, bicep curls, bench press, whatever. Half the movement, half the exercise, is the negative. So when you see (and this is extremely common in any gym) someone doing X exercise and just dropping the weight/body on the negative, they're really missing out on a lot of gains they could be making.

Remember, and I can't stress this enough, QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. I don't care if that means you're in there curling 10lbs; control the movement, always, and you will absolutely see great results. Leave the ego at the door when you walk into the gym (or at home, wherever it is that you work out).

I mean it depends on the grip for me as far as pull ups go. With a wide grip I can get like 4 reps, with a neutral grip I can get like 7 reps, my palms towards me I can get close to 10 I would say 7-8 reps.

Well my height is 185 cm and my weight is 78 kg.

With negatives going slower at that phase do you mean by this time under tension or all in all using the negative portion of the exercise?

Most guys in the gym or overall get the most out of positive part of the movement but rush with the negative part.

I'm currently on a small break from working out since having this University entrance exam. Besides that I'm following this Convict conditioning program.

My goal currently well I guess is to get more strength and be able to do more pull ups and progress with my Calisthenics routine. I also want to drop some bodyfat I was doing jogging three times a week for 20 minutes.

I also keep a track of my macros and my calories and currently eating 1900 calories a day: 166 g protein , 166 g of carbs and 63 g of fats.

When I was going to the gym my calories were higher obviously probably at 2500 a day and my protein was over 200 g while carbs were over 200 g too and fats were lower.

Since I'm doing bodyweight exercises and not as active I do not think I would need to have calories or carbs that high.

Later on planning on getting into Muay thai and going to the gym 2-3 times a week depending on time.