# Pull Ups



## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Am I just weak or are they ridiculously difficult lol. I weigh about 66kg and can't manage 10! 

I'm fairly unfit these days but working on it!


----------



## sfstu (Aug 3, 2010)

you outta try it at 18 stone... i'd be happy to be able to do 1 decent one right now...:lol:

you can get assistance bands (big rubber bands if you didn't know) to help starting out (got some from myprotein.com) but seriously, any more than 5 is a great start, just keep doing em and you'll soon increase the amount...
great upper body builder...:thumb:
rgds stu


----------



## WashMitt (May 27, 2010)

Along with press ups and dips they are the upper body move, how many can you actually do?


----------



## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

7 lol....


----------



## MA3RC (Jun 19, 2012)

I can do 20 but my brother who I'd say has a much stronger upper back can barely do 3... Its weird. 

Just massively varies from person to person


----------



## sfstu (Aug 3, 2010)

1....really...
but i am 18 stone and i'm working on more...:thumb:


----------



## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

I shall work on it some more, started p90x again with the proper equipment. Right enough I'm using kettle bells instead of dumbells


----------



## WashMitt (May 27, 2010)

Spoony said:


> 7 lol....


I assume we are talking wide grip overhand pull ups? If you are....

7 isn't bad and if you can do 7 then you can definitely build up from there,

Try doing 20, doesn't matter how you do them just get 20 out, so you could do 7 then 6 then 5 then 2. That's them done.

Then move onto the lat pull down, go really heavy 4-6 reps only for three sets and then do a weight you can get 15-20 out with as a fourth set

That's the start of your back workout, then do whatever else you like.

But always do pull ups first in your gym sessions.

Then you can finish your session with some close grip underhanded ones.

I started on the assist machine doing only a few reps now I'm 83kg and can do 3 sets of ten with 10kg round my waist.

You could also try 5 sets of 5 reps to mix it up.


----------



## Prism Detailing (Jun 8, 2006)

Im starting a P90x and Insanity Hybrid next Monday...Pull Ups i could do about 20 in one go, but if now probably about 12 max....depending on grip


----------



## gttjames (Jul 23, 2009)

I could get 20 messy pull ups

But good form, wide grip I can do around 12.

There one of those bodyweight vs muscle mass excersises - so generally people who can do bodyweight exercises well like press up's, pull up's, dips etc


----------



## LukeWS (Sep 9, 2012)

Washmitts got it right imo

Thats how i start with pull ups and as i progressed went onto supersets i find these help really work the muscle and add endurance to help get that extra rep :thumb:

Another thing can be try hold it at the upright position for a few seconds before coming back down


----------



## Bod42 (Jun 4, 2009)

A good way to progress chin ups / pull ups if you can already do say over 5 is to pick a goal and do multiple sets or below failure sets until you reach your goal reps. Sounds pretty standard but the difference is you slowly lower the rest time each workout.

For instance if you wanted to do 20 reps and you can do 8 reps now. I would start with 5 sets of 4 reps with 2 mins rest, next workout knock 5-10 seconds off your rest time.


----------



## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

I've got this app (_yet to use it in anger_) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id576288802
I've also got the PushUps and Squats apps as well and it's a structured way of building up reps.


----------



## stumac77 (Oct 18, 2009)

usually do 10 reps at a time with a 1 min rest then keep doing it till i can do any more .
most i have managed so far is 100 but that took me a while


----------



## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

Tell you something, I'm in agony today lol


----------



## DNZ 21 (Feb 10, 2009)

Yep like has been said if you can do body weight excersises you prob have a better time at racking up decent numbers in pull ups

Try and get a book called Convict Conditioning that's a good read


----------



## PaulN (Jan 17, 2008)

I can do about 7 single handed chin ups, graceful they arent.....


----------



## WashMitt (May 27, 2010)

Spoony said:


> Tell you something, I'm in agony today lol


That's good, are the lats hurting?

What did you do in your session?


----------



## WashMitt (May 27, 2010)

PaulN said:


> I can do about 7 single handed chin ups, graceful they arent.....


If there not controlled there not worth doing, what do you weigh?


----------



## LukeWS (Sep 9, 2012)

Probably a bit ott here but once the pull up is mastered heres 44 other bodyweight exercises to try....






Nuts how strong some people are!


----------



## Spoony (May 28, 2007)

WashMitt said:


> That's good, are the lats hurting?
> 
> What did you do in your session?


Yep, serious DOMS.

I settled for 5 sets of 5 pulls ups. I done 5 sets of 12 dips and 5 sets of 10 push ups. Just to see how I go. Failed on push ups


----------



## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

I could only do 7 pull ups max before I started working out, I doubled that in only about 3.5 weeks. Hoping for 20 plus soon, dead hard though! dont forget that recovery drink, it will help a lot!


----------



## WashMitt (May 27, 2010)

Spoony said:


> Yep, serious DOMS.
> 
> I settled for 5 sets of 5 pulls ups. I done 5 sets of 12 dips and 5 sets of 10 push ups. Just to see how I go. Failed on push ups


Well done, means they worked hard, when I started doing 5x5 it really helped with lots of exercises, I don't really like the strong lifts workout with that Mendi bloke, but 5x5 can be good to break a plateau

Are you doing wide, overhand grip? This is the toughest but a good way to increase these is at the end of each set do three or four more reps switching to underhand, really pull the elbows back during the uplift and squeeze at the top, a lot of people slate underhand but they can be good to help with overhand.


----------



## PaulN (Jan 17, 2008)

WashMitt said:


> If there not controlled there not worth doing, what do you weigh?


Who said they arent Controlled.......

I dont consider them a useful exercise, just as single armed press ups, its just a little showboating...


----------



## WashMitt (May 27, 2010)

PaulN said:


> Who said they arent Controlled.......
> 
> I dont consider them a useful exercise, just as single armed press ups, its just a little showboating...


Sorry I just assumed as you said "graceful they arnt" they were a bit erratic and uncontrolled, I saw a guy in the gym today doing some overhand pull ups and he was all over the place, his form was terrible :wall:


----------

