Post edited 9:57 pm – January 30, 2010 by mintster

I used to be awful at pullups (I am sure John can confirm) and used to believe that increasing weight on the lat pull down would lead me to be a pull up god!  Well it didn't – there is replacement for the exercise than the exercise itself.  I found that by simply incorporating at least a couple of sets of pullups onto the end of my workouts twice a week (as many as you can using your own BW) slowly increased my maximum.

To go beyond your own limit I prefer the method of support that was in the Poliquin Principles book (either that or it was an article he had written – off hand I can't remember which) where when you can no longer perform any more you bend your legs at the knee and get someone to hold your foot while you squeeze out a couple more reps.  The benefit of this over any kind of machine assistance is that you are still almost performing the exercise following your natural movement and the support you get will vary as you need it through the different phases of the exercise.  With a fixed weight assitance you tend to not follow your natural path through the lift and the weight is fixed – this causes a problem as you may need more support at the bottom than at the top (or vice versa).

I also found weighted pullups a help (sounds bizarre but bear with me).  I found that forcing myself to do at least the first set of pullups with at least a 10KG weight moved my PB for BW pullups up pretty quickly.

I am sure Sean can make some recommendations for some specific training and I am only commentating on what I found worked for me.  I suppose in summary I am saying stick with it and you will get better.  Try using assistance to go beyond your failure point and even think about using a weight (look for a decent dipping belt) – before you know it they will be easy!

Hi Jack.

Great question. One which I know a lot of guys out there will be asking.

Believe it or not, despite becoming a Royal Marines PTI, despite maxing out on the Royal Marines Pull-ups test on some occasions and despite eventually being able to do 30 long arm pull-ups, when I bought my first bar I could only do 3 or 4 pull-ups.

It is not just you, it is the same for most of us: our bodies are not expected to perform that movement anymore, so we all have to train at it, but that is what makes it even more satisfying when you master it!

The advice Mintster has given is great, I definitely agree with the "assisted pull-ups" (ie. getting someone to support your legs or waist and helping you complete the reps). We actaully use these for recruits in Royal Marines training to ensure they keep performing the pull-up exercise when they cannot complete anymore themselves.

Adding weight is a good idea, but it might be a little early for you yet. Additionally, if you are using a home pull-up bar, just be careful adding weight: you don't want to rip it off the wall. If you do fancy adding weight, try a couple of water bottles in a rucksack, then add another when you feel you need more weight etc.

A great way to improve pull-ups is eccentric reps (or negatives as many bodybuilders call them). For pull-ups, you need to grip the bar while standing on the floor, then jump up into the top position so your head/chin is over the bar, now lower your body SLOWLY to the count of 5 until your arms are straight. Put your feet on the floor and repeat. These eccentric reps will force your muscles to strengthen enough to hold your body up as you slowly lower it. Research has shown that eccentric reps on all exercises increase strength gains more than regualr repetitions.

Lastly, if you have the type of pull-up bar that twists/screws into a door way, try putting it half-way up the doorway instead of at the top. Now lay down on the floor with your head under the bar. Take hold of the bar so all your body comes off the floor but your heels. Keeping your body rigid like a plank of wood pull your chest up to the bar pivoting at your heels (do not bend at the waist). You should find you can complete a few more of these than regualr pull-ups, but they are still exercising the same muscles. This execise can be performed on any bar that is waist to shoulder height.

A quick word on reps. For the next couple of weeks, forget about trying to do a "certain number of pull-ups" instead only ever do 2, however, see how many times you can do 2 in an hour, or half an hour or even a day. If your watching TV, everytime an advert comes on, do 2 pull-ups. Or set your watch and every 5minutes do 2. If you train like that for 2 weeks your muscular endurance will rapidly increase and so too will your ability to perform pull-ups.

Try these out and let us know how you get on.

Good luck Jack

I remember someone once saying to me to setup a pullup bar at home and every time I passed the bar I should perform a set of pullups (as many as I could manage).  I didn't try it due to the impracticalities of leaving a pullup bar setup permanently but I was assured this would work – sounds like a bit of a killer to me though!