@karebrown How many times a day do you practice pull ups? If it’s only during WODs then I recommend buying a cheap $20 pull up bar at the hardware store and practicing at home. Keep doing negatives, 2 sets of 5 twice a day and see how you feel after a week. I don’t recommend bands because unless you have access to different colored ones you’ll be stuck at the same tension and they don’t force the body to adapt they just give you an idea for range of motion.
@karebrown Negatives suck for pull up strength building. I think it's one of the bigger failures of CrossFit.
A Lat pull down bar, into a seated row at a Globo-gym will be the fastest way. Both exercises directly target the desired area and have easy scalability. Each week add 5 to 10 lbs.
The next best option is using bands for assisted pull ups at the CrossFit gym.
The last best option is losing weight. The lighter you are, the easier a pull up is. Sadly, you are already pretty light.
@karebrown I wasn’t able to perform a single unassisted pull up until two years in. Eventually after doing banded pull ups, ring rows, and negatives for long enough one day I was just magically able to do a strict pull up. All downhill from there.
@karebrown I didn’t do this in conjunction with a specific CrossFit program, but worked really hard to get my first pull-up in about 2016. I googled and found a guide (I wish I could find it now). I don’t remember all the details, but there were a lot of prone bat wing rows (chest down on a bench)and bottoms up kettlebell pressing, which helps with grip strength and shoulder stability/mobility. I would definitely recommend adding those accessories movements in. I know the hardest part for me once I had the strength was the mind-muscle connection to engage my lats to start the pull at the bottom of the hang. Once I got that, the pull-up finally made sense.
@karebrown Weighted Negatives, Weighted Hangs, Weighted Bent-Arm Hangs, and Lat Pull-Downs (I use a simple pulley to do One-Arm Pull-Downs using kettlebells and change plates) can all be added to your program. I don’t recommend bands at all unless you struggle with only the top portion of the Pull-Up.
@karebrown Realistically you are looking at probably wanting to do 3 days per week of progressions. A lot of information in the comments above about exercise selection and general thoughts that are valuable so I don’t see the need to regurgitate that but here are a few things to consider.
For you, adding in one day of raw bodybuilding will help translate to both pull ups and getting the size you seek. Given the struggle at the start of the pull up, bicep curls are probably good for you especially with pauses when the elbow is extended.
Grip strength can be an overlooked aspect of pull ups. In general, the stronger the grip the lower the neural inhibition is and the more you can express strength down stream. So maybe consider fat grip negatives as a nice variance to your current routine.
The upper body especially responds well to variance but not too much because then we don’t adapt to a given exercise. Create a routine that progresses for 3-4 weeks then change up the routine, taking a 3-5 day deload between progressions to give the body space to absorb training.
@karebrown If the gym has this, I would consider doing cable rows and cable lat pull-downs. I do extensive sets of 25. If they don’t have them, do barbell rows and high-volume pull-ups with a barbell close to the floor. It’s going to take some time, but that volume will add up and be very helpful.
@karebrown Hi, fellow weakling here (and female). I can do one whole strict pull up. I can’t do more but that was a big recent achievement for me. I dislike scaling with the band bc as another coach said, it provides inconsistent support. To me, if rather my scale be as close to the rx movement as possible. My recommendation is to do jumping pull ups. I was doing jumping pull ups wrong for months but when I learned to do it right it made a big difference. Choose a low bar height. You can put 45# plates below your feet to reach the bar easier. Start from a DEAD HANG. Your feet are on the floor/plates and your legs bent. Jump into the pull up but over time use your feet as little as possible. You shouldn’t be catapulting yourself over the bar. Your arms do most of the work. Starting from the dead hang is key. Good luck!
@karebrown Some advice people don’t get enough is to do a lot of push ups too. It’s not training the same movement, but it’s making a lot of the muscles stronger you need for pull ups. They are also more approachable for folks that don’t have pull ups yet.
