HEY, EVERYONE! November is here and it's PULL-UPS MOTIVATIONAL MONTH! Join us today!

rdmarita

New member

Welcome to the Pull-up Motivational Month!​


What's this about?​


Last month we really did our best to stay upside down in the Handstand Motivational Month! If you missed it here goes a link!

This month is all about pull-ups!

Pull-ups are one of the most loved exercises out there. They are a compound move that develops a good deal of strength, an important foundation for calisthenics, a symbol of strength and all that while being really fun to do.

For the first week we'll go on about the basics about pull-ups and how to get started. The focus is to help you all who can't do a pull-up yet to attain it. For those who can do it you can use this opportunity to get even better! By the end of the month we hope most of you will have attained or improved your pull-ups and, most importantly, that you will have had a blast training this month!

Proper Form and Variations​


General
  • Straight arms at bottom!
  • Try to drive your elbows down and back
  • Chin over bar, but don't crane your neck to complete the reps!
  • On rings get your elbows parallel to your torso or as close as possible
Shoulders

When hanging from a bar you can be in a dead hang, also called passive hang, or in an active hang. In the passive hang your shoulders are in a relaxed position, covering your ears, while in an active hang they're engaged and pressing down.
  • You should go to dead hang as long as that causes no pain and you have no past history of shoulder issues. This is harder, but develops strength in the fullest possible ROM, which is what we usually want.
  • In case you have a history of shoulder problems then talk to your doctor about i Only a proper assessment may determine if you can go deadhang or not.
  • A common cue is to depress and retract the scapula. Click here if you're confused about what "depress", "retract" and some other words mean.
  • Another often suggested cue is to "break the bar" or to try to pull your elbows inward/forward.
Grip
  • Supinated grip (chin-ups) is easier for most people than pronated grip (pull-up). The difference is mainly the muscular activation in those movements. In a pronated position the biceps can't flex the elbow well and the weaker brachioradialis have to work more.
    • When using rings your grip will naturally shift as you go through the movement. That's normal, let it happen!
  • Wide grip is generally harder than close grip. With wide grips you use more of your lats and teres major because these are the muscles responsible for adduction, which is what you do more of in a wide grip pull up. Again, both are great.
  • Pick whatever grip you want to choose as a goal. You can also go from easier to hard, attaining chin-ups before pull-ups or narrow grip before wide grip.
Core
  • Usually in Gymnastic Strength Training pull-ups are done in a hollow position. This helps build up core strength and endurance as well as drill the hollow position. Click here if you're confused about what "hollow" and some other words mean.
    • When doing those your legs will naturally come up. That's fine, as long as you're not swinging on purpose.
  • Bodybuilding style pull-ups allow the back to arch. This is usually a bit harder as you have more load on the arms and back.
    • When doing those let the back arch naturally. Don't purposefully arch the back.
  • As with grip, which one you do is up to you. We usually recommend GST style for beginners because it drills the hollow position and teaches you to not arch you back if you move to L-sit pull-ups (which is the progression after pull-ups in the Recommended Routine).

The Workout​


P.s: Pick a suitable progression (one where you can work in the recommended rep range) and work from there. Those are all denoted as Sets x Reps, or Sets x Reps x Time when applicable.

Warm-up

Warming up when beginning you sessions is recommended. If you don't know what to do for your warm-ups then see the Recommended Routine's warm-up.

Pull-up Progression

Skip those if you can't do 3x8 horizontal rows yet!
  • Pull-up negatives. 3x5 between 5 to 10 seconds.
    • Try to do those slower each session.
    • Even if you're going for chin-ups first you'll probably have no trouble doing those in a supinated (pull-up) grip.
  • Pull-ups (or chin-ups) 3x5-8
    • If you can't do many of those yet then you can try "filling" the set up with negatives. For example, doing 3 pull-ups followed by 2 negatives lowering sloowly.
    • Achieving you first pull-up is a nice feat! Congratulations!
  • After you've mastered pull-ups you can try harder variations, like L-sit pull-ups or weighted pull-ups.
Row Progressions

Those will develop the basic strength you will need to start practising pull-ups
  • Incline rows 3x5-8
    • If you're just starting and need to do those in a near-vertical position then it's fine to use a higher rep range, like 8-12, and reduce to 5-8 as the incline decreases.
    • Lower the bar and elevate the feet to make it harder when you hit 3x8.
  • Horizontal rows 3x5-8
    • When you're able to do 3x8 horizontal rows you can start training negative pull-ups!
  • Wide rows 3x5-8
    • Keep working on your rows even after starting with pull-ups. Do pull-ups first for greater pull-up gains, though.
Acessory (optional)

Those aren't necessary, but they can be helpful.
  • Hanging 2x10-20s
    • Those are good if your grip is giving out on you. Can be done passively or actively, depending on your shoulder's situation.
  • Scapular Pull-ups 2x5-8
    • If you have trouble at the very start of a deadhang pull-up then this can help.
  • Isometric holds at top position 2x10-20s
    • Try it if you feel at the weakest in the top position of the pull-up. Shown here is a neutral grip, which is fine. Mixed grip also works well for those, but alternate hands accordingly.

Let's begin!​


Now it's your turn! At what level are your pull-ups at? How long have you been training? What are your stats? Let us know!

For easier navigation, here goes the links to all the threads:
 
@rdmarita Woot! This is just what I need! I wrecked my neck/traps several weeks ago and finally had to take three full weeks of total rest to let it heal. I just started coming back a week and a half ago, starting only with rehab work and now moving on to regressed strength work.

Stats: F/34/122lb (55.3kg)/5'3" (160cm)

My level: I just did full pull ups again after injury for the first time yesterday. I hit 3x5 (pronated) with good form. Somewhat disappointing because I was doing 5x6 before injury, but unsurprising I suppose.

I've been training BWF for four years, and I have been at it consistently for the past year and seven months after having my first child.

Ready to get my numbers back up where they were!
 
@rdmarita Doing even just one pull-up is my dream.

If you're a woman, pull-ups are like the invisible exercise. Women's focused fitness will support the craziest of exercises, women doing weightlifting and bodybuilding is becoming more and more mainstream, strong is supposed to be the new sexy, yet mainstream women's fitness rarely shows women doing pull-ups. Even the women's body building magazines rarely show pullups as an exercise. The old dreaded Presidential Fitness test from the 80s said little girls should be able to do 2 pullups, so obviously females could do it at one point. Sure, girls' physiology changes as they mature, but its not like turning into an adult woman mutates your upper body into a weak quivering mass. At least crossfit, pole dancing, and circus arts seem to be helping to show that women can have super strong functional upper body abilities. It's only in maybe the past 5 years that i've noticed more resources for women to learn how to progress and do pullups.

I love bodyweight fitness because I feel like I've learned what actual muscles are involved in pullups and actual progressions I can do to strengthen my body to do it, that don't start with "the key to more pullups is to do more pullups". I wish I had been able to learn more about upper body strengthening when I was a teen. Back then I really had no idea how to go about it, though. Those were different times, so I'm not sad about it. I have my chance now anyway.

So far, I've been working on strengthening my back, core, shoulders, arms. Right now I'm doing rows, hangs, scapular pull ups, working on my hollow body position, etc as part of my routine. Hopefully I can get that 1st negative pullup soon!

Also, I just joined a gym and they have an assisted pull-up machine. Is it worth using and if so, when would be a good time to integrate it into my routine?
 
@jcob I was using assisted pull up machine for a while but have to admit that doing real pull ups gives you 10000 X faster progress. Have you tried negatives with a band?
 
@badfish77 Hmm, I never thought of doing negatives with a band. I could definitely try it, since my gym has a lot of heavy duty bands. Thanks!
 
@jcob Just keep in mind that bands will assist you unevenly: the more they're stretched out the more they "pull back", so they will give you more assistance at the bottom than they will at the top. I've never used them personally but I've heard of quite some people that used them to get to pull-ups!

Anyways, you can totally do it! Admittedly I'm a guy in his mid-20s so I got it a bit easier, but when I started one year ago I could do 0, even horizontal rows were far off (not a weight problem, just very weak). Going through the progression of rows -> negatives and supplementing it with dead/active hangs and scapular shrugs I am now doing weighted. You got this!
 
@cak7711 Great thank you for the advice! I am already feeling myself get so much stronger with the progressions, so I know I'll get to it someday!
 
@jcob Can’t basically anyone do a negetivd though? Like some might have to fall faster than others, but I’m confused about what prevents one from doing a negetive?
 
@dawn16 Nope, you still need strength to do a negative. It's not falling, it's a controlled descent, so you need strength to hold you in a position, even if its for a millisecond at a time. It requires a lot of back strength. As you can see in the post, they suggest being able to do 3x8 horizontal rows before moving onto Pull-up negatives.
 
@jcob I see.

I get it’s not falling; but you can descend for like 10 seconds, or 8 seconds , or just 3.. I mean at some point as long as your pulling, the descent will be controlled, it just might be fast.

I guess holding yourself at the top to begin with might be hard though. Makes sense that you’d need to be able to do rows first
 
@dawn16
I get it’s not falling; but you can descend for like 10 seconds, or 8 seconds , or just 3.. I mean at some point as long as your pulling, the descent will be controlled, it just might be fast.

Surely, but that's the point.

If you go as slow as you can and that last 3 seconds then you have some work to do. After you train and get better you'll be able to go slower and do them for 10 seconds, which means you are stronger.

So, when doing negatives you progress by increasing your time, instead of your reps. If you start by doing 3x5x3s negatives, by the time you're doing 3x5x10s negatives you'll very likely be able to do at least a single pull-up.

Do it makes sense?
 
@jcob You can do negatives with a counterweight. It's tricky especially if you are holding the counterweight rope in your off hand but its how I learned to do it.

Static line from REI or other rock climbing store.

And watch alex puccio doing oap on youtube.
 
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