How do A sets of B reps pull ups compare with B sets of A reps ones？

Y

youngchristianfemale

New member
In my situation,I can only do 3 reps in one set,after that I'll be failed.

But I can do another set after about 1 hour.

So if it's weekend, I'm at home the whole day,I can do 12 or more sets of 3 reps pull ups,what's the effect of this comparing with 3 sets of 12 or more reps pull ups？
Or the workday I have about 6 hours at home(not including the sleep time),how about doing 7 sets of 3 reps ones？

Especially in the building of muscle,strength,endurance,not in burning calories,the total time about body doing work is equal,maybe the total work is equal too,just from guessing,I may be wrong too.
 
@youngchristianfemale Typically gtg doesnt have you going to failure as it adversely affects muscle control next set unless you rest 48 hours.

Typical gtg would recommend 50% max so for you you would do sets of 1 or 2 every hour.
 
@youngchristianfemale Same volume = same hypertrophy adaptations (if you have same rest time), according to research

12 sets of 3 is better for strength than 3x12, BUT for 12x3 you'll need higher load/intensity to get the benefits
 
@youngchristianfemale Since you can only do 3 solid reps of pull ups right now you could do more sets. Try doing 4 or 5 sets instead of 3. This will let you get in more total work/practice. If you need to, feel free to rest a bit longer between sets, too.

You could also try greasing the groove with your pull ups.
 
@youngchristianfemale Greasing the groove (GtG) is a great way to increase your reps for a given exercise, but it's really only supposed to be used for one exercise at a time.

Here are two articles that contain quotes from Pavel Tsatsouline, the man who is generally credited to be the first one to really recommend this technique.
The articles explain a bit more about GtG and how it works, along with some examples of how you'd go about implementing the technique. I know that the subreddit's wiki doesn't go into as much detail about GtG; it just tells you the basics of what you need to know.
 
@neptune4 I have another puzzles.The first paragraph you say "it's really only supposed to be used for one exercise at a time",does it mean I can't use the principle of GtG for more than one exercise during the same period?For example I can't use GtG to improve my pull ups and handstand skills together during the same time,it that right?
 
@youngchristianfemale You probably shouldn't try to GtG with more than one strength exercise at a time. By GtG you're putting in a lot of extra work, but you aren't going until failure at all.

Handstands at first are considered to be more of a strength exercise, but as you get a bit better at them they become skill work. I don't personally work on skills as I mainly do this stuff for the strength benefits, but if I recall correctly from everything I've read you can do skill work on your off days. So it's probably OK for you to work on your handstand skill practice on your off days along with GtG for pull ups.

Here's a link to the "What can I do on my Off Days?" section of the wiki.

Here's an excerpt from the above link that says it's OK to do skill work, but you'll want to visit the link above to read the full thing:

...more specific to bodyweight training you can do skill work like handstands and elbow levers, as well as mobility work...
Click to expand...
 
@neptune4 Oh,thanks,I get the idea now.If handstands are not easy enough for me that I practice them as strength exercise,I shouldn't practice it with pull ups at a time.

And if It's just not so hard for me and I practice them for proficiency,I can put GtG on these two workouts during the same period.

In fact handstands are still hard exercises for me so I know the answer should be no.
 
@youngchristianfemale Remember to do bodyline drills (planks). From your other comments I estimate I'm 1 or so year ahead of you and bodyline work did wonders. It teaches you correct body position during handstands, pushups, dips, handstands, pullups, front levers, back levers, elbow levers, handstands, planches, malteses, victorian crosses and iron crosses too. Not sure if I mentioned handstands.

Don't be shy of doing negatives too. They shouldn't be abused but are a great tool to break plateous. I achieved my first one arm pushup by first doing the negatives, then GtG conecentric part (going up) and then, one day at the gym it happened.

Also buy gymnastics rings.
 
@youngchristianfemale Who knows? Unless you had a set of twins I’m not quite sure how you could ever answer that. But to answer your real question, if you can only do 3 then do 3, as often as you can. And when you get tired and can only do 2, then do 2. And when you can only muster 1, do that. Can you do 3, then rest a couple minutes and do another 1, or 2? If so then do that before your hour or more break and now your 3 total pull ups has become 4 or 5 or 6 in one setting.

The more pull-ups you do per day, per week, per month, etc the better at pull-ups you are going to become over that period of time, so whatever you gotta do to squeeze in as many reps as possible, over the course of each day, week, etc, I say do that.
 
@youngchristianfemale The problem I have with this idea is that you probably aren't warming up and stretching properly every time you do those pull-ups every hour. This may increase your chances of injury.

Personally, I would try to do other exercises in between and do another set in 5-10 minutes While I'm still warm rather than staggering it out all day long. There's not a lot of recovery that happens in an hour that doesn't happen in 10 minutes (your greatest benefit comes when you sleep).

When you first start it's hard to be patient and do your best in one sitting and then let your rest days happen. It kind feels like you're not doing enough. But every little bit adds up. Let it happen over time and you'll see improvements.
 
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