The Elusive Pull-Up

[bo9]

@cg828 I don't have a fake sloth though, any adjustments for that?

 

[cg828]

@bo9 I think that's a deal-breaker, sorry! Haha.

 

[staxx]

@cg828 This is great, thank you!!

 

[twinmama]

@staxx Do you do inverted rows by chance? The Nerdfitness link discusses these. You can do them off a dining table for instance. They will help tremendously

 

[staxx]

@twinmama I have tried doing them with furniture like a table but it seems like my cheap Ikea furniture is not stable enough to feel secure, haha. I did do some searching just now and found an idea of using a broom between two chairs so I'll try that!

 

[twinmama]

@staxx That will work! Be certain to secure it, don't want you slipping off. As another user commented as well, a local park is a great option if you have one available

 

[dawn16]

@staxx I go to local kids playgrounds. I can usually find monkey bars or other variations that will work for a pullup.

 

[staxx]

@dawn16 This is a great idea, thanks! I'll look for one that has something similar (once they're not roped off anymore for covid at least).

 

[sheepofjesus]

@staxx You can also search for calisthenics parks. Some cities have little calisthenics set ups in parks or along trails. Maybe less likely to be populated than a playground

 

[calso]

@twinmama This is so very thorough. Kudos @twinmama!

And thank you for calling out the assisted pull-up machine. It is not your friend & will not get most (I’m sure there are exceptions) people to a strict pull-up. Yes...I’m still annoyed I wasted 6 weeks last year on them hoping for improvement.

EDIT: Typos

 

[markinsydney]

@calso I wasted years on that and it never helped so I’m with ya

 

[calso]

@markinsydney Indeed! I progressed much faster once I ditched it. I’m finally at sets of 10 unweighted & 5 weighted, no thanks at all to the assisted pull-up machine

 

[markinsydney]

@calso Oh my gosh. I’ve been stuck in the 3-5 range for like 2 years. Any tips to break into higher numbers?

Like did you do max reps each set? Or lower sets higher volume? Something else entirely?

 

[calso]

@markinsydney Sorry I fell asleep! I scrolled back in time to find this comment and honestly the key for me was volume, volume, volume.

 

[markinsydney]

@calso Good morning! Thanks for getting back to me.

So if I’m reading this right you pretty much did 1-2 sets of your max reps almost every day?

Sorry I’m dense and just got off a 12 hour shift so I’m a bit fried lol

 

[calso]

@markinsydney No worries! I was rushing myself & actually linked the wrong comment instead of this comment. I did 3 sets of 10 5x a week.

• Set 1 = 10 Reps taking breaks as needed. So at the beginning I’d do 3, rest. Do another 3, rest. Do another 2, rest. Do another 2, done.
• Repeat half-way through my workout for another set of 10.
• Repeat at end of my workout for another set 10.

With time the number I could do within each set increased. Till the point where I could do all 10 reps at a go. So for me it was just plain volume.

Maybe start with aiming for 6 per set as you can already do 4-5. Do 4, rest. Do 2, rest. Once you can do the 6 continuously bump it up to 7 or 8.

ETA: By Set 3, I was down to maybe 2 at a time. Sometimes 1! Fatigue definitely kicks in. But the goal was always 10 regardless of how long it took.

 

[markinsydney]

@calso Ahh thank you! That makes sense and I’m going to try to incorporate it !

For a while I was found 10 pull ups every day and definitely noticed that if I started with 4 but the end I was struggling for 2 so then I’d drop to doing like 3 to try to remain consistent but I think that was the wrong call.

Thanks so much! Funny looking back at you precious comment because you were worried about six!

Thanks so much

 

[twinmama]

@calso Thank you!!
I wasted a lot of time on that machine as well when I first started. I'm doing my best to spread the word

 

[leboman]

@twinmama Very interesting read. I need to do more negatives

 

[sparkymcgee]

@twinmama Gotta Plug this free training program real quick.

This is geared towards females in the Army and a specific exercise called the leg tuck that is on the newish fitness test for the service- however, this could also benefit those who want to work on their pull ups as well.