@abbarrane I realize this is 2 years old, but just for the record if you are doing pull-ups (as in raising your head above the bar) it is physically impossible to not use your lats. If you were only using your biceps you would not even come close to clearing the bar.
Why couldn’t I do a single pull-up?
- Thread starter pablob
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@abbarrane Any advices for me? I do a lot of pullups but just with arm strenght, I dont feel any lat activation and I cant go to the gym right now in my country to practise with the machine. Do you think theres an specific body movement that changes the effort from arms to lats? Like going with the elbows backwards or to the outside or something?
@frhi Sorry for the late reply. Overhand and neutral grips are gonna use less biceps. I would try those. On top of that I suggest just hanging from the bar and practice with your body weight. Don't even do a pull-up. Just go from a deadhang and then engage your back by trying to pull your shoulders down and back. If doing it right it will sorta puff your chest up when the bar is in front of you. If you're wide grip it will kinda just rotate your back around. U should feel this in and around your shoulder blades. I suggest doing these for reps. That's what I did with the lat pulldown. I didn't actually do lat pulldowns. I just sat and retracted my back muscles.
Do around 10 of these before doing pullups Everytime u go to do them. It will train you to start your pull-up in this way. Over time it should build your back
Someone else posted this video ^
That's what I mean.
Do around 10 of these before doing pullups Everytime u go to do them. It will train you to start your pull-up in this way. Over time it should build your back
Someone else posted this video ^
That's what I mean.
xxipkerzixx
New member
@pablob It’s 100% the training.
I am 6’ 1” and 260 lbs, and can reliably bang out 20-22 pullups at a max effort. Now granted, this is because I’ve trained them for years, but that is my point Pullups require a lot of lat strength, and losing weight is not going to change that. What it will do is make it easier to get to the point where you are strong enough to perform a pullup.
I recommend you start with negative pullups. Grab ahold of the bar and either jump or stand on a box or chair to get your chin over the bar, and then slowly let yourself down. Aim for at least 5 seconds if you can. Do sets of those until you can perform at least a couple pullups and a stretch.
Some people like banded pullups, but I personally don’t think they help in the long run.
I am 6’ 1” and 260 lbs, and can reliably bang out 20-22 pullups at a max effort. Now granted, this is because I’ve trained them for years, but that is my point Pullups require a lot of lat strength, and losing weight is not going to change that. What it will do is make it easier to get to the point where you are strong enough to perform a pullup.
I recommend you start with negative pullups. Grab ahold of the bar and either jump or stand on a box or chair to get your chin over the bar, and then slowly let yourself down. Aim for at least 5 seconds if you can. Do sets of those until you can perform at least a couple pullups and a stretch.
Some people like banded pullups, but I personally don’t think they help in the long run.
jfortizzle
New member
@fengyuwei Im 109kg and can do 5 pull ups and still have some in the tank so definitely training, but the heaver you are the more training needed
@fengyuwei 22 pullups in 1 set?
@fengyuwei Okay. My most reps in 1 set is 10. Do you have certain programs that would enhance this number? I've been doing the 3 sets on 3 times a week program for a year, but i also know programs where you have to do 5 pullups every hour and increase the number.
@moskva I am not sure if I am qualified to suggest, since I am 5'10. But I can do 20 in a row, maybe more.
The way I achieved this:
PS. Also, it is important to move not in a direct trajectory, but somewhat incline. When you pull up, you do not pull up to your forehead, but your chest, and when going down, you body is supposed to shift forward, slightly inclined from the vertical hanging. This is pretty tough at first, but when you master it, this technique gives you the edge.
The way I achieved this:
- lost more weight (went from 15 reps at 70kg -> 20 reps at 65 kg)
- trained my grip strength
PS. Also, it is important to move not in a direct trajectory, but somewhat incline. When you pull up, you do not pull up to your forehead, but your chest, and when going down, you body is supposed to shift forward, slightly inclined from the vertical hanging. This is pretty tough at first, but when you master it, this technique gives you the edge.
@radchad89
Lol, no.. I am chuckling at the misconception a lot of people have about "underweight".
Seriously, IG models and TV stars create unhealthy expectations... They ALL pin testosterone/hormones. Every 2nd huge guy at your gym also injects. It is SO frequent. But no one will tell you. Human body IS NOT supposed to be big AND shredded - you have to choose.
Either you have a full set of abs, or you are fat and damn strong. There is no middle ground. When you lose weight, you lose muscle too. So slim people in general have lower FFMI, than dudes with 20% body fat who can claim FFMIs of 21-22 or more naturally. FFMI of 21 at a single digit body fat is a competitive level natural bodybuilder.
Also, A LOT of people everywhere underestimate their body fat. Ask any chubby guy at the gym, they will all tell you they are 15% body fat ROFL. 15% is already super lean. They are simply underestimating their "chubbiness".
but back to the topic: it is way over "underweight". Underweight is 58 kg for my height. I also have very muscular look at 12% body fat, so people are asking if I am gym trainer rofl
Though I am weak in a "conventional gym sense". Cannot do 100kg bench press or 150kg squats.
Also if you want full 6-pack abs without juicing, you would have to go down to the same weight.
PS. Sry for the rant, it just seemed a little amusing to me that you asked about "underweightedness", so I made a lot of guessing on my part of which background you might have
Lol, no.. I am chuckling at the misconception a lot of people have about "underweight".
Seriously, IG models and TV stars create unhealthy expectations... They ALL pin testosterone/hormones. Every 2nd huge guy at your gym also injects. It is SO frequent. But no one will tell you. Human body IS NOT supposed to be big AND shredded - you have to choose.
Either you have a full set of abs, or you are fat and damn strong. There is no middle ground. When you lose weight, you lose muscle too. So slim people in general have lower FFMI, than dudes with 20% body fat who can claim FFMIs of 21-22 or more naturally. FFMI of 21 at a single digit body fat is a competitive level natural bodybuilder.
Also, A LOT of people everywhere underestimate their body fat. Ask any chubby guy at the gym, they will all tell you they are 15% body fat ROFL. 15% is already super lean. They are simply underestimating their "chubbiness".
but back to the topic: it is way over "underweight". Underweight is 58 kg for my height. I also have very muscular look at 12% body fat, so people are asking if I am gym trainer rofl
Though I am weak in a "conventional gym sense". Cannot do 100kg bench press or 150kg squats.
Also if you want full 6-pack abs without juicing, you would have to go down to the same weight.
PS. Sry for the rant, it just seemed a little amusing to me that you asked about "underweightedness", so I made a lot of guessing on my part of which background you might have
@xamell Yeah you totally assumed wrong. I have never been in the gym and never follow any body builders or anything.
I am 5'9 and weighed 170 and people regularly remarked that I was a stick.
BMI charts, as unreliable as they are, also tend to consider that weight at that height to be underweight -- usually the BMI chart skews upward because muscle weighs more than fat -- not the other way around.
This was strictly based on my own anecdotal examples of what I have learned is considered to be a healthy weight for my height (and presumably others with similar heights)
If the answer is just that you spend all day in the gym on a low calorie diet and you're just shredded beyond belief then that's the answer.
Edit -- I also may have been incorrectly assuming you are a man.
I am 5'9 and weighed 170 and people regularly remarked that I was a stick.
BMI charts, as unreliable as they are, also tend to consider that weight at that height to be underweight -- usually the BMI chart skews upward because muscle weighs more than fat -- not the other way around.
This was strictly based on my own anecdotal examples of what I have learned is considered to be a healthy weight for my height (and presumably others with similar heights)
If the answer is just that you spend all day in the gym on a low calorie diet and you're just shredded beyond belief then that's the answer.
Edit -- I also may have been incorrectly assuming you are a man.
@radchad89 BMI's are good, but they are not created for the purpose to tell us about our looks.
BMI is used exactly to predict cardiovascular mortality. For that purpose, it is good. Since the heart does not care where the weight comes from - muscles or fat. In fact, a bodybuilder is maybe even more likely to die from a heart attack than an obese person.
But you are right that BMI should not be used as a measure stick for ALL situations, especially on its lower end, since low BMI cutoff is completely arbitrary.
BMI is used exactly to predict cardiovascular mortality. For that purpose, it is good. Since the heart does not care where the weight comes from - muscles or fat. In fact, a bodybuilder is maybe even more likely to die from a heart attack than an obese person.
But you are right that BMI should not be used as a measure stick for ALL situations, especially on its lower end, since low BMI cutoff is completely arbitrary.
tunnelhckrat
New member
@tunnelhckrat that very much depends on how you're defining average and how you're defining healthy. the percentage of the general populace with a visible 6pk is loooow, so at that level, 15% is preddy lean. i got abs, but nobody sees em!
tunnelhckrat
New member
@moskva I really like the Mountain Tactical Institute programming to increase pullups. I don’t have it on me at the moment, but I can give you some examples to start.
So first thing you do is get a reliable max effort. We’ll say it’s 10 pullups. Then you do something like the following twice a week:
Week 1: 5 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 2: 6 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 3: 7 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 4: 8 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 5: 9 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 6: 10 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Another program has you do that for Day 1, and then day two is half as many pullups for twice as many sets
Ex.
Week 1 Day 2: 10 sets 15% of your max effort, with 30 sec rest
Week 2 Day 2: 12 sets of 15% of your max effort, with 30 sec rest
Etc.
That progression has worked absolute wonders for me. Helps grease you into higher volumes and stacking your reps up. Don’t be discouraged if your sets start to get broken as they stack on you - that’s ok. The whole idea is to sort of slide you into doing more reps within a compressed timeframe. It eventually just adds them onto a single set.
So first thing you do is get a reliable max effort. We’ll say it’s 10 pullups. Then you do something like the following twice a week:
Week 1: 5 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 2: 6 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 3: 7 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 4: 8 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 5: 9 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Week 6: 10 sets of 35% of your max effort, with 1 min rest between sets
Another program has you do that for Day 1, and then day two is half as many pullups for twice as many sets
Ex.
Week 1 Day 2: 10 sets 15% of your max effort, with 30 sec rest
Week 2 Day 2: 12 sets of 15% of your max effort, with 30 sec rest
Etc.
That progression has worked absolute wonders for me. Helps grease you into higher volumes and stacking your reps up. Don’t be discouraged if your sets start to get broken as they stack on you - that’s ok. The whole idea is to sort of slide you into doing more reps within a compressed timeframe. It eventually just adds them onto a single set.
@fengyuwei I have found negatives a bit challenging cos I’m relatively heavy and relatively weak for my size so I kinda end up dropping like a stone
. I had tried chin-up negatives before, any opinions on that?
. I had tried chin-up negatives before, any opinions on that?