Pull-Ups

Ok, so I'm looking to get a bit stronger as I lose weight and I know that pull-ups are one of the best compound upper-body exercises.  The only problem is, I don't have enough upper body strength to do more than one or two before I need to stop (I'm about 5 foot 10 and 174 lbs, down from 184).  But I would still like to try and improve my pull-ups so that I can work up to doing full sets of real pull-ups in my workout.  Here is my question.  Which is better for improving upper body strength:  doing full sets of negative pull-ups  or using the assisted pull-up machine with as little weight as necessary to allow me to do a set of actual pull-ups.

for boys and girls alike ~

Mistressing the Pullup

Put a chair or stool infront of you and use one leg to give yourself just enough assistance to complete them.  Do 2 sets to failure (atleast 5 if you can) of wide grip pull ups with your palms facing away from you... then 2 sets to failure of narrow grip w/palms facing away... then 2 sets to failure of chin ups with palms facing you.  After a month or two you should be able to do atleast 5 on your own each set and from there, just keep doing more each week.

yountsmonster has a great idea. something you might also want to try is altering your grip from overhand/underhand and also how far apart your hands are to work differant parts of your latissimus. it will take a while but you will get there.

Yeah, up until now, I've been using the assisted pull-up machine in the gym.  Every week or 2, I try and take away 10 lbs.  Like I said, I never had too much upper body strength and right now I am 175 lbs but I have worked my way up from using 80 lbs of assistance to about 50-60.  Wish all gyms had this machine because I find it very helpful.

Less assistance and fewer reps (but atleast 5) will help you improve quicker than higher assistance and high reps (12-15).  Keep that in mind.

I will definitly keep that in mind.  Because I have tried it with less resistance in the 30-40 lb range but can only do about 5.  If this is better than doing 10 at 60, then I will certainly do that.  Thanks.

Sounds good.  I used to be horrible at pull-ups.  Most of my lean muscle mass is in my legs and my chest.  My shoulders, back and arms don't grow nearly as fast so I always had trouble with pull-ups.  Now I aim for 6-8 reps per set.  When that gets easy, I'll add some weight resistance to stay in the 6-8 range.

Shape Magazine (September 2007) had a short piece "Be the Girl Who Can Do Pull-Ups" which inspired me to make that my goal this year. It begins with the seated lat pull down machine. When you can lift half your weight, you move to the standing lat pull down (described in Mistressing the Pull Up). Then you move to the assisted pull-up machine until you can do most of your weight. Then finally, it's on to the real deal. I like stepwise paths to reaching a goal.

If you have a gym membership your gym probably has an "assisted pull-up" machine.  You select how much weight you want to remove from your pull-up and it takes it off, sorta opposite of resistance machines.  Pull-ups are mostly tri's and bi's, so the more you work those, the more you'll be able to do.  Doing negative bicep curls until you can't do anymore once a week will not only help with your pull-ups (helps control the way down), they'll get you a gun in a hurry.

For a little inspiration for you, I began the summer only being able to do 2 pull-ups before not being able to do anymore.  Now, after working out for only two full months, I can do 3 sets of 15 no problem.

If you can do one or two, that's a good start.  When I started doing them, I could only do about three (with great difficulty).  I did three sets, two or three times a week, and within six weeks I was doing 10 pull-ups in a set and after that adding resistance.  Just keep trying even if you aren't actually doing a full pull-up, attempting will work the muscles just the same.

I can't do any. Not even one. Overcoming this is one of my primary goals at the moment.

Original Post by mortalmonkey:

I can't do any. Not even one. Overcoming this is one of my primary goals at the moment.

Just do a flexed arm hang (start at the top and hold it there as long as you can), then as slowly as you possibly can, let yourself down.  This will work the same muscles.  After a week or two of that you should be able to do a pull up or two.

Woo Hoo! Finally did a full, perfect-form, pull-up!

http://www.james-ramos.com/images/macros/danc e.gif

I got 3/4 of the way up with no problem, but that last bit, going up was a bit of  a strainer! I did it though.

That was all I could manage though, lol.

Maybe tommorow I'll be able to do one without straining; I doubt I'll be able to do two.

Quick question though, and it may sound kind of silly:

Why the heck am I having such a tough time with these, I wonder. I see people doing tons of these with ease every day. Why am I battling with just one?

Is this mostly a simple exercise or are they actually tough for most people?

It's a pretty tough exercise - and if you haven't caught on to the trick of how to let your back and your lats do most of the work it's pretty close to impossible. I can knock out a 10x6 series of pullups in about 15 minutes, but I can't barbell curl my whole bodyweight even once. And if you're not getting your whole back in on it, that's effectively what you're trying to do. 

Maybe I'm doing them wrong.

What I've been doing is letting my body hang straight down while hanging from the bar, releasing as much tension from my entire body as possible.

While pulling, I try to focus all the tension on my back, while keeping the rest of my body as limber as possible. My body hangs straight down; no swinging, no moving; just pulling with my back.

Yeah, that sounds about right to me - and though I can knock out a lot of'em now, I started with struggling to do 2-3 at a a time. It's a lot easier to add sets than reps with chins/pullups, so if you can only do singles, don't worry about it and do a few sets of singles. You'll be up to doing doubles and triples in no time at all that way :)

cool beans. Thanks sir!