Pull ups

frankieboy

New Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2016
Messages
3
I work out everyday to get lighter and tone my muscles but still I can only do 2 pull ups! any tips? Thanks in advance....
 
Plenty of threads on this. The most common recommendation is to do pullups. Get a pull up bar in your bedroom door and do as many pullups as possible every time you walk by. You'll be increasing that count in no time.
 
My perennial recommendation. Stew Smith, former Navy SEAL, USNA grad and staff officer, now a fitness professional specializing in military and law enforcement.

http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/serviceacademycfa.htm

I have now saved this link in my phone, as much as it gets pasted for the Perennial Pull-Ups Post.

But the best is as kinnem says - do them every chance you get until you bust the plateau. First thing every morning. Every time you pass the bar.

And try the assisted pull-up machine at the gym to focus on form, gain confidence and gradually increase strength.
 
Yeah definitely do more of them, but there are also a lot of auxiliary workouts you can do to help. I used to do a whole bunch of pullups at home to the point where I could do like 9, then I stopped doing any strength work at all for about a year. Then I started lifting weights and going to the gym a lot, including lots of lifts that target the same muscles you use for pullups. After not doing pullups at all for a really long time, one day I found my old pullup bar in my closet, jumped on, and did 12. Some of the weight stuff I was doing included:
1. Lat pulls: 6x8 or 8x6. These are great for pullups.
2. Low rows: 6-8x8 reps. Also great for your back.
3. Curls: 4-5x10 with 40-50lbs.
4. Skull crushers: 4-5x10 with 40lbs. Sometimes I superset these with curls for some extra pain:D
5. Reverse flies (think that's what they're called) laying face down on an inclined bench and moving your arms upward and out with dumbells.
6. Not sure what these are called, but you basically take a 10lb plate in each hand, hold them at your sides, and raise them straight out to about shoulder height as many times as you can. Repeat 2-3x.
Hope this helps. I would blend some of these workouts in with plenty of pullups and pushups if I were you. Good luck!
 
usafa2022 raises a good point about alternate ways to work the same muscle groups. DS used to do rock wall climbing as another way to improve pull ups.
 
There are endless threads on this, but what worked for me was the bar in the door strategy. Every time I went in or out of my room I did as many as I could and then a few more negatives after that (jumping up most of the way and then lowering myself down)
 
I work out everyday to get lighter and tone my muscles but still I can only do 2 pull ups! any tips? Thanks in advance....
Biggest thing I can say to that is don't work to "tone" your muscles, work towards performance. If all you do are beach body exercises you will not get very proficient at what the military demands.
 
Negative pull-ups. I swear by them.

My sister (who couldn't do one pullup) asked me one day how she could get better. I told her to do negatives until she physically couldn't lift her head up to the bar anymore.

She can now do 5 pullups

I'll add, I could only do 3 pullups when I first applied to the academy. Started doing negatives to get better... Can do 20 perfect form pullups no problem now
 
Yeah definitely do more of them, but there are also a lot of auxiliary workouts you can do to help. I used to do a whole bunch of pullups at home to the point where I could do like 9, then I stopped doing any strength work at all for about a year. Then I started lifting weights and going to the gym a lot, including lots of lifts that target the same muscles you use for pullups. After not doing pullups at all for a really long time, one day I found my old pullup bar in my closet, jumped on, and did 12. Some of the weight stuff I was doing included:
1. Lat pulls: 6x8 or 8x6. These are great for pullups.
2. Low rows: 6-8x8 reps. Also great for your back.
3. Curls: 4-5x10 with 40-50lbs.
4. Skull crushers: 4-5x10 with 40lbs. Sometimes I superset these with curls for some extra pain:D
5. Reverse flies (think that's what they're called) laying face down on an inclined bench and moving your arms upward and out with dumbells.
6. Not sure what these are called, but you basically take a 10lb plate in each hand, hold them at your sides, and raise them straight out to about shoulder height as many times as you can. Repeat 2-3x.
Hope this helps. I would blend some of these workouts in with plenty of pullups and pushups if I were you. Good luck!
Plenty of threads on this. The most common recommendation is to do pullups. Get a pull up bar in your bedroom door and do as many pullups as possible every time you walk by. You'll be increasing that count in no time.
Thanks a lot!
 
Back
Top