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Pull Ups


Putty

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I have never been able to do a pullup, until last week I surprised myself with 5 unassisted. I did the crossfit ones [jumping pullups coupled with one pushup (target 100 reps)] and managed only 50 :sick: .

I think I will have arrived if I can do 20 over hand unassisted.

Keep after it! :)

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Jumping pull ups are a great sub. If you are having trouble at first I would also recommend mainly focusing on controlling the eccentric movement as that will definitely help you build the strength to do unassisted pull ups.

Yes this is the hate forum, but I thought advice here might have been warranted.

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There's a certain body type that's suited to pullups, if you go to your local climbing wall you'll see what i mean. Of course if your main focus is clambering up rocks your upper body would get strong in a hurry.

It took me a couple of years of assisted work before i could do one on my own. 15 years later i still can't do more than 14

Edited by ong45
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Genetics do definitely help, but it's nothing that hard training and discipline can't overcome. I used to not be able to do more than 5, after training my ass off and having the discipline to control what I eat I'm up to doing 27. It's just like anything...how bad do you want it.

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I started doing pull up cause my fiancee wanted to start going to climibing gyms. I went once and noticed all these skinny guys climbing around like spider man. This was went I was benching 300 or so and I figured it wouldn't be a big deal...well the more muscle you have the heavier you are the harder it is to make it go straight up! I eventually got to where I was doing 3 sets of 10 pull ups at a time at the gym and impressed those skinny guys at the climbing gym but yeah pull ups sucka mucho arso.

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Pull-ups are one of those things that seem impossible if you never do them, but if you keep at it, you'll surprise yourself.

It's just one of those mostly un-worked muscle groups.

I hate'em too.

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This was went I was benching 300 or so and I figured it wouldn't be a big deal...well the more muscle you have the heavier you are the harder it is to make it go straight up!

Yep - as in all bodyweight exercises, the move body weight you have, the harder it is! Smaller guys have an advantage on those types of exercises.

There are also a few types of pull ups. In the service, we learned the "kip." The "kip" is were you learn to control body swing to help you do the exercise.

There's also bodybuilding or strength type pull ups - where you eliminate any body swing or momentum to put max force on the muscles.

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I hate them too. It takes a lot of training for me to add two reps on a "first set to failure" attempt.

There are a few other exercises that come to mind as not being so much fun:

Regular below-parallel squats. Don't tell me that weights can't be aerobic. A few heavy sets of these and you'll think you just ran a marathon with a backpack.

Barbell curls. Many people like these. Not me. A pro once said that if you've never puked after doing these you ain't working hard enough.

And finally power cleans for reps. Like 3 sets of 5. Just brutal.

Edited by JD45
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Having a buddy along while trying to do pull ups helps. If he/she can get their forearm under your knees and pushup on them that helps. It's like having a spotter at the bench press.

For the women, who have less upper body strength, doing a "negative" helps. With assistance they hop up, so that their chin is above the bar and then they see how long they can hold that. Slowly their muscles give out and their arms extend and their chins are no longer above the bar.

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I've been doing assisted pull ups lately at the health club. I do three sets of ten with about 75% of my body weight on the last set of ten. I've been getting better and sometimes after the last set I try for one unassited. Haven't made it yet, but I like the challenge. :)

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