Have any of you ever thought of doing clap pull-ups? I was finally able to to do a few today and I was psyched.
DAMMMMMNNN!!!.
I was a total lover of pushups etc and i have to admit that i didn’t appreciate the pullups until now as much as i should. thats definitely changed now after reading how much success it brought from everyone. from now on the pull-ups will be the meat of my workouts!!!
Maybe I am just missing something, but why are so many here obsessed with reps? Are you obsessed with reps for any other movement like squats or benching?
You can do weighted push ups for a max weight just like anything else and see good results from it…
[quote]Shadowzz4 wrote:
This is what I am talking about as the problem. If you arent strong enough to do a decent amount of pullups adding in some lat pulldowns will easily give you more volume and sure it is not as good as being able to do just pullups but Im not going to believe it wont help.[/quote]
Top partial pullups are better than lat pulldowns. Get your volume there.
Body does not respond to pulldowns as does to pullups. It knows.
[quote]Julius_Caesar wrote:
Maybe I am just missing something, but why are so many here obsessed with reps? Are you obsessed with reps for any other movement like squats or benching?
You can do weighted push ups for a max weight just like anything else and see good results from it…[/quote]
we all have different tastes and different ways to get our kicks. at least its a healthy pleasure as long as its working out.
[quote]Julius_Caesar wrote:
Maybe I am just missing something, but why are so many here obsessed with reps? Are you obsessed with reps for any other movement like squats or benching?
You can do weighted push ups for a max weight just like anything else and see good results from it…[/quote]
People are obsessed with absolute weight on the powerlifts, it’s how they’re judged… The pull up isn’t a powerlift!!
Personally I don’t feel very sure that my joins and supporting structures can take a 1rm pull up attempt. don’t know about the rest of the people here…
[quote]Julius_Caesar wrote:
Maybe I am just missing something, but why are so many here obsessed with reps? Are you obsessed with reps for any other movement like squats or benching?
You can do weighted push ups for a max weight just like anything else and see good results from it…[/quote]
That’s the nature of bodyweight exercises. You can’t add weight (or its not bodyweight), so you try and do as many as you can.
However, another goal could be speed of the movement, like clap pulls or dynos in climbing (pulling yourself up so you jump to the next hold up).
[quote]Hanley wrote:
People are obsessed with absolute weight on the powerlifts, it’s how they’re judged… The pull up isn’t a powerlift!!
Personally I don’t feel very sure that my joins and supporting structures can take a 1rm pull up attempt. don’t know about the rest of the people here…[/quote]
I could see a one RM pull up being a legitimate strongman event, in fact I have seen it done. And it doesn’t hurt your body at all if you train it wisely.
I mean you still have to apply strength principles to it, but it is no more and probably less taxing on your body than deadlifting for a one RM.
And it is also fun! I love the feeling of having 100 plus pounds attached to my body and trying to hoist my chin over a bar.
[quote]el0gic wrote:
That’s the nature of bodyweight exercises. You can’t add weight (or its not bodyweight), so you try and do as many as you can.
However, another goal could be speed of the movement, like clap pulls or dynos in climbing (pulling yourself up so you jump to the next hold up).
[/quote]
That is why they invented a chin-up/dip belt, so that people could add weight to their bodyweight exercises. Personally I think that training solely for reps is boring, not to mention that you won’t get your lats stronger by doing so. For example, from doing my weighted chin ups, I can do barbell rows with over 300 pounds and dumbell rows with 150 pound dumb bells.
I know that, but I just can’t see why more people aren’t into doing heavy pull ups.
[quote]Limbic wrote:
Shadowzz4 wrote:
This is what I am talking about as the problem. If you arent strong enough to do a decent amount of pullups adding in some lat pulldowns will easily give you more volume and sure it is not as good as being able to do just pullups but Im not going to believe it wont help.
Top partial pullups are better than lat pulldowns. Get your volume there.
Body does not respond to pulldowns as does to pullups. It knows.[/quote]
What the hell are you talking about. For someone who lacks the strength to do more than 4 or so good pullups they will not be able to get any meaningful work in, they are just not strong enough.
sentoguy and limbic what are your respective height and weight?
Really, it is possible to go from no, or very few reps, to doing more, by just using the chin-up bar. Unlike most other bodyweight exercises, chins can be made progressively easyer. Clean pulls from a dead hand are significantly more difficult than ones done with a jerk. O
ntop of that, it is possible to limit oneself to just the lowering motion, using a jump to the top, the reverse. Combining all these, one can do longer sets, reaching, or getting close to another level of failure, that is, being unable to brake onesefl much at all on the decent.
Don’t underestimate eccentric loading guys, it does wonders. I know firsthand since I used to be unable to do a single one, and went up to an occasional record of 11.
I think the pullup is the best upper body exercise, especially when done with weights. The fat guys like rows or pulldowns, but nothing compares to the pullup.
If you can build to the point where you are pulling up your bodywieght’s worth of plates strapped on, there is no point in any other work for the pulling muscles, including the arms.
The bench press is a poor exercise at best imo when it comes to functional strength. The weighted dip and standing overhead press are vastly superior.
[quote]Julius_Caesar wrote:
we all have different tastes and different ways to get our kicks. at least its a healthy pleasure as long as its working out.
I know that, but I just can’t see why more people aren’t into doing heavy pull ups.
[/quote]
oh i like doing them weighted too. when i was at the gym with my friend last week, i put a plate between my feet and started dipping. however there are techniques to make a bodyweight pullup and dip hard. do it slow etc…
[quote]Fitnessdiva wrote:
I think the pullup is the best upper body exercise, especially when done with weights. The fat guys like rows or pulldowns, but nothing compares to the pullup.
If you can build to the point where you are pulling up your bodywieght’s worth of plates strapped on, there is no point in any other work for the pulling muscles, including the arms.
The bench press is a poor exercise at best imo when it comes to functional strength. The weighted dip and standing overhead press are vastly superior.[/quote]
damn right. by the way thats a very nice picture as your avatar.
[quote]MuscleBear wrote:
oh i like doing them weighted too. when i was at the gym with my friend last week, i put a plate between my feet and started dipping. however there are techniques to make a bodyweight pullup and dip hard. do it slow etc…
[/quote]
A good technique to make it harder is to add more weight…
[quote]Shadowzz4 wrote:
sentoguy and limbic what are your respective height and weight?[/quote]
Why? Are you trying to suggest that we are somehow built better for pull-ups than SteelyD? His profile does not contain a height or weight, so it doesn’t really seem relevant. But, I am 5’9" 185lbs. And I will also admit that I’ve always been strong with pull-ups.
But, I’ve also taken people from not being able to do pull-ups (or only being able to do a few) to being able to do sets of 8-10 (one individual being about 6’2" 250lbs). So, I know that what I’m suggesting will work.
But, like I said before, I’m not saying that your suggestion won’t work. I just think that Steely should also work on his maximal strength using one of the methods that I previously mentioned (or if he has another one he’d like to try).
Good training,
Sentoguy
First let me say-- great discussion!
Because I’m still wary about picking up a lot of weight because of the injury, I’ve dedicated myself for the next couple of weeks (and the past couple) to bodyweight and light dumbell work (I confess, today I did some standing mil.presses, but with very light weight, and I really felt it in the S.I. joint).
Anyway- I’ve read just about everything I could find online by Pavel, Maher, Furey, Boyle and others. I managed to get copies of a couple Pavel books (GREAT READS).
I’ve added 2 reps (7) to my pullups in a week doing a hack-G.T.G. kind of program. Only 7 reps, but I’ll take a 40% increase any day! And that’s not to failure, so I might even be able to pump another 1 (2?)
I do a few dips, a few chins, single-leg step ups (about 18") to re-hab the SI, hanging legs lifts, hindu pushups, and reverse pushups, then repeat. At work I do 10-15 pushups on the hour throughout the day, then come home and do bridges and attempt wall pushups (not quite vertical).
Doesn’t sound like much, but I’m exhausted at night and I see noticeable differences.
I still can’t wait to squat/DL some plates, but I’m having fun with this in the meantime.
Thanks for the suggestions and the discussion!
-SD
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
First let me say-- great discussion!
Because I’m still wary about picking up a lot of weight because of the injury, I’ve dedicated myself for the next couple of weeks (and the past couple) to bodyweight and light dumbell work (I confess, today I did some standing mil.presses, but with very light weight, and I really felt it in the S.I. joint).
Anyway- I’ve read just about everything I could find online by Pavel, Maher, Furey, Boyle and others. I managed to get copies of a couple Pavel books (GREAT READS).
I’ve added 2 reps (7) to my pullups in a week doing a hack-G.T.G. kind of program. Only 7 reps, but I’ll take a 40% increase any day! And that’s not to failure, so I might even be able to pump another 1 (2?)
I do a few dips, a few chins, single-leg step ups (about 18") to re-hab the SI, hanging legs lifts, hindu pushups, and reverse pushups, then repeat. At work I do 10-15 pushups on the hour throughout the day, then come home and do bridges and attempt wall pushups (not quite vertical).
Doesn’t sound like much, but I’m exhausted at night and I see noticeable differences.
I still can’t wait to squat/DL some plates, but I’m having fun with this in the meantime.
Thanks for the suggestions and the discussion!
-SD[/quote]
Good luck with it, coming back from an injury is always a frustrating process. And using bodyweight exercises is an excellent way of setting some achievable strength goals without actually getting under a bar and risking further damage or injury setback.