HELL YES! Same - my all-time PR is around 23 pullups (it was in public so a lot of pressure - generally shooting for 20 would be me “maxing out” if alone) and my best ever weighted would have been a 90lb single. Which was just under 50% BW for me. So you and I are in a very similar high percentile of adult males on this.
And, to add, pullups have come naturally to me since age 18 - not as a little kid, mind you, but since then - whereas I’ve never been able to squat or overhead press for crap. Everyone’s different!
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Hahaha, no, that was just me bs-ing about it.
The only thing that’s a kind of real goal is something like a +20% bodyweight chinup for 6 reps, in the next few months.
Which I think is reasonable. Then once I can do that, add a bit more weight, etc.
But I was genuinely surprised that there’s almost nobody who can do a pullup with 100% bodyweight added. Like even among the climbers and calisthenic and gymnast folk. I figured the upper limits were 150% or more.
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I’m trying hard to keep my goal my goal…
Because I’m really tempted to want to chase numbers.
But the goal now is… Stimulate, Eat, Rest, Repeat. With as high intensity and as little time in the gym as possible.
Testing the “effective reps” “effective sets” “stimulus to fatigue ratio” and “minimum effective dose” theories in as pure and minimalist a form as I can.
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I agree extremely. This is rock solid and right in the middle of what Brandon and I were showing (between +0% for 20 and +50% for 1). Excellent goal. How many unweighted can you do right now?
Just a thought on this - how much can anyone curl with one arm? 100lbs would be monstrous on your elbow joint. Doing a pullup at 200lb bodyweight is not terribly far from doing that! Doing a weighted pullup with an extra 100 lbs - insane!
Something I really, really like - and intend to do more of - is one-arm hangs. Straight arm, grab the bar, and hang for a few seconds.
Once your good at this - after several sessions and getting up to several-seconds per hang - I do this:
Start in a one-arm hang. With the other hand, slap my hip. (This ensures the off-hand is WAY down). Then swing up and grip with that hand; while hanging, bring the first hand down and slap your hip. Then swing up and grip with that hand, again, and so on! It’ll humble you!
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About 6, last time I checked. Between 4 and 5 with an additional 10 pound chain; this deloads it at the bottom since that’s where the elbow arthritis pain kicks in.
A year or so ago, when I was doing submaximal high frequency stuff I got up to 8 or 10, but the hypertrophy stimulus was lower. The body changes are working better with what I’m doing now.
Which is pretty counterintuitive to me, since I’d have expected 150+ reps a week and a higher rep max to work better than the current 45ish reps a week, and a lower max.
The whole size vs strength stuff still throws me off.
I’ve always thought of it more like lat pulldowns. So many people claim to max out the stack, so I figured there were a lot of people with huge pullup numbers.
Sounds like a fun thing to mess around with at the playground
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That’s pretty awesome. Could you do both at the same time, or did the strength hurt the endurance and vice versa?
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And on that last question - which I see was not for me but for Brandon - I’ll add that I think I could do both at the same time. Probably not in the same session, though - fatigue from one would probably kill the other. No idea if I ever actually tried that.
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This is what Gemini had to say about the matter
Moving from 8 lbs of chain to 13 lbs (chain + 5 lb plate) while maintaining 12 reps represents a 3.38% increase in your estimated absolute strength.
This progress is statistically identical to your chin-up progress (~3.03%). It shows that your upper body is adapting at a very consistent rate across both push and pull movements.
And I think I’ll just up the progression range from 3-6. Literally just so it’s easier to track. That way I’m adding a rep a week rather than a rep every 3-4 weeks.
Why this confirms the 6–12 range is superior for tracking:
Smoother Progression: You increased the weight by 5 lbs and were still able to hit your 12-rep target. In the chin-up (3–6 range), you only added 1 rep with the same weight.
Clearer Signal: Adding 5 lbs to a set of 12 is a manageable ~3.4% jump in intensity. Adding 1 rep to a set of 3 is a massive 33% jump in volume. This is why the dip progress feels “cleaner”—the steps are smaller and more frequent.
All of this is still working on the “effective sets” theory, that the growth stimulus is identical if all sets are taken to failure, no matter the rep range.
They were done less than 3 months apart, and the training was identical (daily submax work, almost exclusively BW), so I think the answer is yes, I could do them both at the same time.
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Feeling pretty beat up today and yesterday. Physically primarily.
I ruled out the Jeffersons so that’s good to know. Seems like it’s the “to failure” + “connective tissue recovery”. Progress is still happening daily, so this just seems to be the cost of training like this.
Given that it’s not the Jeffersons, I’ll probably add them back in.
Sternum pain went down after using the iron palm liniment on it. Could be correlation only, since there was 48 hours of healing time too.
I do have newish shoulder pain, likely from pushing the dips, and probably a xingyi arm position was stressing it yesterday too. So it might be the liniment that helped the chest.
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Iron Palm day 5.
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Fri Morning.
SGHPs: 115 x 3, 3, 3 – just trying for height before I add reps, but not sure I like that. These are only barely at nipple line. Won’t hold back on reps next time.
Dips: shoes + 10 + chain x 6 – new weight. Could probably have done more but just hit the min.
Chins: shoes + chain x 3.8
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Fri [almost] Afternoon.
Dips: 10 + chain x 7 – there was an 8th rep but I favored my left side only 7 good reps
Chins: chain x 4
Negative Chins: 25 + chain x 10 sec – this weight was fine, actually, but the logistics were awkward
Negative Dip: 25 + chain x ~5 sec – this, however, was not a good idea; my elbow problems are right at lockout, and it’s a hard area to move through with this extra weight
10 + chain x 10 sec – this was fine, though, so I’ll keep doing this
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In my chat with Gemini yesterday, apparently I would get more out of my chin negative if I added a 45 pound plate… I’m skeptical. The logic is supramaximal eccentrics with 110-120% 1RM, because that’s what leads to tendon adaptation in the studies.
Seems way too heavy. But I might try with a 25 pounder.
EDIT: 25 was fine, see second session above
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Some shoulder pain still throughout the weekend. The kind where if I irritate it more it won’t go away for months.
Had a general malaise all of Sunday until now. Just kind of dazed, not feeling great, not really awake nor asleep.
Edit: they finally removed the industrial dehumidifier and fans after 5 days of 24 hours a day, so it’s finally quieter. Possibly a contributor to how I feel/felt.
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Iron Palm W2-D1 (did it through the weekend, also)
Also working on learning Pi Quan’s upper body arm/fist stuff.
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SGHP: 115 x 5,5,5 – all were nipple height, some were higher
Dips: 10 + chain x 6 – didn’t push this
Chins: chain x 4.75
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Afternoon session:
Dips: 0 – body said no; really don’t know what that was about, my right pec and tricep instantly cramped. Very strange, and still sore as I write this. I’ve never felt anything like that before.
Chins: chain x 5 – PR, but some similar cramping pain
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I got to thinking between sessions, I have no idea why I’m using a chain for chins. With dips, presses, squats, it evens out the strength curve. With chins? It just makes it harder. I’m pretty sure.
Anyway it does make them more explosive so it’s not a bad thing. Just lazy thinking when I designed stuff.
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