I am a relative beginner struggling with pull ups. I do barbell rows as a substitute (tacticql barbell operator template).
I came across GTG methodology and now do 1 pull up (my max) every 2 hours through the day.
So my question is: Are there any better approaches to maxing my pull ups to at least 5?
I’m not sure how much help I can be here but a couple questions come to mind.
What is your BW?
How long have you been training?
What do other lifts look like?
Are you struggling for 1?
How long have you been doing this?
I don’t think BB row strength will translate to pull ups. Lat pull or high pull work will. Do you do pull downs? If so at what weight x reps?
My bw is 78kg (172cm). I’ve been training for a year now. My bench press is 60kg 1rm, squat 80kg, deadlift 104.5kg.
I’ve been doing GTG for a week now and it’s gotten easier (1 pull up).
I don’t do pull downs, but my 1rm max is 84.5kg on it
From what i’m seeing you just need to build overall strength.
What exactly does your weekly training look like?
I’m not super familiar with GTG training but but seems like it’s more of a one movement focused protocol than an overall building program.
You say you are a beginner. How ling have you been lifting? Why focused on pull ups?
What is the end goal?
I looked back at my logs from a couple years ago and at 196lbs I was doing 11 unassisted close grip pullups. I was benching mid 200 for reps and squatting mid 300 for reps. I never really liked deadlifting.
Keep doing this (grease the groove).
As someone who can do 20 pullups, I’m telling you, just keep doing singles when youre near the pullup bar.
It won’t be long before you can do doubles, then triples.
1.5 years. I’m focused on pull ups because i like they way it feels, pulling yourself against the gravity. Also, I want to grow wings over time.
My end goal is to do weighed pull ups and just get overall strength and endurance for sof selection purposes
thank you for your advice!
I’ve probably shared this on T-nation before, but I’ll share it here as an encouragement for you, @Ismail999 , since it sounds like you want to try out for something military.
You stated your weight and height but I know neither your age or build, so that weight/height could mean you’re fat or muscular, or both, but definitely not thin and scrawny like I was when I started doing pullups.
I was a non-athletic teenager with a lot of awful things in my life, and I decided I’d join the military. Pullups weren’t part of the US Navy’s entrance requirements, but it generally seemed like a capability I’d need, so I resolved to develop it.
I couldn’t do one.
I drove big nails into a pair of trees, threw a steel pipe across the nails and duct-taped the pipe onto them so it wouldn’t fall off.
Then I drove nails down just above where my feet would be, and used them as footholds to boost myself into a pullup using my legs.
You can do this with a doorway pullup bar and a stool, box, or chair, obviously.
Do this as many times a day as you can, with as little assistance from your feet as you can, until you can do a pullup. (You already can.)
Then maybe it’s 1 pullup and 2 or 3 assisted pullups.
Then maybe it’s 2 pullups and 3-5 assisted. and so on and on without end.
Once you can do a few, develop a habit of just coming back, again and again, and doing more.
I also really like EMOM training for this. You might start doing one pullup every 2 minutes, for 10 rounds. AFter a few of these sessions you could get to one every minute for 10 rounds.
After a few rounds of this, doing 10 pullups starts to seem feasible - and from there, your own motivation and other goals will take over.
That’s basically how I did it. I got to the point of 20 pullups while still a young man (no idea exactly when, but let’s say age 20-21?)
Once you’re good at this, you find yourself (in a military environment anyway) constantly hanging off of overhead features. Monkeying around on pipes and ceilings, or having pullup contests with the other guys. It is a positive-feedback cycle and you just keep getting better.
Today, I’m 37 years old, 190lbs and 6ft tall, and I can go crank out 20 pullups right now, cold, or hang from a bar for 60 seconds, or do a weighted pullup with probably 60-70lbs.
Can I squat as much as a 14-year-old girl? No. No, I cannot. But god dang it I can do pullups! 
I think my biggest help with pullups was Arnold. He said that people find pullups hard and use lat pulldowns. He said that was a mistake.
Do 50 pullups each pullup workout…no matter how long it takes. It works
Oh dude this is great! Absolutely. You can find ways to work the density up until it’s like 5x10 or something - which is SUPER respectable.
I’d say in the beginning, when someone can barely squeeze out one pullup and it’s an all-out effort, maybe don’t shoot for 50 - but once it becomes possible to do, do it until it becomes easy to do!
Damn, I should just do 50 pullups a day. Not consider it training, more like brushing my teeth.
I wouldn’t recommend daily. You could overuse the elbow and they say the lats take three days to recover.
On my [standing] press day, i always use pullups (just like on bench day, i do rows [squats/deads] ) for antagonistic muscles.
But my pullup workout is always just 50 pullups. If it becomes too easy, then you add weight