Recently my strength values in some areas have tended to stagnate a bit. I dont think it has anything to do with my set/rep scheme or overtraining, but more likely some weak and lagging muscles.
Ive noticed my pullup weight has gotten pretty sad. I feel that my grip is what is holding me back. Also, when i do weighted pullups, i dont have a dip belt, but instead hold a dumbell between my knees. This could be part of the reason I cant go up much. Also, im strong at the first 2/3 of the lift, but the top portion is much weaker.
I would like to add thick bar work to my routine, but i dont know how to do this in my gym, because they only have standard bars. I was thinking maybe including rack pulls to help with my forearm and back strength. Also, if i can get a dip belt, maybe i’ll be able to do some heavy negatives.
I currently can do about BW+40 for about 5 reps, so maybe i could do BW+70 for negatives or something like that. Any advice?
It’s always the last third of the movement that starts to wank out in the pullup.
Spring some cash for a dip belt. It’s worth it.
One arm hangs for time can help a lot with supporting grip. When you can hang 30sec to a min with your own body weight, your pullup sets will seem easy on the hands.
When I do pullups, I’m going for speed to get me through the last third. Doing sets of 3 with 90lbs on one day and fast BW-only pullups for sets of 8-10 on another where I try to touch my sternum to the bar. The heavy days pullups have gotten faster getting to the top.
I’m having no trouble getting my chin above the bar and I really think it’s the ballistic work on the other day that’s enabling this.
Hanging most of your weight on one arm while still holding on with both arms might work aswell, alternating between hands with no time lost. Doing some variety of rows with holds in the end of the pull, (lat-focussed anyway) could help, aswell as holds and very slow negatives at the end of the pull-up to finish off.