Pull Ups (Once Again)

One of my main goals is to become a pull ups master, as I am seriously thinking about joining the army.
I aim at reaching 20 dead hang pull ups. But I have been struggling to perform more than 12 perfect pull ups for a very long time. I have reached a plateau.

I have already tried to “grease the groove”, and the results I was expecting were not here(I followed a GTG routine for one week and my max did not improve). I know it is too short but I don’t have access to a pull up bar all day long, so I’ve dropped this idea.

From now on I will follow this Chin up program:
http://www.T-Nation.com/postMessagePrep.do?categoryId=39&messageType=post
I was wondering if it was a good idea to adapt this chin ups specialisation to pull ups. I will combine this program with a normal routine, and do “ladders” once or twice a week.

I know that when it comes to pull ups, ZEB is the man. I have read most of his posts, and I will stick to his main principles. ZEB’s reputation is going beyond the borders of America. So is the reputation of T-Nation, which is, IMO, the world’s best forum when it comes to strength and conditionning.

Thanx a lot for your advice!!

I don’t know if this may help, but I do pullups in between sets of other back exercises and it has help me to improve in doing 20 pullups with no problem. Give it a try.

[quote]Maldoror wrote:
I don’t have access to a pull up bar all day long[/quote]
How about a door? A ledge? A tree limb? Be more creative.

try swimming and hang pulls as well. Do as much pull training over push training as you can 3x per week with appropriate volume split!!!

Hi Maldoror,

I’d also suggest you start doing weighted chins/pull-ups. Doing so should make bodyweight chins feel relatively easy. Also try utilizing some of Chad Waterbury’s methodologies as well. What I mean is that you should vary the exercises (which could simply be different variations of pull-ups) as well as rep/set/intensity schemes.

Good training,

Sentoguy

[quote]Maldoror wrote:
One of my main goals is to become a pull ups master, as I am seriously thinking about joining the army.
[/quote]

Army physical fitness test: push ups, sit ups 2 mile run

Whatever Marines call their fitness test : pullups, sit ups, 3 mile run

don’t know if this will have any effect on your goals, but thought you should know, pullups aren’t really a big deal in the army, being a push up master would make basic training even more of a breeze than its already becoming, so maybe focus on those more. also, practice things like burpees, walking while in an ATG position, and det good at flutterkicks too. good luck

[quote]evansmi wrote:
Maldoror wrote:
One of my main goals is to become a pull ups master, as I am seriously thinking about joining the army.

Army physical fitness test: push ups, sit ups 2 mile run

Whatever Marines call their fitness test : pullups, sit ups, 3 mile run

don’t know if this will have any effect on your goals, but thought you should know, pullups aren’t really a big deal in the army, being a push up master would make basic training even more of a breeze than its already becoming, so maybe focus on those more. also, practice things like burpees, walking while in an ATG position, and det good at flutterkicks too. good luck[/quote]

notice he’s from France, not the States…there could be different requirements.

[quote]Kritikos wrote:
evansmi wrote:
Maldoror wrote:
One of my main goals is to become a pull ups master, as I am seriously thinking about joining the army.

Army physical fitness test: push ups, sit ups 2 mile run

Whatever Marines call their fitness test : pullups, sit ups, 3 mile run

don’t know if this will have any effect on your goals, but thought you should know, pullups aren’t really a big deal in the army, being a push up master would make basic training even more of a breeze than its already becoming, so maybe focus on those more. also, practice things like burpees, walking while in an ATG position, and det good at flutterkicks too. good luck

notice he’s from France, not the States…there could be different requirements.[/quote]

France has an army?!

[quote]Maldoror wrote:
One of my main goals is to become a pull ups master, as I am seriously thinking about joining the army.
I aim at reaching 20 dead hang pull ups. But I have been struggling to perform more than 12 perfect pull ups for a very long time. I have reached a plateau.

I have already tried to “grease the groove”, and the results I was expecting were not here(I followed a GTG routine for one week and my max did not improve). I know it is too short but I don’t have access to a pull up bar all day long, so I’ve dropped this idea.

From now on I will follow this Chin up program:
http://www.T-Nation.com/postMessagePrep.do?categoryId=39&messageType=post
I was wondering if it was a good idea to adapt this chin ups specialisation to pull ups. I will combine this program with a normal routine, and do “ladders” once or twice a week.

I know that when it comes to pull ups, ZEB is the man. I have read most of his posts, and I will stick to his main principles. ZEB’s reputation is going beyond the borders of America. So is the reputation of T-Nation, which is, IMO, the world’s best forum when it comes to strength and conditionning.

Thanx a lot for your advice![/quote]

You are already doing 12 so getting to 20 is going to be easy. just add weights using a belt. If your gym doesn’t have one. You can purchase one online for 20 bucks (i did). Remember don’t make this more complicated than it has to…just keep adding weights when you do pull ups.

Try supersetting pull-ups with overhead pressing. It worked for me.

[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
Kritikos wrote:
evansmi wrote:
Maldoror wrote:
One of my main goals is to become a pull ups master, as I am seriously thinking about joining the army.

Army physical fitness test: push ups, sit ups 2 mile run

Whatever Marines call their fitness test : pullups, sit ups, 3 mile run

don’t know if this will have any effect on your goals, but thought you should know, pullups aren’t really a big deal in the army, being a push up master would make basic training even more of a breeze than its already becoming, so maybe focus on those more. also, practice things like burpees, walking while in an ATG position, and det good at flutterkicks too. good luck

notice he’s from France, not the States…there could be different requirements.

France has an army?![/quote]

Not nice

Very funny

But not very nice :-]

I agree with Bad John. Also, if you have access to a weight belt do a weighted workout about once a week for something like 5x5, 6x4, 8x3, or 10x3. Also, add in some eccentric training where you see fit. Either only do eccentrics with a lot of weight on the belt, or do it with only bodyweight and go down slowly and up explosively.

Good luck.

Strange as it may seem, the French Armed Force do exist!

I know that it is quite odd but the army of my leftist country is remaining among the world’s most trained forces. I am sure you all have heard about the foreign legion , and some of yours could have been told about the French SAS. I know how shitty our policies are but it does not prevent our army from being great.

But that is not the point. I am about to hit the gym, and I will give this workout a first try.
When I am done with it, I will probably buy a belt, it sounds like a very good idea.

I am already satisfied with my push ups max(between 70 and 80, with perfect form) that’s why I am primarily concerned with improving my pull ups number.

Thanks for your advice, I have to hit the bar now!

I have just finished this workout. Negative pull ups are tougher than I thought.

Have you tried incorporating “Frenchies” into your regime? Ha, seriously, that’s the name of this pullup technique that a lot of mountain climbers utilize to improve their pullup strength.

http://www.nicros.com/New%20Training%20Center/local_endurance_part2.shtml

[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
Kritikos wrote:
evansmi wrote:
Maldoror wrote:
One of my main goals is to become a pull ups master, as I am seriously thinking about joining the army.

Army physical fitness test: push ups, sit ups 2 mile run

Whatever Marines call their fitness test : pullups, sit ups, 3 mile run

don’t know if this will have any effect on your goals, but thought you should know, pullups aren’t really a big deal in the army, being a push up master would make basic training even more of a breeze than its already becoming, so maybe focus on those more. also, practice things like burpees, walking while in an ATG position, and det good at flutterkicks too. good luck

notice he’s from France, not the States…there could be different requirements.

France has an army?!

[/quote]

Only until yesterday. Then they surrendered.

Pyramids are the best way to go:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Ladders are also good, I have been doing the following:

20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2

Use as much rest time as needed at first. Reduce the rest time each workout.

Also, do weighted chins on another day of the week.

Having followed this plan for about a year, my max pullups have moved from 10 to 32 at a bw of 200.

on the topic of pullups/chins…

How often should you do them when trying to improve on them?

Every second day? Or is that too often? I don’t want a shoulder injury!

Thanks

When I run my numbers up, I do them every other day, and alternate between chins and pull-ups.
Another way that worked for me was to do them twice a day. One workout was chins and the other pull-ups.

I have been doing an exercise which was similar to “frenchies” for a long time, without knowing it. It makes your back really sore.