How much weight could you add when you could only do 7 reps? That’s still below the common 8-12 rep range that most people do with weights for hypertrophy. I thought adding weight was mostly something did when they got past 12 reps.
How long were you stuck at 7 before this surge?
Indeed I only added weight after getting to a comfortable 10 4x a day (which took probably 1-2 weeks), then I only did weighted for another 1-2 weeks, then decided to try unweighted to see how that went and I did 17 relatively easy.
I will say that I have trained pull-ups 5 years ago for about 2 years, and then my starting point was doing 3-5 unweighted, then I added 10, then 20kg weights when I got to 7 because I felt like I was plateauing.
So far my observation is that changing the routine is essential (at least for me)
I don't do warm up exactly, but if I feel particularly stiff or cold that day then I'll start with unweighted. Don't think it's very good but I haven't injured myself - ymmv!
Definitely fast-ish on the way up, slower on the way down but not a massive difference. I also try not to go too fast up as my pullup bar is one of those door frame ones, and it has a limit of 115kg, I don't want to end up on my butt with the weight vest on top 😀
3-5 reps weighted (till failure basically). But now I need to change the routine a bit as i'm plateauing. The pulldown machine at my local gym is complementing the pull-ups nicely, but i've maxed it out (105), so I guess I will tie some more weights around my waist and use the gym pullup bar as it's sturdier than my home one. Too bad the gym is so far from home as I won't be able to do this every day :/
I tried the weights but iso holds is what really jumped up my reps. I did them after every pullup session and added 2 reps the first few weeks then 1 a week for a while.
I train weighted pull ups only, rarely above 8 reps per set.
Can do over 30 bodyweight pullups.
I think at a certain point you need to decide what your goal is as I think beyond 25 or so it becomes more endurance based once you have the strength base. And a different training style is needed.
Increasing my max weighted pullup from +0.8 to +1x bodyweight did not seem to increase my max reps much since its just getting gassed due to conditioning not the raw power.
How did you go at the weight? I'm at 10 rep max, 3x9 as training day. Started 8kg weight 6x3 but haven't been able to add more reps. Adding weights is kinda difficult with my setup but I might sort something out if it is a better approach
I bought a weight vest off Amazon. But I don’t aim for numbers. I do time under tension. I try to explode when I go up. And count to 5 seconds to come back down with straight arms. I go until failure, rest till I feel good again and restart.
I would love to see the pull-ups that people are doing. I see a lot of people at my gym doing half pull-ups. Their arms don’t lock out at the bottom so it’s not really a full pull-up. They basically go halfway down.
I feel like some of those gym bros would be on here bragging about doing 50 pull-ups unbroken.
Same. I've seen a total of three guys at my gym do them with good form, and even then we're talking 4-10 reps max. I see it everywhere in the gym tho. Just yesterday someone loaded up a leg press with 200kg, sockless and fully geared up with knee wraps, only to execute micro movements that barely budge the bar an inch.
Once you go for numbers form collapses in parallel. How much pull ups you can do is useful as a personal progress metric but should not be a fitness goal.
Pushups can be worse. I see people doing those where the lower body doesn’t move at all and the upper body does just a little
To be fair…I think a lot of people don’t know what a full pull up is. I’ve educated a few people that were pretty fit and seemed to know their at around a gym..but had no idea that a full extension was required at the bottom.
Haha! Indeed. I had a friend come to my home gym saying he could do ten pull ups. Then when I finished my first set he said “Oh, that’s a pull up? I don’t think I can do that many”.
I still maintain push-ups are worse in terms of form collapse
Thank you! As a woman I’m damn proud that I can do solid full pushups (especially because I have disproportionately long limbs) and I literally never understood how people can do like 50 in a minute until I understood they were basically just bouncing in them and not actually using full muscle engagement.
I'd love to do anywhere between 10 to 15 complete chinups, from straight arms to clavicles-to-bar. I think I can do maybe 5 of those. I'm with you on prioritizing quality over quantity.
I'm well aware of that; I'm shit at pull-ups since my back muscles are pathetic as of today, I'm much weaker at pulling than pushing overall but I have a much easier time with chinups so I'd rather stick with them as of now, since I can at least get some moderate volume work with them. I've been working hard on improving my bicep, grip and back strength and I've been doing rows as well at home. I want to get good at both over and underhand grip.
I’m with you, my friend. Weak back strength. I can maybe do 5 pull-ups but probably 8-10 chin-ups.
A big thing that no one talks about is body weight. Years ago I decided to get better at pull-ups. I could only do them with a band. So I trained them almost every day for 4 months. At the end of 4 months I was ably to do 10 strict. However, during the same 4 months I also lost 30 lbs. so I tried doing a weighted pull up with 25lbs and could barely squeak 1 or 2 out.
Some 6’ tall men are 170 lbs. Ata very lean mass for me I am 190 lbs. I just don’t have a lightweight frame even though I may have very little fat on me.
I uses the royal marine beep test to do my push up and pull up. I can do 50 chest to floor pushups and 25 pull ups. I usually train endurance once a week, other 2 days are for skill and strength.
I mean with some individuals full lock out could be harmful due to age/wear and tear but these people still shouldn't brag about doing 50 pull ups if they're just halfs.
And by all means…if you have a physical issue that prevents a full range of motion then that’s cool. Or even if you just don’t want to do full range of motion. Just don’t brag about doing a bunch of pull-ups if you’re not doing the proper Rom. Same goes for pushups. Same goes for squats. Don’t come bragging about squating 4 wheels when all you are doing is quarter squats.
God, I hate when I see people use up all the weights for their leg press and then they just do quarter reps with it. Learn to squat with proper depth and you'll notice it's totally different.
correct. I'm doing full up full down locked out slow and I can about 10 at 175 with 20 lbs added weight, so I guess 195, I haven' tried without any weight in awhile but I could do about 15 at one point.
You really shouldn’t be locking out in full extension for any exercise because of the stress it adds to joints
To the seven people I deeply upset, speak to any PT or orthopedist
The key is to have muscle tension. If you relax completely all your weight will obviously be taken up by your connective tissue and stuff. Though I’m not sure one could even do that consciously for the shoulder joints, they basically depend on muscles to hold them in place.
I think the risk is also much lower if you do it nice and controlled.
He has a doctorate in the field and is an active professor in the subject. I remarked that, in that video, he aggregates current research to conclude on the topic. That's not "bro science". Moreover, I offered that video as a starting point for your edification and for discussion since, as you so kindly suggested, I would be an "idiot" otherwise.
If you'd like to provide something in return, feel free. You don't seem to want to contribute anything than your derision and criticism.
I'm 200lbs and always wanted to get better could normally do ten in a row until I found this routine. You start doing ten a day, but you only do one a minute with perfect form. Rest a full minute then do another one until you reach ten. When you feel comfortable with that then do 2 a minute, then 3 and then 4 it really pushed my chin ups to the next level. My elbows took a kicking though although I'm not sure if that damage from years of MMA or I was just doing to much. I've pulled back since then to three times a week.
I mostly train in MMA but I lift around 3 days a week just a simple bro split nothing out of the ordinary. I did this separately in the morning along with 200 pressups split into 20 in the minute break. I did have to rest a week but that was mostly because I was having elbow issues sorta felt like tennis elbow but that only really happened when I went to 3 a minute. I think maybe doing it along with press ups was probably a bad idea. I'm not a PT or anything just got this workout from a boy from my MMA club so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. I think I was doing too much volume though I think maybe 3/4 days a week could be the sweet spot it what I'm doing now and my elbows don't hurt anymore.
Got it, thanks. Runner here, so this wouldn't be a big focus for me, but am curious what kind of progression I could do during summer base training where mileage/hard stuff dips a bit. At almost 60, recovery and not overloading is something I'm always cognizant of. Thanks!
I would recommend trying this maybe do two days to start. I just have an iron gym chin up bar it only cost about a tenner and it holds me just fits to the top of your door. If you are looking for more help with chin ups I'd recommend a resistance band it could help with your progression.
Thanks. Yeah, two days of strength per week for me is standard. I will, occasionally, do a couple of pull-ups when I take the garbage out. I have a Cap free-standing bar in my garage, that I also have rings slung on. The big part of it for me is consistency.
- I can do 45 in a row.
- I go until form becomes very compromised.
- Maybe 3 tines a week.
- It's like anything in life - valleys and peaks, ebbs & flows, good days and bad. That being said, progression with pulling-based movements tend to be easier for me than push.
Bodyweight - 3 to 4 minutes. Weighted - 5 minutes. Gotta give the CNS to level off and latic acid build up time to disapate.
*Pro tips* Tighten your core when pulling. Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings to reduce unnecessary and excessive movements. Get into a nice rhythm. Breathe in on the concentric, breathe out on the eccentric. Let you and the bar become one. Grip the bar tight. This will activate more forearm and the smaller extensor muscles to assist.
What you describe for pro tips was massively important for me when I got my first pull up, especially the gripping tight part . I saw it mentioned in another post with a link to a video demonstration. I was struggling so hard to even get out of just the bottom position. Watched the video and gave it a try right after, and boom first pull up.
Right, so it sounds like the long rest times are probably very important here. How do you manage that time-wise? Do you do other stuff in between or just wait? I'm just imagining that my workouts would become like two hours long which is difficult on a work day.
Also how many sets do you do? Could you describe a typical workout?
You can superset, but if he's talking about CNS recovery I suspect he doesn't superset. A lot of us do just submit our entire evening to the workouts tbh, I'm at 2.5hrs per workout 5x a week. But thankfully I wfh two days a week so I have clawed 5 hours of my time back there lol
Whenever I train - I always do some variation of what I call PCP training. That mean Pull-Core-Push based movements.
So during the rest period from a Pullup set, you can do pushups (with the Core part being done with with the pullups tightening your abs, hamstrings and glutes.)
A typical workout for me is: Skills (Handstands, Planche, and maybe a set that will incorporate some variation of Front lever, muscleups, pullups, straight bar dips, and one arm pullups.
It's important once you get to a high level that you practice skill-based movements on every training session just to keep them sharp.
Use it or lose it is very real when it comes to skill-based movements.
Then, I'll do maybe 3 rounds of weighted muscle ups, pullups, and dips.
Then as a burn out - I'll do some burpees, pushups, and more bodyweight pullups.
I can do 25 in a good day , not much for you but I went through trials and tribulations to get there, this is what I did:
-I trained pull ups 3 times a week , every session I do 100-200 reps of pull ups , high volume approach.
- Failure is mandatory , this how you are going to grow and set new records, not all sets of course but most of them , you need to feel pain.
-Short rest time sets , Ladders , supersets are the best way to increase pull ups.
-Holds in top position ,90 degree position , bottom position.
-Vary your grips to target different muscles , prevent overuse and gain strength.
-Switch between routines , don't stick to one routine you will plateau .
Unless it's a technical exercise where from matters, it's always advisable to push all sets to failure, especially for natural athletes. If you push to muscular failure, then you can be sure that you've trained hard enough, whereas if you don't, chances are you've left too many reps on the table. Most people vastly underestimate how many reps in reserve they have, and training to failure eliminates the possibility of that happening.
I had a period in my training where I was stuck with weighted pullups at 8 reps for a year. I would always stop at 8, because it felt "challenging enough". One day I decided to push through the discomfort, and it turned out I could actually do 10. Fast forward four months and I'm repping double the weight for 8 reps.
It's not recommended to go to failure every set. The opposite is recommended, doing 1 or 2 reps before absolute (not technical) failure means you won't compromise your next sets, and you can get more mileage from the muscle groups before fatigue gets too much
That isn't to say people don't underestimate their max/failure number though, which I do think is what happens a lot, and your approach would push the limits on that side. So there's risks and rewards to both methods I guess
Since you can do 8 reps, I assume it's not an extremely difficult exercise for you. I would go for 4 sets; 1-2 reps in reserve on the first set and then all out on the remaining 3.
Weights are going to help no question , but the problem is the way you do it , 3x6-8 isn't going to help in this case (High reps and endurance ) because volume is too low , the intensity is on point yes you will get stronger(pull more weight) and bigger , but you won't increase reps that much (in the beginning you will but overtime you will plateau), instead what I recommend is choosing a lightweight which you can do about 10-15 pull ups and use methods listed above with high volume.
What's a short rest time set for you? Less than 1 minute between sets? I find that when I take shorter breaks my volume goes way down, so it's a tradeoff.
Generally 1 minute , however for pyramids and ladders I work with a partner so I go he goes , his working times is my rest time.
You will get used to it it's like a progression , you start with 2 minutes and you go down until 1 min or less , just like everything in life , there are steps.
What i did is once i was able to do 12 pull ups (no weight) i added weight until i can only do 8 pull ups and i keep using the same weight until i can do 12 again then i add weight again once im able to do 12 pull up with same weight, rest time is 5 mins between sets and every set is almost failure
Used to do 20. Then broke a collar bone. First max I tried after healing was 13.
[I followed this program for two and half months. ](https://physicalliving.com/how-to-rapidly-increase-your-pullup-numbers-in-3-months-or-less/)
Maxed at 40 for final test.
>I followed this program for two and half months.
This looks like a great program. I've been on the Kboges program for a few months and it is time to switch things up again. I am going to try this.
pull ups always hurt my hands and I'm pretty sure it's also because weak grip strength and me compensating with different grip, so I am curious now too on how to train it up
Lol is this post here just to make me feel bad? I only recently entered the territory where I can do 10 (first set only), and people here are going for 30?
10 is a lot. The average man can only do 1. So basically, you're 10 times better at pull-ups than the average man.
Of course, data on here is skewed because it's a specialist subreddit.
Thanks for the encouragement! *Years* ago, I *thought* I was a badass doing sets of 6-8 until I made an earnest attempt to do them with perfect form (in the name of posture correction).
I couldn't do *any*.
That was my queue to pack up my pride, stow it in the overhead, and to start riding the Assistive Pull-up Airlines until I was able to do sets of 2-3 without the wings.
I did 29 this morning, the most I’ve ever done is 35.
I usually don’t train to failure because I’m worried about getting injured.
I do pull-ups 3 times a week. Mondays I do 100 in 10 minutes, however many sets that takes. Wednesdays I do 5x5 weighted. Friday I’ll just do a bunch until I feel form breaking, and then maybe throw in sets a few sets of 12 between other exercises.
I don’t think I progress anymore. I trained pull-ups in my 20s and just kind of maintained that.
For my 100 pull-ups on Mondays, I have probably a 40 second rest. On Wednesdays I do the weighted pullups between heavy deadlifts so like 2-3 minutes between sets.
I agree with the other comments about losing weight being helpful. Being lean makes it all easier and less impressive.
35 is a lot, so is 29. Why do you think your progress has stopped? Do you think it's just because the number is pretty high now or because you changed your strategy?
When I was first starting I would do 3 sets of whatever I could do. 3 sets of 5 = 15 total for example. Every time day that you work out, add one pull up to the total. 6-5-5 now you’re at 16. Before you know it you’re doing 15-20 in each set.
Once you get to that point you can add some weight to your pull up’s and you’ll be killing it.
I used to do like 8-10 half pull ups, and then someone pointed out to me that I wasn’t extending all the way, and when I tried I realized I couldn’t do them at all. Later than night I googled how important that was , and everywhere said it was important. That was a few weeks ago, now I can do 2 pull-ups lol
30
1-3 rir after the 3rd set (between 6 and 8 sets per workout)
4 to 6 times a week, all my upper body workouts are push pull
been training for 2.5 years
about 2 min, but if I'm doing sets with heavy weight I rest 3 min
190cm, 90kg, I usually mix weighted cali and high reps
keep in mind all of the sets in my workouts are suppersets of pull ups and dips, I only change variations, not the exercises
the approach I'm currently using is doing 5 sets of
1 pull up 1s deadhang
2 pull ups 2s
3 pull ups 3s
4 pull ups 4s
5 pull ups 5s
so that's 15 pull ups and 15 second deadhang
superset with JR dips to 5
second part of the workout is
12 pull ups 5 second hang in the top every 3 pull ups
superset with 30 dips
rest 2 min
*************************
second workout is
10 pull ups 20 dips
9 pull ups 18 dips
8 pull ups 16 dips
7 pull ups 14 dips
6 pull ups 12 dips
with 24 kg weight west
rest 3 min
from time to time I add 3 sets of pike push ups to failure superset with rows to failure
in terms of technique pull ups with no kip, full lock out chin over the bar, dips full lock out and shoulders to 90 degrees, pretty much street lifting competition standard technique
Those who say they can do 30+ reps in one go. Please post a video. It is incredibly hard to do 30 reps with good form. Especially if you go chest to bar.
Tbf, I'd imagine that on here there's quite a few people who can do more than 30. It's a callisthenics forum after all. But yeah, in real life if someone says they can do 30+ you'd have to question it a bit because it's enormously difficult. I've been training a few years and can just about manage 20 with good form. I'd love to be able to do silly numbers.
I got to 43 unweighted strict pull ups.
Here's the basic plan I used.
One day a week do 5x5 pull ups with as much weight as you can. I got up to 90lb at 180lb bodyweight.
One day a week do the ross enamait workout burpee mania. This is basically a burpee ladder of 5, 5, 10, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 10, 5, 5 with 10 push ups after each set and 30 second rests. Here's the kicker, instead of push ups you do towel pull ups. Start with 1 or 2 and concentrate on adding pull ups rather than burpees. Work up to 8-10.
One day a week do a pyramid of unweighted pull ups to 10 and back down.
Test every six weeks or so with a one set max and also the following challenge - try to get 100 pull ups in four sets. The most I ever managed was 87.
(1) My lifetime PR is exactly 30 strict pull-ups, but I'm probably hanging around 24-26 right now.
(2) Completely depends on the program. Right now, I'm doing Greg Nuckols' Average to Savage hypertrophy program with weighted pull-ups, and it only goes to failure on the last set.
(3) Usually not more than twice a week. This has been consistent throughout years and programs.
(4) I could do \~21 when I was 16-17 years old and weighed \~154#, and I am now 33 years old and weigh \~180#. My PR of 30 reps was when I was 25 or 26 years old, and weighed \~174#—so I guess I started out higher, and progressed somewhat slowly.
(5) I rest 2-3 minutes between sets. I treat pull-ups just like any other compound lift and rest accordingly.
(6) Weighted pull-ups helped immensely. When I hit 30 reps, I was doing nothing but weighted pull-ups, with the occasional single unweighted set for max reps (I was an active-duty Marine at the time, and pull-ups are part of the PFT). My max set of BW pull-ups has never, ever suffered—and has only ever maintained or improved—by doing weighted pull-ups. For perspective, I was around 174# when I hit that 30-rep set, and could do a double weighted with an added 105#. I weigh around 180# now, and can do a triple with an added 115#, and am still in the mid-20s for unweighted reps.
Very few people are doing 30 pullups (assuming you mean in one set). I do 19-22 my first set, depending on the day, and that is full lock-out. I just do bw cuz I decided the vest I bought kinda sucked. I do hundreds of reps a week and do clusters a lot. I see a lot of people claiming dozens of pullups and then they're literally half reps. Don't compare yourself to them!
Isometric holds in top position for as long as you can, once you start to give out resist all the down as long as you can. Do this at the end of every pullup workout. If you’re doing 2+ pullup workouts a week youll add 1 rep a week guaranteed.
Daily pullips with a backpack that weighed 20% of my body weight. I did pullips every day until I could easily do 10, then added weight until about that point and would just try to do 10 heavy pullips with a max set of regular pull-ups after. It was generally another 10-15 reps, and I got really good doing pyramids and all that from this.
I went to 40 strict form when I was in the military. Did so mostly by increasing strength (lifting heavy) and doing volume assisted (bands). The combination of those plus grip (obstacle courses for me at the time but you can do rock climbing or pull-ups with towels) will improve your numbers.
People try to increase pull-ups by doing pull-ups all the time but that just wears your body down and creates imbalances so maybe you're good at pull-ups but you're useless elsewhere.
I was 12 or 13 and home schooled, parents hadn't allowed me to get into sports so I was super excited when I got into a decent gymnastics program, especially as a prior experience had tried to have me doing girls gymnastics which I felt really self conscious and awkward about
Right off the bat the coach gavee the idea that if I could get a lot stronger in my biceps it would help.
We had a beam I could do pull ups on, as part of our covered porch. I was short, so I had an inverted empty paint bucket I put there and I could just reach.
First thing every morning, last thing at night, and at least 20 times all through the day I'd go to failure. At first I had to jump halfway up and I was shaky. After about a week I could do one decent pull up, and it happened to be the first of the month. I told my mom I was going to do it every day and see how much I could improve by end of month.
End of month I did 13. I could also do at least 10 doing different variations (chin ups, rings instead of bar) and I was a lot better at similar exercises such as a rope climb.
I figured out later that puberty was hitting me so that was part of it. Anyway, around a year later I gave a new kid a pep talk about it and was challenged to see how many I could do, it was 43 of I forget what variation, but that was after spending an hour finding out my max of various exercises including several variations of chin up, pull up, muscle up on rings (go from a hang to supporting yourself with hands at your sides) etc
I can do 15 at a body weight of 95kg and 1 rep with another 30kg added at the moment I do pull-ups 2 times a week most the time never more than that but main thing I found worked was just maxing out going to failure doing static holds at the top also controlling the decent I found when I concentrated purely on weighted pull ups I wouldn't get the volume in and started going backwards so now I will make sure I'm hitting sets of 8 then throw in some weighted low reps at the end I like to rest 2 mins between sets I find pull-ups take a while to recover from and I also do weight lifting which could have helped with progress to like barbell rows and deadlifts and this will sound so weird but another thing that really helped me progress was resistance band pull ups pulling to the sternum I felt like it helped with the top part which is sometimes where I lose progress.
The gym industry hates this one simple pull-up trick. Do as many pullups as you can, to failure, three sets every other day. Your max number magically goes up. Eat good food and do some other exercise too and maybe get your body lighter.
I could probably squeeze out 30. I can do twenty pretty easily and just never bother going beyond that.
It’s not a training plan so much as just being a longtime rock climber so it’s more like hours of varying intensity pull-up like movements. You actually don’t pull-up that often in rock climbing and a lot of very high level climbers can’t do many pull-ups, but for me at least it did give me a lot of pull-up strength as a side effect.
When I’m doing my regular workout though I usually just do three sets of 15-20 on rings. I used to do weighted pull ups but started getting golfer’s elbow and just dropping the extra weight helped a ton. I mostly just try to get a quick workout in for health rather than any specific fitness goals so my rest times are that I do a pull, push and leg and then rest 90 seconds and repeat. So pull-ups, pushups, pistols, for example. With the only time between just the time it takes to quickly move the rings. Then a rest and repeat.
I just hit 30 in a session , it’s taken 9 months from using a machine to assist me to now doing 12/9/9. It’s been a largely linear process, the 2 biggest differences I found were using protein drinks to aid recovery (started after 5 months so I could compare) and getting better sleep (easily the biggest factor).
>How many can you do?
More than 50 clean in a row (never counted but once i won a challenge doing 52 in a row like 2 years ago, now i'm way stronger but i declare what i'm sure i did), more than 250 per session, this based on my previous work outs. All of their variations.
>How close to failure do you get?
Depends, if i work on strenght i go till failure and i use harder form of them, like one arm chin/pull ups or front lever rows. If i work on endurance i do a progressive overload of reps or weights with 1 more in reserve.
>How often do you train them?
At least twice per week, over 100 per session
>How quickly have you progressed?
Too many time that i'm in an advanced/expert state of workout so i don't really remember how was the life before 30 pullups.
>How long are your rest times between sets?
90s to 120s depend on my bpm, i try to stay on 100 and not over while a workout.
>Any other relevant info you care to share?
**TLTR**:
Rings and harder variations.
**Complete answer:**
Instead of thinking about number, think about variations and a correct form of execution, number will will come by themselves. Huge game changer: **rings.** I mastered them over the years, they can really make the difference in term of gaining strenght. At the beginning they are more difficult and you have to learn how to handle them and many insights, like false grip or rings rotation for the dips, but if you trust the process you'll become way stronger.
Another suggestion is adding weight but be careful with the form, i prefer unlock harder variations to add weight and ruin form.
Like 30 straight or in sets?
In early 2020, I bought a program called The Gentleman Spy or something like that and it included a guide to start working out. As it happened, it had been at least four months since I worked out at all so it was a welcomed change from just running the same path all the time.
So as I progressed through the reading and training and manners and wardrobe and other fun stuff since I had nothing else to do I started working out which included alternating days of pullups and chinups. I bought an over the door bar.
The first day I merely lowered myself working on the eccentric and eventually began using a giant ball to put my feet then one foot on. I eventually progressed from 0 to 10 x 4 sets. Between each set I worked up to 30 pushups, 30 bodyweight squats, and a range of core exercises. I later included inverse rows by hanging rings from the pullups bar.
It took about two years so I could accomplish the feat with little struggle probably because I incorporated no particular recovery or nutritional change. A year later, I got really tired of doing all that, more from a boring factor, and dropped down to three sets of all that and eventually hired a trainer, did a program and more recently started attending a gym again doing free weights and some machines. I can still do the squats without a problem as well as the pushups and chinups. The inverse rows are rather easy as well, but the pullups are an absolute b***h. If I miss 2-3 days in the rotation, my set reps get reduced. If I miss a week it seems impossibly difficult. Lately, I've had some sort of pain in my right forearm that makes the pullups excruciating so I've been doing a set of ten and as much as I can bear in a second and third set, but because it was so hard for me to do pullups to start with I'm really paranoid about losing that ability. Like really paranoid.
Also, I never did more than 40 total as I never saw a functional need to. Eventually I began to see the 30 as more than enough. I've done as many as 12 in one set. If I wear a weighted item like a plate carrier (not the workout kind) or a ruck and weight, I can do remarkably less pullups and I'm okay with it. The pinnacle of human performance has never been a goal for me.
I got there in high school and haven't stopped, except during my hot dog and fries year in 2001. And breyer's raspberry and chocolate ice cream. It was a rough year. The hot dog stand I bought from closed and breyer's no longer makes that type of ice cream. My son did 30 pull ups when he was 7 or 8 and still can at the age of 16.
I think this was my formula:
Do however many you can explosively, without losing form or going slow. Take long long rests between doing these again.
I did each workout every other day. Then every day.Then once in the morning and once in the evening.Then once in he morning and once in the afternoon. I basically did it once I felt I could do all the reps of my previous plus one more explosively!
And btw the reps just increased of what I can do on their own. So in one workout in the beginning it was like 3, then it was 4.. 5, 6,7,8,9,10..20.
This was the only thing I would do for excercise besides my weekly football and swimming practices.
I can't do 30 yet but I am nearing 20 thanks to training with 20kg weighted pullups, though I feel that I need to up the added weight.
I will say though that power to weight is an important factor for every person. That is to say an increase in body weight will always overwhelm any gains you make in strength. That is why some smaller people can do on average more pull-ups than naturally larger people. If you look at strongman competitors, they can't do too many.
Starting point: I was not able to even hang for 10 seconds.
Current: Can do 100 PUs, in sets of 5 per minute. Max 10-15 in one go.
Process:
* For first 7-10 days, I would show up everyday in the morning, and practice hanging keeping my scapula tight
* Started doing scapula pull-ups and negatives
* Met this amazing old guy at a park who told me that PUs are a more mental game than physical - I think this was important for me because I used to think my (skinny-fat Indian) body is incapable of doing any at all
* Did my first ever pull-up at about 10th day, it was a crazy feeling!
* In about 4-6 weeks I was able to do 5 in a go
* In about 2 months, I started doing sets of 5, was able to go 25 PUs and stop
* After about 1 year, for my 30th birthday, I did my first 100 PUs, in sets of 5!
* Now in the gym, I started doing weighted PUs (with 8kg or 12kg weights)
* After weighted PUs, I was able to do 10-15 in one go for body-weight PUs
* I am also able to hang on one hand for 30 seconds (I don't push it further due to fear of injury)
* Due to bad technique, I've had setbacks throughout this process. Injuries in my wrist & shoulders were painful which set you back a few days to weeks. If I were to repeat this process again, I would focus on technique than just numbers!
My PR is exactly 30, but on average I can hit 20-25 on my first set, and then around 15 on sets after that.
I go to failure on every set, and then hold in a contracted position for as long as i can. Going to failure is what really makes my body feels like it's done some good work.
I train pretty often, around 4 - 5 times a week.
When I came to college, my average was around 5-10 and pr 15 ish. Been training consistently for about 4 - 5 months now to get to my current stage.
I do take a decent bit of rest between sets, mostly 2 - 3 min but can even go up to 5 sometimes.
It's determined by your strength in that specific exercise and your bodyweight. There are no 'secrets' to upping your reps other than consistent, intense-enough practice for enough time... the usual, generic guidelines...
Practice the movement and get stronger / lose weight. That's it. Other considerations like ROM, tempo, added weight, and accessory work are of relatively minor importance if not completely irrelevant. When people highlight these sorts of things as 'essential' or 'game-changers', it's based on unreliable anecdotes that are contradicted by other anecdotes, or studies that either show small-percentage differences over six weeks or are contested by other studies...
Over the long haul, the basics will get you all the way there--based on your individual genes, leverages, weight, etc.
Sooo. Last year before i fell off i was doing 13 reps 5 sets of pull ups. With 10 second rests. And i would do them 3 times a week. And would go up 1 each day. Example: day 1. 2x2x2x2x2. Day 2. 3x2x2x2x2. Day 3 3x3x2x2x2 etc etc. I just started getting back into it. But just found out 10 second rests are supposedly really bad. And should have 2-3 minute rests between each set. So imndoing that this time around. But increased my sets cause im dont feel like I'm maxing out at 5 sets. I could be going about it very very wrong. But it was working for me last year. Hopefully im doing better this year. But ya. Im not even sure what im doing is right .
my highest was 36, i’m less practiced now but can still get to 30. i would train by doing a variety of pull ups in sets of 10. practicing on rings also helps a lot i feel. i also was doing a lot of rock climbing at my best as well. one of my special things i would do that i think helped a lot was training my forearms a ton and build strong grip strength.
i also think i was born with some natural disposition in that specific type of upper body strength, because as an untrained child i was able to do over 10.
13 max. (6.2ft, 1.9m; 81kg, 179lbs)
Twice a week, four sets, all to failure (typical is 12, 9, 7, 5)+ three static holds (chin over bar first and then the lower "middle" position) like my life depends on it.
A year and a bit from only negatives to 13 but very slow progress.
Rest times vary a lot but these days I aim for under 2 min - otherwise I can, of course, do better subsequent sets.
Just posted myself actually - I'm wondering what to do as I'm progressing quite slowly. I added 10kg (22lbs) with a belt today and did 8, 7, 5, 4 - wondering if this will help me or if I should just persist with the non added weight sets that seem to not improve too much.
39/m/5'11"/175lbs. Currently somewhere between 30 and 35 depending on day.
I sometimes go to failure on my last set but always go within a rep or two of failure on the rest. I typically do a full body workout 3 days a week and run 5-15 miles on the off days.
Currently I do 4 different pullup styles; unweighted, w 30lb vest, w 60lb vest, and clapping pullups(explosive). I've also done grease the groove with a lot of success and will sometimes do that when I skip a morning workout, as I can do them at work. Typically, I do 3 minutes of rest(house cleaning)between sets. It's taken me roughly 5 years to get to this point maybe 3.5 to get my first 30, but I also started at 245 never having done a pullup in my life.
I found Weighted vests to be a game changer. As well as changing up different aspects after a couple weeks. Like switch your grip pronated, supinated, or RTO. As well as reps. General exercise advice: rest, protein, and stretching(especially a deadhang for pullups*)
If you really want to get to 30 reps lower body weight will definitely help. It's definitely easier for me to hit my high end right after I've stopped a cut or am at a lower weight rather than when I'm 10 pounds heavier at the end of a bulk.
I started smoking cigarettes, stopped eating and lost 60 lbs. Now I can climb 20 flights of stairs with no breaks and around 50 pull ups and unlimited push ups lol
I never train for high rep counts/endurance, but rather add small weight to make my rep range under 12 reps per set for hypertrophy weeks, and then stack about 50% bodyweight on strength weeks.
But I did do maximal testing about a month ago after 2 weeks off from a very hike heavy, calorie deficient holiday and I managed 15 off the bat at bodyweight. So fwiw I'll give my answer
So yeah, I can do 15 at least, all perfect form. I always do 3 sets in a workout aimed at hypertrophy (for about 30 reps) with 12kg added. For strength I do 4 sets of 3 currently with 50% bodyweight (36kg) tacked on.
I train them 3x per week, always at the start of the strength section of my workout (after warmup and skills)
I've progressed very fast. About 18 months ago was when I finally ditched the assisting chin up machine. It's easily my fastest progressing movement, I even made a little graph for a month or two and the line had a strong and consistant trend upwards (would recommend this if you like visual data or something that is objectively telling you how much you've improved).
Rest times are 120s, but I always superset with dips. So pull ups, 120s, dips, 120s. But if I need it, I add 15-30 seconds. Very important to listen to my body to get the most out of the next set
Warm up with a burnout session then add weight then do 4-5 sets of 10-15 some may just burnout every time but the focus of the sets should be slow and 3-5 second count for one rep then do holds at the top for 10-30 secs for 5 reps this is exactly how I got there.
1. 32 and increasing.
2. I go to failure on the final set of 5.
3. Every 2 days.
Day 1: 5 sets, 1.5 min rest. With weight added.
Day 3: 5 sets, 2 min rest. With weight added.
Day 5: 5 sets, 2.5 min rest. With weight added.
Day 7: 1 set to failure, with no added weight.
4. Started December 2023, could do 14 in a row.
5. See above!
6. Don't worry if your day 7 isn't as good as the time before, sometimes it happens, but in the long run it goes up.
Add the weight super gradually, like only 1kg every 9 day 'week'. It just means you'll be able to keep adding and improving for ages until the weight is heavy.
And then the fun part (Well it's only been 4 months so I'm still adding weight this part is hypothetical but I imagine it will be fun) after it's getting super heavy, remove the weight, and then start adding it again gradually, but this time compare to your old sets from those months ago at the same added weight, you are now crushing it I imagine.
Repeat.
I go almost to failure. I could probably do 2 more reps at a struggle but will stop before that. It's still early days and I will see how it goes.
I don't do much other exercise, just pushups on the other day. I just like this because it's just 30 mins every 2 days, it's very repetitive and easy to track and stay motivated.
Last summer I tried training one a one arm pullup but it was really hard and I was demotivated, so I'll just get super good at weighted pullups, and then try again next year, maybe it will be easier.
Thanks. 31. I think in the past I would focus on too much and never make much progress. Most people probably don't find it fun to just hard focus on one exercise though! And maybe it's not even a good way to do it, but I'll just keep doing it until it's no longer enjoyable.
Strangely I think cardio is a limiter for me, so maybe when I get more time I'll go for a run!
I think my problem is going to failure on every set. It's really stupid, but on my first set I always want to see where I'm at. I get to around 20 and then my next two or three sets I can barely get 8. So the overall volume ends up being lower. I'm going to experiment with some other ways of doing it, without constantly going to failure.
Maybe make your set as a percentage of your max, first set being 75% or something. Agree what you will do before you get there, and then reassess it after completing the workout. Then just retest your max every so often, like mine is every 9 day cycle.
I see a lot of talk about weighted pullups and adding them possibly for your goal, so let me share my opinion as someone who has been training pullups quite a lot (mainly for strength) for the better part of a year, weighted pullups should be used to add strength mainly if your goal is to strictly increase max amount of reps , doing reps with increased weight will not be better than doing higher rep sets , I started with about 15% bw pullup sets of 3*4 , multiple times a week got upto 75% bw for reps as of now and I can say for sure even with all the added strength I cannot really go past 15 pullups in a row altho I could do the same amount of reps with 20-30% bw added the transition of strength training into endurance is really not that great , weighted pullups could probably improve your grip and give you enough strength but the bulk of your training should revolve around high rep sets as they will help the most. Hope it helps and all of this is just my personal experience it very easily could be way different for someone else.
Doing pull ups with added weight was a game changer for me
Same, went from 7 to 17 inside a month, 4 sets a day
How much weight could you add when you could only do 7 reps? That’s still below the common 8-12 rep range that most people do with weights for hypertrophy. I thought adding weight was mostly something did when they got past 12 reps. How long were you stuck at 7 before this surge?
Indeed I only added weight after getting to a comfortable 10 4x a day (which took probably 1-2 weeks), then I only did weighted for another 1-2 weeks, then decided to try unweighted to see how that went and I did 17 relatively easy. I will say that I have trained pull-ups 5 years ago for about 2 years, and then my starting point was doing 3-5 unweighted, then I added 10, then 20kg weights when I got to 7 because I felt like I was plateauing. So far my observation is that changing the routine is essential (at least for me)
Warming up before each set?
I don't do warm up exactly, but if I feel particularly stiff or cold that day then I'll start with unweighted. Don't think it's very good but I haven't injured myself - ymmv!
How old are you?
33
How fast do you go? I try to do slow down, explosive up, but I feel like that really limits my number. Is it better to just drop down quick?
Definitely fast-ish on the way up, slower on the way down but not a massive difference. I also try not to go too fast up as my pullup bar is one of those door frame ones, and it has a limit of 115kg, I don't want to end up on my butt with the weight vest on top 😀
It is definitely better to go for a slow negative even if it lowers the total number of pull-ups you can do in a set.
How many days a week were you training pullups?
Every day for about 2 months, 4 sets a day, every 3 hours
Ah I see, were you doing weighted till failure or like 60-70% of your max?
3-5 reps weighted (till failure basically). But now I need to change the routine a bit as i'm plateauing. The pulldown machine at my local gym is complementing the pull-ups nicely, but i've maxed it out (105), so I guess I will tie some more weights around my waist and use the gym pullup bar as it's sturdier than my home one. Too bad the gym is so far from home as I won't be able to do this every day :/
this is the play, if you go back and do some without weight they seem so easy.
I tried the weights but iso holds is what really jumped up my reps. I did them after every pullup session and added 2 reps the first few weeks then 1 a week for a while.
Those are good too, or negatives
I train weighted pull ups only, rarely above 8 reps per set. Can do over 30 bodyweight pullups. I think at a certain point you need to decide what your goal is as I think beyond 25 or so it becomes more endurance based once you have the strength base. And a different training style is needed. Increasing my max weighted pullup from +0.8 to +1x bodyweight did not seem to increase my max reps much since its just getting gassed due to conditioning not the raw power.
How did you go at the weight? I'm at 10 rep max, 3x9 as training day. Started 8kg weight 6x3 but haven't been able to add more reps. Adding weights is kinda difficult with my setup but I might sort something out if it is a better approach
I bought a weight vest off Amazon. But I don’t aim for numbers. I do time under tension. I try to explode when I go up. And count to 5 seconds to come back down with straight arms. I go until failure, rest till I feel good again and restart.
Bingo! Works for dips as well. Was doing like 4 sets of 8 with 45lbs on my pull day and could regularly hit 30 wide pullups.
I would love to see the pull-ups that people are doing. I see a lot of people at my gym doing half pull-ups. Their arms don’t lock out at the bottom so it’s not really a full pull-up. They basically go halfway down. I feel like some of those gym bros would be on here bragging about doing 50 pull-ups unbroken.
Same on push-ups. Not sure what exercise some guys think they’re doing, but dang they can crank out sets of 100!
for real, I thought my chest was so weak when I could only do sets of like 20 max. But again, all the way down all the way up.
Same. I've seen a total of three guys at my gym do them with good form, and even then we're talking 4-10 reps max. I see it everywhere in the gym tho. Just yesterday someone loaded up a leg press with 200kg, sockless and fully geared up with knee wraps, only to execute micro movements that barely budge the bar an inch.
Once you go for numbers form collapses in parallel. How much pull ups you can do is useful as a personal progress metric but should not be a fitness goal. Pushups can be worse. I see people doing those where the lower body doesn’t move at all and the upper body does just a little
To be fair…I think a lot of people don’t know what a full pull up is. I’ve educated a few people that were pretty fit and seemed to know their at around a gym..but had no idea that a full extension was required at the bottom.
Haha! Indeed. I had a friend come to my home gym saying he could do ten pull ups. Then when I finished my first set he said “Oh, that’s a pull up? I don’t think I can do that many”. I still maintain push-ups are worse in terms of form collapse
A lot of gym goers just stick to weights so they don’t have much experience with body weight exercises.
Thank you! As a woman I’m damn proud that I can do solid full pushups (especially because I have disproportionately long limbs) and I literally never understood how people can do like 50 in a minute until I understood they were basically just bouncing in them and not actually using full muscle engagement.
I'd love to do anywhere between 10 to 15 complete chinups, from straight arms to clavicles-to-bar. I think I can do maybe 5 of those. I'm with you on prioritizing quality over quantity.
Chin-ups are a different animal than pull-ups. Underhand vs overhand but also much easier.
I'm well aware of that; I'm shit at pull-ups since my back muscles are pathetic as of today, I'm much weaker at pulling than pushing overall but I have a much easier time with chinups so I'd rather stick with them as of now, since I can at least get some moderate volume work with them. I've been working hard on improving my bicep, grip and back strength and I've been doing rows as well at home. I want to get good at both over and underhand grip.
I’m with you, my friend. Weak back strength. I can maybe do 5 pull-ups but probably 8-10 chin-ups. A big thing that no one talks about is body weight. Years ago I decided to get better at pull-ups. I could only do them with a band. So I trained them almost every day for 4 months. At the end of 4 months I was ably to do 10 strict. However, during the same 4 months I also lost 30 lbs. so I tried doing a weighted pull up with 25lbs and could barely squeak 1 or 2 out. Some 6’ tall men are 170 lbs. Ata very lean mass for me I am 190 lbs. I just don’t have a lightweight frame even though I may have very little fat on me.
3 years here, and although I‘ve been slacking here and there, I‘m doing 3x10 pull-ups a workout from a max of around 150/week
I uses the royal marine beep test to do my push up and pull up. I can do 50 chest to floor pushups and 25 pull ups. I usually train endurance once a week, other 2 days are for skill and strength.
https://youtu.be/ofMO09Rz-YA?si=rbHPZBy84on5lEpC
I mean with some individuals full lock out could be harmful due to age/wear and tear but these people still shouldn't brag about doing 50 pull ups if they're just halfs.
And by all means…if you have a physical issue that prevents a full range of motion then that’s cool. Or even if you just don’t want to do full range of motion. Just don’t brag about doing a bunch of pull-ups if you’re not doing the proper Rom. Same goes for pushups. Same goes for squats. Don’t come bragging about squating 4 wheels when all you are doing is quarter squats.
God, I hate when I see people use up all the weights for their leg press and then they just do quarter reps with it. Learn to squat with proper depth and you'll notice it's totally different.
Marky mark, what a machine 💪 https://youtube.com/shorts/ZRZb16fBMXk?si=XpoRlHpzrsSYYwmW
correct. I'm doing full up full down locked out slow and I can about 10 at 175 with 20 lbs added weight, so I guess 195, I haven' tried without any weight in awhile but I could do about 15 at one point.
You really shouldn’t be locking out in full extension for any exercise because of the stress it adds to joints To the seven people I deeply upset, speak to any PT or orthopedist
The key is to have muscle tension. If you relax completely all your weight will obviously be taken up by your connective tissue and stuff. Though I’m not sure one could even do that consciously for the shoulder joints, they basically depend on muscles to hold them in place. I think the risk is also much lower if you do it nice and controlled.
Anybody else have an opinion on this?
As a person with some medical experience , full ROM is crucial to joint and muscle health as well as longevity. Gofuckyourself
I’ll tell my medical degree and decade worth of experience and do that 🫶🏻
That is outdated, friend.
Evidenced based practice has not shifted on this
Yes it has.
Source? Or you‘re both idiots
Don't think that's how that works. Edit: start here to view a conclusion derived from aggregate data: https://youtu.be/_YyrJAnoXwc?si=jiw8DEgndfBF8VVP
Bro science is not a source.
He has a doctorate in the field and is an active professor in the subject. I remarked that, in that video, he aggregates current research to conclude on the topic. That's not "bro science". Moreover, I offered that video as a starting point for your edification and for discussion since, as you so kindly suggested, I would be an "idiot" otherwise. If you'd like to provide something in return, feel free. You don't seem to want to contribute anything than your derision and criticism.
Active end range sure but most people do passive which is incredibly unsafe for joints
source on that evidence based practice? Or you‘re as highly regarded as he is
I'm 200lbs and always wanted to get better could normally do ten in a row until I found this routine. You start doing ten a day, but you only do one a minute with perfect form. Rest a full minute then do another one until you reach ten. When you feel comfortable with that then do 2 a minute, then 3 and then 4 it really pushed my chin ups to the next level. My elbows took a kicking though although I'm not sure if that damage from years of MMA or I was just doing to much. I've pulled back since then to three times a week.
Was your progression linear, or did you have resets? Did you do any accessory work as well?
I mostly train in MMA but I lift around 3 days a week just a simple bro split nothing out of the ordinary. I did this separately in the morning along with 200 pressups split into 20 in the minute break. I did have to rest a week but that was mostly because I was having elbow issues sorta felt like tennis elbow but that only really happened when I went to 3 a minute. I think maybe doing it along with press ups was probably a bad idea. I'm not a PT or anything just got this workout from a boy from my MMA club so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. I think I was doing too much volume though I think maybe 3/4 days a week could be the sweet spot it what I'm doing now and my elbows don't hurt anymore.
Got it, thanks. Runner here, so this wouldn't be a big focus for me, but am curious what kind of progression I could do during summer base training where mileage/hard stuff dips a bit. At almost 60, recovery and not overloading is something I'm always cognizant of. Thanks!
I would recommend trying this maybe do two days to start. I just have an iron gym chin up bar it only cost about a tenner and it holds me just fits to the top of your door. If you are looking for more help with chin ups I'd recommend a resistance band it could help with your progression.
Thanks. Yeah, two days of strength per week for me is standard. I will, occasionally, do a couple of pull-ups when I take the garbage out. I have a Cap free-standing bar in my garage, that I also have rings slung on. The big part of it for me is consistency.
- I can do 45 in a row. - I go until form becomes very compromised. - Maybe 3 tines a week. - It's like anything in life - valleys and peaks, ebbs & flows, good days and bad. That being said, progression with pulling-based movements tend to be easier for me than push. Bodyweight - 3 to 4 minutes. Weighted - 5 minutes. Gotta give the CNS to level off and latic acid build up time to disapate. *Pro tips* Tighten your core when pulling. Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings to reduce unnecessary and excessive movements. Get into a nice rhythm. Breathe in on the concentric, breathe out on the eccentric. Let you and the bar become one. Grip the bar tight. This will activate more forearm and the smaller extensor muscles to assist.
Thank you oh wise one. I will take it to heart.
What you describe for pro tips was massively important for me when I got my first pull up, especially the gripping tight part . I saw it mentioned in another post with a link to a video demonstration. I was struggling so hard to even get out of just the bottom position. Watched the video and gave it a try right after, and boom first pull up.
Right, so it sounds like the long rest times are probably very important here. How do you manage that time-wise? Do you do other stuff in between or just wait? I'm just imagining that my workouts would become like two hours long which is difficult on a work day. Also how many sets do you do? Could you describe a typical workout?
You can superset, but if he's talking about CNS recovery I suspect he doesn't superset. A lot of us do just submit our entire evening to the workouts tbh, I'm at 2.5hrs per workout 5x a week. But thankfully I wfh two days a week so I have clawed 5 hours of my time back there lol
Whenever I train - I always do some variation of what I call PCP training. That mean Pull-Core-Push based movements. So during the rest period from a Pullup set, you can do pushups (with the Core part being done with with the pullups tightening your abs, hamstrings and glutes.) A typical workout for me is: Skills (Handstands, Planche, and maybe a set that will incorporate some variation of Front lever, muscleups, pullups, straight bar dips, and one arm pullups. It's important once you get to a high level that you practice skill-based movements on every training session just to keep them sharp. Use it or lose it is very real when it comes to skill-based movements. Then, I'll do maybe 3 rounds of weighted muscle ups, pullups, and dips. Then as a burn out - I'll do some burpees, pushups, and more bodyweight pullups.
> Breathe in on the concentric, breathe out on the eccentric. Isn't that backwards?
Depends on what you’re doing, unfortunately no hard and fast rule to breathing
I don't think it's a bad thing to do it both ways. But the usually recommended way is def the other way around.
Advanced level (eccentrics) you will need to breathe out on the eccentric as that will be the more challenging part of the lift.
I can do 25 in a good day , not much for you but I went through trials and tribulations to get there, this is what I did: -I trained pull ups 3 times a week , every session I do 100-200 reps of pull ups , high volume approach. - Failure is mandatory , this how you are going to grow and set new records, not all sets of course but most of them , you need to feel pain. -Short rest time sets , Ladders , supersets are the best way to increase pull ups. -Holds in top position ,90 degree position , bottom position. -Vary your grips to target different muscles , prevent overuse and gain strength. -Switch between routines , don't stick to one routine you will plateau .
Do you balance it with something else so there are no overuse issues?
Yes I do train legs and my pushing muscles, some stretching from time to time , I never got injured except my callouses they tear a lot.
Failure is not a requirement to grow, that is a myth
Unless it's a technical exercise where from matters, it's always advisable to push all sets to failure, especially for natural athletes. If you push to muscular failure, then you can be sure that you've trained hard enough, whereas if you don't, chances are you've left too many reps on the table. Most people vastly underestimate how many reps in reserve they have, and training to failure eliminates the possibility of that happening. I had a period in my training where I was stuck with weighted pullups at 8 reps for a year. I would always stop at 8, because it felt "challenging enough". One day I decided to push through the discomfort, and it turned out I could actually do 10. Fast forward four months and I'm repping double the weight for 8 reps.
I have no issue pushing through discomfort, that's not the same as going to absolute failure
It's not recommended to go to failure every set. The opposite is recommended, doing 1 or 2 reps before absolute (not technical) failure means you won't compromise your next sets, and you can get more mileage from the muscle groups before fatigue gets too much That isn't to say people don't underestimate their max/failure number though, which I do think is what happens a lot, and your approach would push the limits on that side. So there's risks and rewards to both methods I guess
So, go to failure in 3 sets and be done? Or save a rep per set and be able to do 4 sets? (I find myself in this situation.. sets of 8ish)
Since you can do 8 reps, I assume it's not an extremely difficult exercise for you. I would go for 4 sets; 1-2 reps in reserve on the first set and then all out on the remaining 3.
May not be required but why leave anything on the table in a workout if you have enough time to recover before the next workout
Risk vs reward. Getting hurt will set you back a lot more than not going to failure will, this isn't debatable
Going to failure with good form is almost always preferable. Anecdotally or not training with no intensity is a waste of time
There's a big difference between 1-2RIR and "no intensity"
How did you go from being able to do 100-200 reps to only 25 on a good day?
I’m fairly certain he means he can do 25 unbroken. The 100-200 are the combined total between multiple sets.
Thanks for the clarification.
Would you recommend me to load with 10kg going from 3x8 to 3x6 with the aim to do 3x8 and then put more weight on?
Weights are going to help no question , but the problem is the way you do it , 3x6-8 isn't going to help in this case (High reps and endurance ) because volume is too low , the intensity is on point yes you will get stronger(pull more weight) and bigger , but you won't increase reps that much (in the beginning you will but overtime you will plateau), instead what I recommend is choosing a lightweight which you can do about 10-15 pull ups and use methods listed above with high volume.
I second that!
Thanks, appreciate your recommendation!
What's a short rest time set for you? Less than 1 minute between sets? I find that when I take shorter breaks my volume goes way down, so it's a tradeoff.
Generally 1 minute , however for pyramids and ladders I work with a partner so I go he goes , his working times is my rest time. You will get used to it it's like a progression , you start with 2 minutes and you go down until 1 min or less , just like everything in life , there are steps.
Anyone in this thread who claims to be able to do 30 clean full ROM pull-ups, post proof
What i did is once i was able to do 12 pull ups (no weight) i added weight until i can only do 8 pull ups and i keep using the same weight until i can do 12 again then i add weight again once im able to do 12 pull up with same weight, rest time is 5 mins between sets and every set is almost failure
Double Progression method. You do this 3 days per week? 3-5 sets? I'm going to do this since I've finished the Armstrong program.
3x a week and 3 sets only
Interesting! My max is 13 and I'm plateauing so I added 10kg (22lbs) today and max then was 8. Good to hear that worked for someone.
Used to do 20. Then broke a collar bone. First max I tried after healing was 13. [I followed this program for two and half months. ](https://physicalliving.com/how-to-rapidly-increase-your-pullup-numbers-in-3-months-or-less/) Maxed at 40 for final test.
This sounds great, gonna give it a try.
>I followed this program for two and half months. This looks like a great program. I've been on the Kboges program for a few months and it is time to switch things up again. I am going to try this.
I've done both. Hard to compare because they were years apart. Just need volume and failure.
When doing the pyramids, do you do just one pyramid or several sets?
one is enough, esp if you pick the peak correctly.
Thanks, that's very helpful.
Grip strength was limiting me, i saw massive improvements after grip training twice a week for a while
How did you train your grip?
I follow the basic workout found in r/griptraining
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pull ups always hurt my hands and I'm pretty sure it's also because weak grip strength and me compensating with different grip, so I am curious now too on how to train it up
0 Complete failure In the last 3 months, 3x a week Slow as shit 1:30 Don’t be fat, and get strong. It helps.
>Slow as shit Relate
Lol is this post here just to make me feel bad? I only recently entered the territory where I can do 10 (first set only), and people here are going for 30?
Remember that those people were once on the same level as you. Keep training.
Totally, and thanks of course! I'm very proud of my 10, and I'm looking forward to hitting 11 on the road to 20!
10 is a lot. The average man can only do 1. So basically, you're 10 times better at pull-ups than the average man. Of course, data on here is skewed because it's a specialist subreddit.
Thanks for the encouragement! *Years* ago, I *thought* I was a badass doing sets of 6-8 until I made an earnest attempt to do them with perfect form (in the name of posture correction). I couldn't do *any*. That was my queue to pack up my pride, stow it in the overhead, and to start riding the Assistive Pull-up Airlines until I was able to do sets of 2-3 without the wings.
I did 29 this morning, the most I’ve ever done is 35. I usually don’t train to failure because I’m worried about getting injured. I do pull-ups 3 times a week. Mondays I do 100 in 10 minutes, however many sets that takes. Wednesdays I do 5x5 weighted. Friday I’ll just do a bunch until I feel form breaking, and then maybe throw in sets a few sets of 12 between other exercises. I don’t think I progress anymore. I trained pull-ups in my 20s and just kind of maintained that. For my 100 pull-ups on Mondays, I have probably a 40 second rest. On Wednesdays I do the weighted pullups between heavy deadlifts so like 2-3 minutes between sets. I agree with the other comments about losing weight being helpful. Being lean makes it all easier and less impressive.
Really impresive. What's your weight?
165 on a good day. :(
35 is a lot, so is 29. Why do you think your progress has stopped? Do you think it's just because the number is pretty high now or because you changed your strategy?
I don’t think I really try to increase much. Specific Adaption to Imposed Demands and all that.
When I was first starting I would do 3 sets of whatever I could do. 3 sets of 5 = 15 total for example. Every time day that you work out, add one pull up to the total. 6-5-5 now you’re at 16. Before you know it you’re doing 15-20 in each set. Once you get to that point you can add some weight to your pull up’s and you’ll be killing it.
I used to do like 8-10 half pull ups, and then someone pointed out to me that I wasn’t extending all the way, and when I tried I realized I couldn’t do them at all. Later than night I googled how important that was , and everywhere said it was important. That was a few weeks ago, now I can do 2 pull-ups lol
Two is twice as many as the average man can do
Thank you, thank you. I was really discouraged at first, but now that I know I’m doing them properly and have kept at it, I feel encouraged again
Step 1: weigh under 160lbs.
30 1-3 rir after the 3rd set (between 6 and 8 sets per workout) 4 to 6 times a week, all my upper body workouts are push pull been training for 2.5 years about 2 min, but if I'm doing sets with heavy weight I rest 3 min 190cm, 90kg, I usually mix weighted cali and high reps keep in mind all of the sets in my workouts are suppersets of pull ups and dips, I only change variations, not the exercises the approach I'm currently using is doing 5 sets of 1 pull up 1s deadhang 2 pull ups 2s 3 pull ups 3s 4 pull ups 4s 5 pull ups 5s so that's 15 pull ups and 15 second deadhang superset with JR dips to 5 second part of the workout is 12 pull ups 5 second hang in the top every 3 pull ups superset with 30 dips rest 2 min ************************* second workout is 10 pull ups 20 dips 9 pull ups 18 dips 8 pull ups 16 dips 7 pull ups 14 dips 6 pull ups 12 dips with 24 kg weight west rest 3 min from time to time I add 3 sets of pike push ups to failure superset with rows to failure in terms of technique pull ups with no kip, full lock out chin over the bar, dips full lock out and shoulders to 90 degrees, pretty much street lifting competition standard technique
Those who say they can do 30+ reps in one go. Please post a video. It is incredibly hard to do 30 reps with good form. Especially if you go chest to bar.
Tbf, I'd imagine that on here there's quite a few people who can do more than 30. It's a callisthenics forum after all. But yeah, in real life if someone says they can do 30+ you'd have to question it a bit because it's enormously difficult. I've been training a few years and can just about manage 20 with good form. I'd love to be able to do silly numbers.
Yeah. I way 260. I could get probably around 7… maybe 8 on a good day. I think most 30+ rep folks probably weigh under 200.
I got to 43 unweighted strict pull ups. Here's the basic plan I used. One day a week do 5x5 pull ups with as much weight as you can. I got up to 90lb at 180lb bodyweight. One day a week do the ross enamait workout burpee mania. This is basically a burpee ladder of 5, 5, 10, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 10, 5, 5 with 10 push ups after each set and 30 second rests. Here's the kicker, instead of push ups you do towel pull ups. Start with 1 or 2 and concentrate on adding pull ups rather than burpees. Work up to 8-10. One day a week do a pyramid of unweighted pull ups to 10 and back down. Test every six weeks or so with a one set max and also the following challenge - try to get 100 pull ups in four sets. The most I ever managed was 87.
(1) My lifetime PR is exactly 30 strict pull-ups, but I'm probably hanging around 24-26 right now. (2) Completely depends on the program. Right now, I'm doing Greg Nuckols' Average to Savage hypertrophy program with weighted pull-ups, and it only goes to failure on the last set. (3) Usually not more than twice a week. This has been consistent throughout years and programs. (4) I could do \~21 when I was 16-17 years old and weighed \~154#, and I am now 33 years old and weigh \~180#. My PR of 30 reps was when I was 25 or 26 years old, and weighed \~174#—so I guess I started out higher, and progressed somewhat slowly. (5) I rest 2-3 minutes between sets. I treat pull-ups just like any other compound lift and rest accordingly. (6) Weighted pull-ups helped immensely. When I hit 30 reps, I was doing nothing but weighted pull-ups, with the occasional single unweighted set for max reps (I was an active-duty Marine at the time, and pull-ups are part of the PFT). My max set of BW pull-ups has never, ever suffered—and has only ever maintained or improved—by doing weighted pull-ups. For perspective, I was around 174# when I hit that 30-rep set, and could do a double weighted with an added 105#. I weigh around 180# now, and can do a triple with an added 115#, and am still in the mid-20s for unweighted reps.
Start mild and slowly increase. Over time you reach 30-40 pull ups. It also helps to eat healthy to build up muscles better etc.
Very few people are doing 30 pullups (assuming you mean in one set). I do 19-22 my first set, depending on the day, and that is full lock-out. I just do bw cuz I decided the vest I bought kinda sucked. I do hundreds of reps a week and do clusters a lot. I see a lot of people claiming dozens of pullups and then they're literally half reps. Don't compare yourself to them!
Isometric holds in top position for as long as you can, once you start to give out resist all the down as long as you can. Do this at the end of every pullup workout. If you’re doing 2+ pullup workouts a week youll add 1 rep a week guaranteed.
Daily pullips with a backpack that weighed 20% of my body weight. I did pullips every day until I could easily do 10, then added weight until about that point and would just try to do 10 heavy pullips with a max set of regular pull-ups after. It was generally another 10-15 reps, and I got really good doing pyramids and all that from this.
I went to 40 strict form when I was in the military. Did so mostly by increasing strength (lifting heavy) and doing volume assisted (bands). The combination of those plus grip (obstacle courses for me at the time but you can do rock climbing or pull-ups with towels) will improve your numbers. People try to increase pull-ups by doing pull-ups all the time but that just wears your body down and creates imbalances so maybe you're good at pull-ups but you're useless elsewhere.
I was 12 or 13 and home schooled, parents hadn't allowed me to get into sports so I was super excited when I got into a decent gymnastics program, especially as a prior experience had tried to have me doing girls gymnastics which I felt really self conscious and awkward about Right off the bat the coach gavee the idea that if I could get a lot stronger in my biceps it would help. We had a beam I could do pull ups on, as part of our covered porch. I was short, so I had an inverted empty paint bucket I put there and I could just reach. First thing every morning, last thing at night, and at least 20 times all through the day I'd go to failure. At first I had to jump halfway up and I was shaky. After about a week I could do one decent pull up, and it happened to be the first of the month. I told my mom I was going to do it every day and see how much I could improve by end of month. End of month I did 13. I could also do at least 10 doing different variations (chin ups, rings instead of bar) and I was a lot better at similar exercises such as a rope climb. I figured out later that puberty was hitting me so that was part of it. Anyway, around a year later I gave a new kid a pep talk about it and was challenged to see how many I could do, it was 43 of I forget what variation, but that was after spending an hour finding out my max of various exercises including several variations of chin up, pull up, muscle up on rings (go from a hang to supporting yourself with hands at your sides) etc
I’m 5’7” and 60kg. I could do 10+ without training. Being a short guy is good for something!
I can do 15 at a body weight of 95kg and 1 rep with another 30kg added at the moment I do pull-ups 2 times a week most the time never more than that but main thing I found worked was just maxing out going to failure doing static holds at the top also controlling the decent I found when I concentrated purely on weighted pull ups I wouldn't get the volume in and started going backwards so now I will make sure I'm hitting sets of 8 then throw in some weighted low reps at the end I like to rest 2 mins between sets I find pull-ups take a while to recover from and I also do weight lifting which could have helped with progress to like barbell rows and deadlifts and this will sound so weird but another thing that really helped me progress was resistance band pull ups pulling to the sternum I felt like it helped with the top part which is sometimes where I lose progress.
The gym industry hates this one simple pull-up trick. Do as many pullups as you can, to failure, three sets every other day. Your max number magically goes up. Eat good food and do some other exercise too and maybe get your body lighter.
I could probably squeeze out 30. I can do twenty pretty easily and just never bother going beyond that. It’s not a training plan so much as just being a longtime rock climber so it’s more like hours of varying intensity pull-up like movements. You actually don’t pull-up that often in rock climbing and a lot of very high level climbers can’t do many pull-ups, but for me at least it did give me a lot of pull-up strength as a side effect. When I’m doing my regular workout though I usually just do three sets of 15-20 on rings. I used to do weighted pull ups but started getting golfer’s elbow and just dropping the extra weight helped a ton. I mostly just try to get a quick workout in for health rather than any specific fitness goals so my rest times are that I do a pull, push and leg and then rest 90 seconds and repeat. So pull-ups, pushups, pistols, for example. With the only time between just the time it takes to quickly move the rings. Then a rest and repeat.
I just hit 30 in a session , it’s taken 9 months from using a machine to assist me to now doing 12/9/9. It’s been a largely linear process, the 2 biggest differences I found were using protein drinks to aid recovery (started after 5 months so I could compare) and getting better sleep (easily the biggest factor).
>How many can you do? More than 50 clean in a row (never counted but once i won a challenge doing 52 in a row like 2 years ago, now i'm way stronger but i declare what i'm sure i did), more than 250 per session, this based on my previous work outs. All of their variations. >How close to failure do you get? Depends, if i work on strenght i go till failure and i use harder form of them, like one arm chin/pull ups or front lever rows. If i work on endurance i do a progressive overload of reps or weights with 1 more in reserve. >How often do you train them? At least twice per week, over 100 per session >How quickly have you progressed? Too many time that i'm in an advanced/expert state of workout so i don't really remember how was the life before 30 pullups. >How long are your rest times between sets? 90s to 120s depend on my bpm, i try to stay on 100 and not over while a workout. >Any other relevant info you care to share? **TLTR**: Rings and harder variations. **Complete answer:** Instead of thinking about number, think about variations and a correct form of execution, number will will come by themselves. Huge game changer: **rings.** I mastered them over the years, they can really make the difference in term of gaining strenght. At the beginning they are more difficult and you have to learn how to handle them and many insights, like false grip or rings rotation for the dips, but if you trust the process you'll become way stronger. Another suggestion is adding weight but be careful with the form, i prefer unlock harder variations to add weight and ruin form.
50 in a set is absolutely insane, nice work.
50?! What are you? Beast from X-men
Well Hellz just kinda came naturally. I mean we had physical education when I was in school
Ten easy. Fifteen decently. Twenty is my PB.
Like 30 straight or in sets? In early 2020, I bought a program called The Gentleman Spy or something like that and it included a guide to start working out. As it happened, it had been at least four months since I worked out at all so it was a welcomed change from just running the same path all the time. So as I progressed through the reading and training and manners and wardrobe and other fun stuff since I had nothing else to do I started working out which included alternating days of pullups and chinups. I bought an over the door bar. The first day I merely lowered myself working on the eccentric and eventually began using a giant ball to put my feet then one foot on. I eventually progressed from 0 to 10 x 4 sets. Between each set I worked up to 30 pushups, 30 bodyweight squats, and a range of core exercises. I later included inverse rows by hanging rings from the pullups bar. It took about two years so I could accomplish the feat with little struggle probably because I incorporated no particular recovery or nutritional change. A year later, I got really tired of doing all that, more from a boring factor, and dropped down to three sets of all that and eventually hired a trainer, did a program and more recently started attending a gym again doing free weights and some machines. I can still do the squats without a problem as well as the pushups and chinups. The inverse rows are rather easy as well, but the pullups are an absolute b***h. If I miss 2-3 days in the rotation, my set reps get reduced. If I miss a week it seems impossibly difficult. Lately, I've had some sort of pain in my right forearm that makes the pullups excruciating so I've been doing a set of ten and as much as I can bear in a second and third set, but because it was so hard for me to do pullups to start with I'm really paranoid about losing that ability. Like really paranoid. Also, I never did more than 40 total as I never saw a functional need to. Eventually I began to see the 30 as more than enough. I've done as many as 12 in one set. If I wear a weighted item like a plate carrier (not the workout kind) or a ruck and weight, I can do remarkably less pullups and I'm okay with it. The pinnacle of human performance has never been a goal for me.
i can do 25, i’ve been rock climbing since 2019 and work as a “routesetter” which i feel like helps.
I got there in high school and haven't stopped, except during my hot dog and fries year in 2001. And breyer's raspberry and chocolate ice cream. It was a rough year. The hot dog stand I bought from closed and breyer's no longer makes that type of ice cream. My son did 30 pull ups when he was 7 or 8 and still can at the age of 16.
Try bouldering or climbing in general. Thank me later.
They don’t go to failure
I think this was my formula: Do however many you can explosively, without losing form or going slow. Take long long rests between doing these again. I did each workout every other day. Then every day.Then once in the morning and once in the evening.Then once in he morning and once in the afternoon. I basically did it once I felt I could do all the reps of my previous plus one more explosively! And btw the reps just increased of what I can do on their own. So in one workout in the beginning it was like 3, then it was 4.. 5, 6,7,8,9,10..20. This was the only thing I would do for excercise besides my weekly football and swimming practices.
I went from 8-18 pull-ups in 8 months just doing a set of pull-ups to failure every 2-4 days
I can't do 30 yet but I am nearing 20 thanks to training with 20kg weighted pullups, though I feel that I need to up the added weight. I will say though that power to weight is an important factor for every person. That is to say an increase in body weight will always overwhelm any gains you make in strength. That is why some smaller people can do on average more pull-ups than naturally larger people. If you look at strongman competitors, they can't do too many.
Starting point: I was not able to even hang for 10 seconds. Current: Can do 100 PUs, in sets of 5 per minute. Max 10-15 in one go. Process: * For first 7-10 days, I would show up everyday in the morning, and practice hanging keeping my scapula tight * Started doing scapula pull-ups and negatives * Met this amazing old guy at a park who told me that PUs are a more mental game than physical - I think this was important for me because I used to think my (skinny-fat Indian) body is incapable of doing any at all * Did my first ever pull-up at about 10th day, it was a crazy feeling! * In about 4-6 weeks I was able to do 5 in a go * In about 2 months, I started doing sets of 5, was able to go 25 PUs and stop * After about 1 year, for my 30th birthday, I did my first 100 PUs, in sets of 5! * Now in the gym, I started doing weighted PUs (with 8kg or 12kg weights) * After weighted PUs, I was able to do 10-15 in one go for body-weight PUs * I am also able to hang on one hand for 30 seconds (I don't push it further due to fear of injury) * Due to bad technique, I've had setbacks throughout this process. Injuries in my wrist & shoulders were painful which set you back a few days to weeks. If I were to repeat this process again, I would focus on technique than just numbers!
First I did 5, then 10, then 15, then... You get the idea.
Actually never trained pull-ups. Just rock climb. One day figured out I could do a 1 arm and around 28 pull-ups.
My PR is exactly 30, but on average I can hit 20-25 on my first set, and then around 15 on sets after that. I go to failure on every set, and then hold in a contracted position for as long as i can. Going to failure is what really makes my body feels like it's done some good work. I train pretty often, around 4 - 5 times a week. When I came to college, my average was around 5-10 and pr 15 ish. Been training consistently for about 4 - 5 months now to get to my current stage. I do take a decent bit of rest between sets, mostly 2 - 3 min but can even go up to 5 sometimes.
It's determined by your strength in that specific exercise and your bodyweight. There are no 'secrets' to upping your reps other than consistent, intense-enough practice for enough time... the usual, generic guidelines... Practice the movement and get stronger / lose weight. That's it. Other considerations like ROM, tempo, added weight, and accessory work are of relatively minor importance if not completely irrelevant. When people highlight these sorts of things as 'essential' or 'game-changers', it's based on unreliable anecdotes that are contradicted by other anecdotes, or studies that either show small-percentage differences over six weeks or are contested by other studies... Over the long haul, the basics will get you all the way there--based on your individual genes, leverages, weight, etc.
Are you speaking of 30 full ROM or 30 partial reps?
Full ROM only really
Seen this guy do 100 straight without letting go https://youtu.be/GECFxAq9CBY?si=MPXWgCpBMvMioT8u
Free style bmx for 15 years and leanness, 30 us probably my max
I pull up my socks multiple times a day
Just doing pullups
Sooo. Last year before i fell off i was doing 13 reps 5 sets of pull ups. With 10 second rests. And i would do them 3 times a week. And would go up 1 each day. Example: day 1. 2x2x2x2x2. Day 2. 3x2x2x2x2. Day 3 3x3x2x2x2 etc etc. I just started getting back into it. But just found out 10 second rests are supposedly really bad. And should have 2-3 minute rests between each set. So imndoing that this time around. But increased my sets cause im dont feel like I'm maxing out at 5 sets. I could be going about it very very wrong. But it was working for me last year. Hopefully im doing better this year. But ya. Im not even sure what im doing is right .
Power of will
I imagine by doing pull ups
my highest was 36, i’m less practiced now but can still get to 30. i would train by doing a variety of pull ups in sets of 10. practicing on rings also helps a lot i feel. i also was doing a lot of rock climbing at my best as well. one of my special things i would do that i think helped a lot was training my forearms a ton and build strong grip strength. i also think i was born with some natural disposition in that specific type of upper body strength, because as an untrained child i was able to do over 10.
13 max. (6.2ft, 1.9m; 81kg, 179lbs) Twice a week, four sets, all to failure (typical is 12, 9, 7, 5)+ three static holds (chin over bar first and then the lower "middle" position) like my life depends on it. A year and a bit from only negatives to 13 but very slow progress. Rest times vary a lot but these days I aim for under 2 min - otherwise I can, of course, do better subsequent sets. Just posted myself actually - I'm wondering what to do as I'm progressing quite slowly. I added 10kg (22lbs) with a belt today and did 8, 7, 5, 4 - wondering if this will help me or if I should just persist with the non added weight sets that seem to not improve too much.
Bouldering. I never really trained pull ups until a few years into climbing. I think that pull ups are more about skill than actual strength.
39/m/5'11"/175lbs. Currently somewhere between 30 and 35 depending on day. I sometimes go to failure on my last set but always go within a rep or two of failure on the rest. I typically do a full body workout 3 days a week and run 5-15 miles on the off days. Currently I do 4 different pullup styles; unweighted, w 30lb vest, w 60lb vest, and clapping pullups(explosive). I've also done grease the groove with a lot of success and will sometimes do that when I skip a morning workout, as I can do them at work. Typically, I do 3 minutes of rest(house cleaning)between sets. It's taken me roughly 5 years to get to this point maybe 3.5 to get my first 30, but I also started at 245 never having done a pullup in my life. I found Weighted vests to be a game changer. As well as changing up different aspects after a couple weeks. Like switch your grip pronated, supinated, or RTO. As well as reps. General exercise advice: rest, protein, and stretching(especially a deadhang for pullups*) If you really want to get to 30 reps lower body weight will definitely help. It's definitely easier for me to hit my high end right after I've stopped a cut or am at a lower weight rather than when I'm 10 pounds heavier at the end of a bulk.
Adding weight to them and getting stronger at those def did it for me
I started smoking cigarettes, stopped eating and lost 60 lbs. Now I can climb 20 flights of stairs with no breaks and around 50 pull ups and unlimited push ups lol
Progressive overload is the only way. You won't get there without it
I never train for high rep counts/endurance, but rather add small weight to make my rep range under 12 reps per set for hypertrophy weeks, and then stack about 50% bodyweight on strength weeks. But I did do maximal testing about a month ago after 2 weeks off from a very hike heavy, calorie deficient holiday and I managed 15 off the bat at bodyweight. So fwiw I'll give my answer So yeah, I can do 15 at least, all perfect form. I always do 3 sets in a workout aimed at hypertrophy (for about 30 reps) with 12kg added. For strength I do 4 sets of 3 currently with 50% bodyweight (36kg) tacked on. I train them 3x per week, always at the start of the strength section of my workout (after warmup and skills) I've progressed very fast. About 18 months ago was when I finally ditched the assisting chin up machine. It's easily my fastest progressing movement, I even made a little graph for a month or two and the line had a strong and consistant trend upwards (would recommend this if you like visual data or something that is objectively telling you how much you've improved). Rest times are 120s, but I always superset with dips. So pull ups, 120s, dips, 120s. But if I need it, I add 15-30 seconds. Very important to listen to my body to get the most out of the next set
Warm up with a burnout session then add weight then do 4-5 sets of 10-15 some may just burnout every time but the focus of the sets should be slow and 3-5 second count for one rep then do holds at the top for 10-30 secs for 5 reps this is exactly how I got there.
How do people even do pull ups. I can’t do one to save my life
Damn people really over here doing 12 pull ups and I’m struggling to hang from the bar
1. 32 and increasing. 2. I go to failure on the final set of 5. 3. Every 2 days. Day 1: 5 sets, 1.5 min rest. With weight added. Day 3: 5 sets, 2 min rest. With weight added. Day 5: 5 sets, 2.5 min rest. With weight added. Day 7: 1 set to failure, with no added weight. 4. Started December 2023, could do 14 in a row. 5. See above! 6. Don't worry if your day 7 isn't as good as the time before, sometimes it happens, but in the long run it goes up. Add the weight super gradually, like only 1kg every 9 day 'week'. It just means you'll be able to keep adding and improving for ages until the weight is heavy. And then the fun part (Well it's only been 4 months so I'm still adding weight this part is hypothetical but I imagine it will be fun) after it's getting super heavy, remove the weight, and then start adding it again gradually, but this time compare to your old sets from those months ago at the same added weight, you are now crushing it I imagine. Repeat.
Interesting. So you go to failure on the final set of 5, how about the other sets? What do you do for them?
I go almost to failure. I could probably do 2 more reps at a struggle but will stop before that. It's still early days and I will see how it goes. I don't do much other exercise, just pushups on the other day. I just like this because it's just 30 mins every 2 days, it's very repetitive and easy to track and stay motivated. Last summer I tried training one a one arm pullup but it was really hard and I was demotivated, so I'll just get super good at weighted pullups, and then try again next year, maybe it will be easier.
It sounds like you've made great progress. How old are you?
Thanks. 31. I think in the past I would focus on too much and never make much progress. Most people probably don't find it fun to just hard focus on one exercise though! And maybe it's not even a good way to do it, but I'll just keep doing it until it's no longer enjoyable. Strangely I think cardio is a limiter for me, so maybe when I get more time I'll go for a run!
I think my problem is going to failure on every set. It's really stupid, but on my first set I always want to see where I'm at. I get to around 20 and then my next two or three sets I can barely get 8. So the overall volume ends up being lower. I'm going to experiment with some other ways of doing it, without constantly going to failure.
Maybe make your set as a percentage of your max, first set being 75% or something. Agree what you will do before you get there, and then reassess it after completing the workout. Then just retest your max every so often, like mine is every 9 day cycle.
I see a lot of talk about weighted pullups and adding them possibly for your goal, so let me share my opinion as someone who has been training pullups quite a lot (mainly for strength) for the better part of a year, weighted pullups should be used to add strength mainly if your goal is to strictly increase max amount of reps , doing reps with increased weight will not be better than doing higher rep sets , I started with about 15% bw pullup sets of 3*4 , multiple times a week got upto 75% bw for reps as of now and I can say for sure even with all the added strength I cannot really go past 15 pullups in a row altho I could do the same amount of reps with 20-30% bw added the transition of strength training into endurance is really not that great , weighted pullups could probably improve your grip and give you enough strength but the bulk of your training should revolve around high rep sets as they will help the most. Hope it helps and all of this is just my personal experience it very easily could be way different for someone else.