Pull Ups as first part of session?

O.P.H

Wasent doing enough back work so started doing pull ups(i also do lat pull downs and thats it for the back). Anyway because they are so damn hard I did them at start of session, did 5 sets was only able to rep like 7,6,4,3,3, was a killer but I know I'll get better etc. The only thing was, i was knackerd for the other parts of session, had to lighten all the weight to keep the rep count the same as usual.

amazingemmet

Do your pull ups first on your back day as they are the most cns intensive back rowing based exercise going.

Colm_OReilly

What's the rest of your routine like? Workout/Schedule? There might be a better way to implement them.

It also seems like you were maxing out the reps, no wonder you were shagged Consider 5 sets of 3 or 4, you might be less knackered. Then increase it week to week.

We regulary add in pull ups as part of our warm ups, unless the workout is pull up centric.

Hanley

I had great success doing a pulldown or row variation as a first exercise of a session every day (5 or 6 sets of 10), even if I wasn't specifically training my back (4x a week like). Brought my back up a great amount. I wasn't pushing to absolute failure, but they weren't easy either. The volume was the main thing that allowed for progression.

Maybe try stopping short of failure next time. 5 sets of 4 reps maybe. Then either try 5x5 the nex week, or 6x4 (6x4 would be better imo). Then go for 7x4 the week after, by the time you can do that your max number should have increased by a couple.

EDIT: Beaten to the punch on pretty much all counts by Colm.

rubadub

Since pullups and chinups are similar, but most find chinups easier, I sometimes will do 2 sets of pullups, then switch to chins for the last set, so I can match all sets rep for rep. Saves me having to lower weights on my belt to get the reps.

Dunno if that is advisable?