Pullups for the girls/lifters!

spottykatt

Hi All,

Just looking for any advice with pullups/muscleup cause I cant do BW for either:( Im female and have been lifting about 2 yrs now, bw pullup is a huge goal I have!! I love lifing and find im quite strong (for a girl;)) but still struggle with the whole pullup thing. I currently do a standard enough 3day split focusing on the bigger movements - squats/DLs/bench press/pushups etc. To help with the pullup issue ive been doing heavy wide lat pulldowns and rev grip pulldowns as well as the usual rows etc. I tried the assisted chin machine but didnt think much of it(thought it felt really fake or something as the weight wasnt consistent-could be just the one in my gym is dodgy!) Is there anything else I can do to help build toward pullups?? What grip would you recommend I start with??
Any suggestions mucho appreciated
Ta

Dragan

What finally cracked pull ups for me was the jumping pull up with a long slow negative. A few weeks on them and i was knocking out pull ups, now i can crank out some one arms. I never thought i would be able to say that!!

EileenG

I would going to post a long reply, then found this: http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=51. Says it much better than I could.

t-ha

Dragan wrote: »

now i can crank out some one arms.

Srsly?!! Good shizzle man!

Hanley

Dragan wrote: »

What finally cracked pull ups for me was the jumping pull up with a long slow negative. A few weeks on them and i was knocking out pull ups, now i can crank out some one arms. I never thought i would be able to say that!!

Are they true one arm pull ups (with your free hand dangling), or one handers (holding onto your wrist with the other hand?)

lindak

I have the same problem , and have started to do pullup on the smith machine.
Like below
assisted_cage_pullup_2.jpg

And gradully will try and increase my strength

aye

Dragan wrote: »

What finally cracked pull ups for me was the jumping pull up with a long slow negative.

yep negatives were how i got stated too.

Dragan

Hanley wrote: »

Are they true one arm pull ups (with your free hand dangling), or one handers (holding onto your wrist with the other hand?)

It started out as the free hand on the wrist, now it's proper one handers. I actually found the progression from the hand on the wrist to completely free happened a damn sight quicker than going from normal chins to even assisted one hands.

For example, I reckon a guy trained to your level who tried one handers and missed them, but could do assisted one handers would get then freely after 3 to 4 weeks work on it. Not to sure why, I can only put it down to a quicker neural adaptation.

BossArky

Dragan wrote: »

What finally cracked pull ups for me was the jumping pull up with a long slow negative. A few weeks on them and i was knocking out pull ups, now i can crank out some one arms. I never thought i would be able to say that!!

Dragan, you are now my new hero! :pac:

eclectichoney

is that assisted pull-ups machine absolutely no good then???

Al_Fernz

OP, when I started to do pull-ups/chins a few years ago I could only knock out 5. I got a bar and put it up in my bedroom doorway and made a resolution that every time I walk under it I would do as much reps as I could manage. The amount of reps I could do quickly increased. Within a month I was doing over 20.

amazingemmet

Dragan wrote: »

What finally cracked pull ups for me was the jumping pull up with a long slow negative. A few weeks on them and i was knocking out pull ups, now i can crank out some one arms. I never thought i would be able to say that!!

You b@stard, I've been training these on and off for ages and can only get half way with my good arm. And you've got 20+kg on me. I'm amazed:eek:

Hanley

amazingemmet wrote: »

You b@stard, I've been training these on and off for ages and can only get half way with my good arm. And you've got 20+kg on me. I'm amazed:eek:

Yeah, you must be one of one of the heaviest guys doing them in the world now.... You're what, 110kg?

t-ha

eclectichoney wrote: »

is that assisted pull-ups machine absolutely no good then???

I think they're ok (going on the one in Crunch UCD, no idea what machine you're using), but definitely do the negatives training too.

As for the single arm pull-ups, I used to be able to do a couple with a 10kg plate in my free hand when I was 79kg and strong, but haven't been able to do a single one in the last few years.

Dragan

Hanley wrote: »

Yeah, you must be one of one of the heaviest guys doing them in the world now.... You're what, 110kg?

I'm 104 right now or there abouts, weight is still a bit up and down since i am off the meds and back to training so i have stopped weighing myself lately because it's up and down a lot.

It's easier if you just say you don't believe i can do them. I wouldn't blame you either, tis a nice feat of strength afterall.

I would happily trade the one arms to have my dead, bench and squat back to what they were so don't get too hung up on a lift that i developed when all i could really do was chins to stop myself cracking up.

amazingemmet

Dragan wrote: »

I would happily trade the one arms to have my dead, bench and squat back to what they were so don't get too hung up on a lift that i developed when all i could really do was chins to stop myself cracking up.

Funny I'd happily let 50kg drop on my big three to be able to do one arms

wasabi

I'm a female who trained to do pullups using an assisted machine. I think it took about 3-4 months till I could do one unassisted.

I was doing a lot of Crossfit at the time, so I was typically doing a pretty high volume of assisted reps (30-50 in a session) and doing so 2-3 times a week. I always used the minimum assistance I could get away with and just worked down to the point where I was only using 3-4 plates assistance to do several reps. At that stage I found I could do singles unassisted, so I switched to doing mainly unassisted pullups/chins, started with singles. My PBs are 8 bodyweight chins, 5 bodyweight pullups, and a 10kg weighted chin, although I've gotten lazy about pushing this stuff last few months.

I probably could have gotten to the stage of doing unassisted pullups faster if I'd used negatives I'd say, but I do think the assisted pullups work, IF you're diligent about reducing the assistance whenever you can.

eclectichoney

cool, thanks for that wasabi. i've only started using the assisted pull ups in the last week so i reckon it's worth sticking with for a month or so at any rate and seeing if i improve much

Lockstep

Outta curiosity, is a pull up done with a specific distance between your hands?

I can knock out a few pullups when my hands are gripping the bar roughly above my shoulders, but if I do a widegrip then I can just do one before collapsing.

Hanley

lindak wrote: »

I have the same problem , and have started to do pullup on the smith machine.
Like below
assisted_cage_pullup_2.jpg

And gradully will try and increase my strength

Good post actually.... I missed it when it went up originally.

It's sorta like doing rack chins http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=vM-b4qOOWsE&feature=related

Which btw are absolutely awesome.

rubadub

Hanley wrote: »

Are they true one arm pull ups (with your free hand dangling), or one handers (holding onto your wrist with the other hand?)

The usually call them one arm chins OAC and one hand chins OHC.

Normal Records
Chinup feats
OAC guide

Hanley wrote: »

It's sorta like doing rack chins http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=vM-b4qOOWsE&feature=related

You could use a dip belt to do them, if you had enough room under you.

OP- I would definitely suggest negatives. Just get a bench/chair/box stand up and hold yourself in the highest position you can and lower yourself slowly down in a controlled motion. When you can do a few still keep doing the negatives, do normal ones and at the end get up on the box again. Most will find chinups (palms facing you) easier than pullups (palms away).

If you want to see how far off you are on a OAC just stand on a scale and attempt to do one. I am 75kg and the scale is reading 20kg when I attempt one.

BossArky

rubadub wrote: »

If you want to see how far off you are on a OAC just stand on a scale and attempt to do one. I am 75kg and the scale is reading 20kg when I attempt one.

Interesting and good idea.

Reyman

kickoutthejams wrote: »

Outta curiosity, is a pull up done with a specific distance between your hands?

I can knock out a few pullups when my hands are gripping the bar roughly above my shoulders, but if I do a widegrip then I can just do one before collapsing.

I find I get shoulder trouble if I do pull ups with a wide grip. Anybody else have this problem?

rubadub

Reyman wrote: »

I find I get shoulder trouble if I do pull ups with a wide grip. Anybody else have this problem?

Not taking the piss, but just don't do them so, I never liked them.

Worthless techniques 1) Wide grip pullups and 2) Pullups behind the neck. For some reason, boobybuilders think that a very wide grip makes for very wide lats! Ha! This is bogus for a few reasons, the first being the greatly reduced range of motion, the second being the greatly reduced leverage, and the third being the extreme stress on your rotator cuffs. Optimal leverage is extremely important in strength training.

Question: would you try to pull a heavy deadlift on your toes with a rounded back? I didn't think so. As for pullups behind the neck, the same reasons apply. Do yourself and your shoulders a favor--keep your grip slightly wider than shoulder width or less, and pull to your chest, not to the back of your neck. And no grip aids please! (chalk is o.k.)

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/7/

Another pullup variant I have been doing is on the corner of an overhang. Think of something like a bus shelter at the corner with no glass, you have your hand on either side of the 90 degree corner, with nothing under you, you can lift your chest right up under the overhang. I got DOMs in my upper back doing these, and I do loads of normal chins/pullups

Hanley

All wide grip pull ups have ever done for me is wreck my shoulders too!!

I do like high rep wide grip pulldowns tho.

gabgab

I did do a one armed chin, palm facing me, with a hand assisting my wrist, at the end of a crsoofit session one night, was delighted,

However muscle ups, not a hope, got almost there but didnt have the speed to push up the second part of it, I have no rings so I cant practice them but have seen them done and its impressive once you realise just how hard they are, starting grip is very important though apparently,

I find that negatives helped me alot, I got the pullup door frame from Irishlifting and it has a wide section on it too, I try the wide grip but I get to a few and its just wiggling half way through, a funny kind of frog kick and then collapse so I do negatives after that,

Transform

Much of that is due to shoulders needing more rotator cuff or retraction exercises, maybe a few massages. I used to find the same until i did the above. Though you really do not miss out on much when you can chin with and additional 20kg hanging off you for 5 reps .

rubadub

gabgab wrote: »

I did do a one armed chin, palm facing me, with a hand assisting my wrist, at the end of a crsoofit session one night, was delighted,

That usually called a one hand chin. One arm being using just the one hand. The OHC is a good training for the OAC. Good for grip.

gabgab wrote: »

its just wiggling half way through, a funny kind of frog kick

That is called kipping. I tried it today on a strong bar but couldn't do it properly. In contests it would be considered "cheating" since you use momentum, but it is meant to be a good workout.

Just found this tutorial for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWTXveADz4

ballroom blitz

Hey spottykatt,

I also struggled for a long time with pull-ups. I had been doing assisted pull-ups for about 3 months and found I just wasnt getting anywhere. I then stumbled upon the stumptous.com site linked on page one. I found that doing the negatives really improved my pull-ups and it only took about three weeks until I could do a couple. Now I can nearly do 8 and I'm delighted!! Hope this helps.

gabgab

Cheers for them Rub,

I dont do the frog part at home, a bit worried about the sturdiness of the par with the jolting effort, try keep them strict at home, but purely because the frame could hop off the door :D

Colm_OReilly

That is called kipping.

Trust me, the frog kick gabgab did and a kip are world's apart!

It's taken me a year to get the kip down - but mroe diligently trying in the last two months. I'm very very white, so I find rhythm hard to master

amazingemmet

That style of kipping is so spacky imo, with a proper beat you can get completely above a bar or rings with straight arms and no lat pull.