Towel pullups question

Doctor_Socks

Has anybody here incorporated towels in their pullup training to help train their grip? I don't have money for a gym membership anymore so have been improvising with a chinup bar and gymnast rings at home but i've gotten to the point where I can knock out 18 pullups (haven't tested my chinup max) no problem and am able to do 4 muscle-ups on the rings and want to mix things up a bit.

I wrapped a towel around my chinup bar and started doing some pullups. Could only manage 8 before my fingers started to feel strained as opposed to my forearms which I was hoping would be the limiting factor, so I could start improving my grip strength. Has anybody here experienced this strained feeling in their fingers while doing towel pullups? If so, how did you rectify it?

Hanley

...your fingers are an integral part of your "grip" no?

Try the other kind of towel chin where you drape it over the bar and do pull ups hanging off the ends too.

rubadub

I think this is normal. I do rope pullups and my fingers are in tatters afterwards, I cannot fully straighten or clench them easily. I can usually only manage a single set as my fingers are so bad. This lessened over time as my fingers got stronger and I could feel it a lot more in my forearms then. Rope pullups are the only exercise I have done where I really felt my forearms afterwards.

There are loads of other ways to make your pullups harder. Try extra wide grip and L-sit pullups or front lever pullups. You can hang the towel on one side only and mainly pull on the bar, using the towel for assistance. The lower your hand is on the towel the harder it is. Another trick is only using 1 finger on one hand to hold the bar for pullups, forcing the other to do most of the work. Or of course you can just add weight with a dip belt or backpack.

Doctor_Socks

Cheers lads, reason I asked is cause I never heard of someones fingers being strained in the movement and wondered if it was a sign of doing something wrong.

Rubadub, i've gone as wide as I can on the pullup bar I have, was a lot more difficult at first but I adapted fairly quickly following the routine Hanley posted a while back. The front lever pullups look like a great way of increasing the difficulty, ab strength might hold me back for a while but gives me something to work towards! Might get some weights to attach to my dipping belt, €40 for 20kgs worth on Irish lifting seems like a good deal

papu

rubadub wrote: »

I think this is normal. I do rope pullups and my fingers are in tatters afterwards, I cannot fully straighten or clench them easily. I can usually only manage a single set as my fingers are so bad. This lessened over time as my fingers got stronger and I could feel it a lot more in my forearms then. Rope pullups are the only exercise I have done where I really felt my forearms afterwards.

There are loads of other ways to make your pullups harder. Try extra wide grip and L-sit pullups or front lever pullups. You can hang the towel on one side only and mainly pull on the bar, using the towel for assistance. The lower your hand is on the towel the harder it is. Another trick is only using 1 finger on one hand to hold the bar for pullups, forcing the other to do most of the work. Or of course you can just add weight with a dip belt or backpack.

Have you tried reverse Barbell curls?