Hi 30baders,
two months ago I started to workout with a program called 50 pullups. You can find it here http://www.50pullups.com/ In my first test I do 6 pullups and today I did another test and know I can do 8. I am lucky that I can two more pullups, but I think it is not enough in two months. The program recommends a routine where you do a pullup a workout three times a workout. I usually do it 2 sometimes 3 times a week to have more rest. What do you think? Is that a normal progress or should I make sure that I do my pullups three times a week? Have you any experiences in following such a program?
Micha
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I found great results by holding a pullup at its peak, and going back to base at a slow, even, and controlled pace. You will really feel this. Also, try to synchronize your breathing with motions. Never lose control of the breath, nor your pace. Hope this helps
This is a great program. Thanks for posting.
Think of it in terms of pull-up volume/intensity for an entire week. You want to do as many as you can but never get near fatigue. Thats the essence of the "grease the groove" style training. If you get too tired back off and try again later. If you are doing more than pull-ups understand that you are taxing your CNS and the more you give it the less it can improve each individual activity.
Then there is the fact that after around 8 pull-ups it starts to become an endurance activity over a strength activity. You may benefit from doing as many reps as you can in a single session to increase your endurance. Best thing to do is alternate these different types of training protocols either weekly or monthly (or even daily) and see if that helps.
Pull-ups are usually slow to improve so don't worry too much and keep at it. You can always improve them faster by focusing on pull-ups, ignoring a more balanced exercise routine but I wouldn't do that for too long.
2 summers ago I decided to get in shape, and was unable to do even 1 pullup. I always had strong legs but no upper body strength. So I started trying to pull myself up any opportunity I had (whenever I was passing by the bar or would remember) anywhere between 5-10 times a day. By the end of the 2nd month I could do 6 pullups. I didn't designate any specific amount of time for it, I just did it...
When I do pull-ups, I hang from the bottom of the bar with my dead weight for two or three seconds before doing the next rep, until I feel the pull on my arms and shoulders. The reason I do this is because our muscles have some elastic recoil; they're kind of like bungee cords that spring back up after they're stretched unless we wait for a few moments to let that energy dissipate. This makes doing more repetitions harder and I think it improves my grip strength as well. I may not be doing as many reps as I might be doing if I just did one pull-up after the next, but I think I'm getting stronger. I've also started doing my push-ups this way too, slowly going down, and then slowly going back up, to the count of three each way. Has anyone else had experience doing slow reps or hanging between reps to fully stretch the muscles and loose the recoil? How did you find it, compared with doing reps at a regular or fast pace? At one time I could crank out 100 push-ups by going full bore and that was a good anaerobic (high intensity interval training) workout, but I doubt that I'll get anywhere near that number by doing push-ups slowly. There's a book, The Power of 10, by Adam Zickerman which is actually about using weights and mostly weight machines, but I think it may apply to body weight exercise as well. In it, he encourages us to do each rep slowly- up to 10 seconds per rep to make better progress, reduce the chances of injury and to maintain strength while exercising only once or so a week. Jacob, thanks for keeping us informed. Let us know how it's going.
i think you are definitely on to something. the slower you go the less you are relying on momentum and the more you are working the muscles all the way through the contraction.
Today I did another test on pullups, pistol squats and pushups. The Last week and a few couple of days more I used the GTG (Grease the Groove) technique, but actually I didn't make progress. I still can 8 Pullups, 8 Pistols on each leg and 20 Pushups. On Thursday I will start another round on GTG for 12 training days and 1 rest day after six. Now I want to figure what has stopped my progress. I think I done a lot of pullups, but two many sets of low reps. Now I will focus on more using 50-70% of my max strength. I will report in around 2 weeks.
Hi Jacob,
I don't think that your comment is negative. It's the same opinion on my progress that I have, too. It's realitsitc. I thank you for your advice and will try some of your methods in the next days/weeks. Actually I am totally in to the "Grease the Groove" technique. Even if Pavel recommends in his book to train for max strenght and not endurance strenght there a lot of people who increased there endurance strenght with GTG. I don't know if you know the GTG technique but I think it is nearly the same advice that you have written except of working out to failure. I will report my progress in a few days.
It took me about 1 month of non-consistent practice to get up to 10 pullups. But it was a struggle, for sure. And I started on my feet, reaching all the way up. But if I start hanging, then probably like 5, haha.\
I have learned that it's more important to emphasize the downward motion, when you lower yourself to the ground than when pulling up, or the "negative" movement.
Thanks for this. I am now inspired to build up my pullup strength. I'm going to buy a pull up bar and progress with you!
Hey Francesca,
I am not sure if I am get it right. You practiced pullups and get from zero to ten in one month? Thats awesome! And even if you can do 5 from a dead hang that is great. Keep up practice.
When the two weeks are over and I have made good progress I will report in detail how I used the GTG technique from day to day.
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