Posted: 9/23/2015 12:42:22 PM EDT
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Given my erratic schedule, i don't always have time to hit the gym. So, I bought myself a Weider Power Tower, and adjustable bench, and adjustable dumbbells. All this will be used in addition to normal Army PT/PRT, and running for cardio.
I already had a pullup assist band that I was using downrange. My question is about improving my pullups. Right now, I can only get about two or three before my form cracks and I can't pull up anymore. For the sake of improving both my form and the amount of pullups that I can do, is it better to: a) try to to regular hanging pullups, pulling as far as I can go even if I don't make the bar b) use the pullup assist to keep proper form and removing bands as my strength increases c) brace one foot on the crossbar of the tower to do pullups after I reach muscle failure, with the goal to do more each session before I have to use my foot. |
| From my experience, either option b or c. The bands will be more consistent and allow you to accurately track your progression. Ideally, you would perform the pullups to failure, then add an appropriate band to allow you to complete your reps. Someone with more knowledge will likely be along shortly to follow up. |
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I've seen the same women doing pullups with bands for almost a year and a half now, with no improvement.
I started off using bands, each consecutively with less tension. But I really couldn't get my pullups until I scrapped the bands and just kept trying them unassisted. At some point I had a eureka moment when I realized that if I created tension in my shoulders and lats at the bottom of the pullup, I could rebound off that and get more of them. You can also do jumping pullups. You can also kip your legs up some in front of you to get more reps. That might not be good form, but your lats won't know that. |
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I've seen the same women doing pullups with bands for almost a year and a half now, with no improvement. I started off using bands, each consecutively with less tension. But I really couldn't get my pullups until I scrapped the bands and just kept trying them unassisted. At some point I had a eureka moment when I realized that if I created tension in my shoulders and lats at the bottom of the pullup, I could rebound off that and get more of them. You can also do jumping pullups. You can also kip your legs up some in front of you to get more reps. That might not be good form, but your lats won't know that. Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. |
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Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. Quoted:
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I've seen the same women doing pullups with bands for almost a year and a half now, with no improvement. I started off using bands, each consecutively with less tension. But I really couldn't get my pullups until I scrapped the bands and just kept trying them unassisted. At some point I had a eureka moment when I realized that if I created tension in my shoulders and lats at the bottom of the pullup, I could rebound off that and get more of them. You can also do jumping pullups. You can also kip your legs up some in front of you to get more reps. That might not be good form, but your lats won't know that. Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. SCW's leaf blower analogy- two guys are using leaf blowers. The one walks slow and doesn't move until all the grass and leaves are off the sidewalk, then he takes a step and gets the rest moving. The second guy walks along as fast as he wants and the leaves are still off the sidewalk when he's done. One guy is in a hurry, one isn't, but they both are doing a 'good job '. When I was doing Starting Strength I'd do a lift and think 'that was right at my max, there is no way I can do 3 sets of five with more weight in a few days. But then I'd try it and it worked. With bands I gave myself two weeks per color, even though it felt like there was no way I could do it with less help. Well, I could even though I was still working for it with the band I was on. |
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SCW's leaf blower analogy- two guys are using leaf blowers. The one walks slow and doesn't move until all the grass and leaves are off the sidewalk, then he takes a step and gets the rest moving. The second guy walks along as fast as he wants and the leaves are still off the sidewalk when he's done. One guy is in a hurry, one isn't, but they both are doing a 'good job '. When I was doing Starting Strength I'd do a lift and think 'that was right at my max, there is no way I can do 3 sets of five with more weight in a few days. But then I'd try it and it worked. With bands I gave myself two weeks per color, even though it felt like there was no way I could do it with less help. Well, I could even though I was still working for it with the band I was on. Quoted:
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I've seen the same women doing pullups with bands for almost a year and a half now, with no improvement. I started off using bands, each consecutively with less tension. But I really couldn't get my pullups until I scrapped the bands and just kept trying them unassisted. At some point I had a eureka moment when I realized that if I created tension in my shoulders and lats at the bottom of the pullup, I could rebound off that and get more of them. You can also do jumping pullups. You can also kip your legs up some in front of you to get more reps. That might not be good form, but your lats won't know that. Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. SCW's leaf blower analogy- two guys are using leaf blowers. The one walks slow and doesn't move until all the grass and leaves are off the sidewalk, then he takes a step and gets the rest moving. The second guy walks along as fast as he wants and the leaves are still off the sidewalk when he's done. One guy is in a hurry, one isn't, but they both are doing a 'good job '. When I was doing Starting Strength I'd do a lift and think 'that was right at my max, there is no way I can do 3 sets of five with more weight in a few days. But then I'd try it and it worked. With bands I gave myself two weeks per color, even though it felt like there was no way I could do it with less help. Well, I could even though I was still working for it with the band I was on. Yes, I tend to think people probably just don't push themselves like they should. |
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Yes, I tend to think people probably just don't push themselves like they should. Quoted:
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I've seen the same women doing pullups with bands for almost a year and a half now, with no improvement. I started off using bands, each consecutively with less tension. But I really couldn't get my pullups until I scrapped the bands and just kept trying them unassisted. At some point I had a eureka moment when I realized that if I created tension in my shoulders and lats at the bottom of the pullup, I could rebound off that and get more of them. You can also do jumping pullups. You can also kip your legs up some in front of you to get more reps. That might not be good form, but your lats won't know that. Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. SCW's leaf blower analogy- two guys are using leaf blowers. The one walks slow and doesn't move until all the grass and leaves are off the sidewalk, then he takes a step and gets the rest moving. The second guy walks along as fast as he wants and the leaves are still off the sidewalk when he's done. One guy is in a hurry, one isn't, but they both are doing a 'good job '. When I was doing Starting Strength I'd do a lift and think 'that was right at my max, there is no way I can do 3 sets of five with more weight in a few days. But then I'd try it and it worked. With bands I gave myself two weeks per color, even though it felt like there was no way I could do it with less help. Well, I could even though I was still working for it with the band I was on. Yes, I tend to think people probably just don't push themselves like they should. Add in no mind muscle connection and that is why people spend years with no improvement. OP, do as many pullups as you can for as many sets as you can do. Forced negatives too |
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Add in no mind muscle connection and that is why people spend years with no improvement. OP, do as many pullups as you can for as many sets as you can do. Forced negatives too Quoted:
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I've seen the same women doing pullups with bands for almost a year and a half now, with no improvement. I started off using bands, each consecutively with less tension. But I really couldn't get my pullups until I scrapped the bands and just kept trying them unassisted. At some point I had a eureka moment when I realized that if I created tension in my shoulders and lats at the bottom of the pullup, I could rebound off that and get more of them. You can also do jumping pullups. You can also kip your legs up some in front of you to get more reps. That might not be good form, but your lats won't know that. Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. SCW's leaf blower analogy- two guys are using leaf blowers. The one walks slow and doesn't move until all the grass and leaves are off the sidewalk, then he takes a step and gets the rest moving. The second guy walks along as fast as he wants and the leaves are still off the sidewalk when he's done. One guy is in a hurry, one isn't, but they both are doing a 'good job '. When I was doing Starting Strength I'd do a lift and think 'that was right at my max, there is no way I can do 3 sets of five with more weight in a few days. But then I'd try it and it worked. With bands I gave myself two weeks per color, even though it felt like there was no way I could do it with less help. Well, I could even though I was still working for it with the band I was on. Yes, I tend to think people probably just don't push themselves like they should. Add in no mind muscle connection and that is why people spend years with no improvement. OP, do as many pullups as you can for as many sets as you can do. Forced negatives too This is how I got better. Set a number that you are going to do. Do that number in as many sets as it takes. Add to that number and over time you will start to improve. |
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Add in no mind muscle connection and that is why people spend years with no improvement. OP, do as many pullups as you can for as many sets as you can do. Forced negatives too Do this. Every time you go past something to do a pullup bust our two. Do 10-15 "sets" throughout the day. Also do chinups after you 2 pullups you should be able to get 1-2 more because they involve more muscle and they will help your pullup strength. |
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Frequency and not going to failure helped me. If you can only do one good rep, then just do one. Don't flail around half-repping. Either do a bunch of sets of one, or intersperse them either into your workout (e.g. squat set, pull up, squat, pull up, etc) or just do a set every time you walk past your bar at home.
For whatever reason, the pull up is some kind of weird voodoo exercise that doesn't seem, for most people, to follow the typical overload-progression pattern. Pavel's "grease the groove" helped me a lot. |
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The only other thing I would suggest trying is to actually add some weight occasionally. If you can do 3 pull-ups, try to do 1 good one with 10 lbs. added. I just hold a dumbell between my legs.
The problem with bands is they mostly help you out of the bottom, while most people start struggling around half way up. |
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The assist band I got on the recommendation of my physical therapist. It has 3 bands that can be removed to change the amount of assistance. Due to shoulder surgery this year, I need some help to retrain the movement on chinups. Pullups are a no-go with my shoulder, even post-op.
Negative reps (where you start at the top of the movement) should be helpful, as will jump-reps, where you give yourself a little hop to get started. Those worked for me prior to surgery, on the chinups. |
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I've used bands for a while now. I started not being able to do one pull up. Just hanging stretched my hernia too much. The green band putting a little up pressure helped to keep the painful pinch gone. And it helped to kick start my pull up strength. I used the green ban max reps for three sets. Three minutes rest between sets. Then I got a purple band and did the same. Now I'm doing 5 unassisted pull ups per set. I'm also using the bands for assisting my dips. I freaking hate dips. But to build up to doing an easy ups, you have to do dips. So I started with the green, now using the purple.
Like some have said, most use bands and never progress because they don't force themselves to go harder. Max reps for three sets helped me. Then when doing 10 reps in a set is doable with a certain band, drop a color and do max reps again until you build back up to 10 reps. This is of course done as an accessory lift after your squat/ dead lift/ press/ bench/ row workout has been completed. The above could be completely wrong. But it's what I've done, and for a 98 lbs weakling, I've gotten stronger. |
| Alternating grip can get you few more reps usually. I've used bands when dealing with both shoulder and elbow issues. I don't like how they tend to help you where you don't need it and give you no help up top...tends to get people doing the bounce and not realy working. |
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i would not attempt the bands.
I would start out doing is as many full range, proper form reps as you can. then rest as long as you need to be able to do that same number of reps again. try to get a minimum of 5 sets in every other day, if you can do more in one day go for it. if it takes 20 minutes of rest... who cares! go all the way down, hang for a sec, pull your chin up to the top of the bar. i've been doing pull ups for over 3 years now. until i developed tennis elbow about a month ago, i was doing 3-4 sets of 6 reps @ 215lbs with a dip belt (35lbs attached) Stew Smith has a amazon book called The Military, Police & Firefighter PT Test Survival Guide: Avoid 12 Fitness Testing Mistakes That Lead to Failure. if you would like answers from a pro. |
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Try this: Armstrong Pullup Program
This is the beginner program. It also has an intermediate and advanced program. Really helped me after boot camp to get past my sticking point and eventually easily do 20+ perfect form dead-hang pullups for my PFT  . Had a kid at SOI I knew could do 40, but he was some kind of mutant!
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Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. Quoted:
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I've seen the same women doing pullups with bands for almost a year and a half now, with no improvement. I started off using bands, each consecutively with less tension. But I really couldn't get my pullups until I scrapped the bands and just kept trying them unassisted. At some point I had a eureka moment when I realized that if I created tension in my shoulders and lats at the bottom of the pullup, I could rebound off that and get more of them. You can also do jumping pullups. You can also kip your legs up some in front of you to get more reps. That might not be good form, but your lats won't know that. Yeah I'm starting to rethink bands too. On paper it seems like they would work well, but for some reason they often don't. to me, bands are for explosion only. Im using them for back now because im working out at home and lost all the commercial equipment i used to use by leaving the gym. I do with and without band pullups but i do 5 different grips and about 20 sets. Most of the band work is with negatives and i only started doing it because of my labral tear. 240lbs and full pullups on.this tear is what hurts the most so ive worked around it. You could train yourself for explosion using bands but dont use them as a crutch. Its just a tool |
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Frequency and not going to failure helped me. If you can only do one good rep, then just do one. Don't flail around half-repping. Either do a bunch of sets of one, or intersperse them either into your workout (e.g. squat set, pull up, squat, pull up, etc) or just do a set every time you walk past your bar at home. . So, here's the strategy I used when I was at 280 in order to get to 15 pull-ups. First I figured out how many I could perform before I couldn't do any more, then I cut that number in half. I would perform sets with the half number while doing 5-8 sets scattered throughout the workout 3 days per week. Some sets I would add a 10 pound plate between my feet. Next Monday, repeat your max test and use the new max to determine the number of reps for your sets for the week. |
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Option D do 10-20 sets of single pull-ups throughout the day (everyday at first you can do every other). This could mean 4x in the morning and 8x at night etc.
After a few weeks of doing this you should be able to switch to 2 pull-ups per set. The best way to get good at doing more pull-ups is to do more pull-ups. I got up to a single set of 65 pull-ups essentially using this technique although the difference was that i would do 40-45 pull-ups per set and 4-8 sets per day. |
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Do more.
What I did when we first bought the house about 8 years ago was to put a doorway bar on the door to my den. Every time I walked under it I would do about 1/2 to 3/4 of my max. It worked out to be a lot of pullups over the course of the day. I went from a 5 max to a 10 max pretty fast. Once I could do 10 with good form then incorporating them into workouts was easier. At one point I could do 20 with good form, but I didn't weigh that much. |