How do perform more pullups?
Question:
to get past this- I followed Pavels advice in just doing what is easy for a couple of weeks and then trying an extra one - but I find
the 11th pullup generally really difficult=should I go back to 10 ? for a few weeks?
I aiming for 18 in a years time so i can join the russian secret service ;)
Answers:
That is normally the proper way to increase your output, but remember your using many different muscles in that pullup so you need to do other excercises also to increase output, Try also doing situps and pushups. Start off with about 10 each twice a day!
So 18 pullups is all it takes to join the Russian Secret Service? In Marine Corps boot camp I did 72 deadlift pullups in 4 minutes, now Im almost 56 yrs old and can still do 40 or more. I guess Id be the Comrade General in charge of the Russian SS by now!
do a lot of push ups
i would go back to 10 for a few weeks, and work out my back and shoulders, and arms at the gym.
do some strength training. There are alot of different muscles involoved in pull ups and it's important to work out all of them. go to the gym, or get some weights and start trying to increase you over all strength and endurance.
Keeping up your pullup regement would also help alot, just keep pushing yourself.
If you have a pull up bar set up, you can rig up a SMALL teat-er-totter at the ground of the bar. Counter weight the far end, ten pounds at a time. You might start with 30 or 40 at the beginning. Now you can do four times the amounts of pull ups, strengthening and training all the involved muscles. Slowly, remove 10 pounds at a time until you have no weights left and eventually removing the teat-er board. When your done, you'll be doing 44 pull ups every time! It works!
Do the flexed arm hang- Pull up to the bar and stay up for as long as you can with your chin over the bar.
are you talking about deadlifts or pullups?
either way, two great ways to break the barrier is to do another exercise that helps build the weaker muscles.
for example, in a pullup, your major muscle is of course the lat. but you also use your forearms, biceps, abs, shoulders, etc etc. often times, if you pay attention, you'll notice that a certain part of your body burns and prevents you from doing that next pullup. in my case it used to be the forearm. for my friend it was his shoulders. usually the lactic acid buildup prevents you from more muscle movement. so it's good to build the stamina in those weaker muscles whether it's dumbell shoulder exercises or forearm curls. do high reps (15-20), 4-6 sets to help build stamina and prevent it from dying out on you when you're pushing yourself.
the other method is to have a spotter. a spotter can help you break that barrier. sure they're helping you now but they can force your muscles to endure that extra rep and whatever mental block you might have. after awhile, you'll find you can do that extra rep on your own.
also, make sure to rest your body enough. it takes 48 hours for a large muscle group to recover from a hard workout. so if you do your back one day and the chest the next, since you work them all together, the antagonistic muscle still gets worked out. unlike professional body builders, you haven;t built your body up to handle that kind of punishment. so give your body time to rest up.
finally, don't neglect your diet. make sure you're eating well. plenty of carbs, plenty of protein.
good luck!
There is a couple of things you can do. I have increase from 1 to 16 in a month. I used a chair to help me. I did 8 sets of pull ups 2 times a week. I did two sets of each of the following to get up to 8. I mixed it up too. Wide pull ups, close hand pull ups, chin ups, pull up / chin up (Two pull ups and two chin ups), Corn cob pull ups (Wide pull up and place head left then right and then in out in one long motion), towel pull ups (towel around one end of the bar and then pulling up switch every three.) . I also worked on my bis and tris which helped to give me more strength. Also losing weight helps.
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