i've been training for just coming up to a year and i've hit a plateau in my pull-ups. i can do one unassisted pull up and around 7 reps for 7kg assisted (15lbs). i can't seem to hit anything more than that. i've been training lat pulldowns, lat raises, cable rows as well which are progressing but the pull up just isnt. my dips are still progressing. i will now mention that i'm a 58kg (127lb) 167cm woman but only because it can inform you that i therefore do not have equivalent male upper body strength and i dont train chest very much.
i do want to progress my pullups however because i really like the exercise and its frustrating that i cant, so i would appreciate any advice.
>inb4 ywnbaw/post body/soles whatever else
 It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
 |
It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
gtg
Can you do one unassisted pullup? If so you just need to stop with the assisted altogether and do many sets of as many as you can. If you can't do a pullup, try a chinup instead until you can.
can do one unassisted, is hard though. i can do like 3-4 chin ups.
yeah fair enough. just been plateaued around those numbers for about 2 months. men make pull-ups look very easy. i don't want to be a machine or equivalent to male ability in pull-ups but i'd like to be at the point where my sets are fully unassisted, even if it's only 3-5 reps.
Here's my advice then, do 4 sets, all as many reps as possible. First set pullups, next set chinups, next set pullups, next set chinups. You will add numbers this way, workouts should be hard. Maybe you can do 0 chinups last set? Good.
will give it a go, thanks!
forgot to inb4 this one, gg
> can do one unassisted, is hard though. i can do like 3-4 chin ups.
Keep adding sets every time you're not feeling sore
3x3 then next time 4x3 then 5x3, keep adding sets until it starts to feel easy. Now you should try, when recovered, to do as many reps as possible, maybe you get 5. Great now you'll do more 2 more sets with as many as you can for each of those. So let's say now you can do 5, 3, 3.
I want you to everytime you get in to try to up the rep of one of those sets so 5, 4, 3 and so on until you can do three sets of solid 5 reps.
As with everything in life, just do it more
Grease the groove
please be in london
I can do 1h pull-ups or 25 in a row strict form. My advice is just do them every day, you WILL progress over time. Do them as often as possible, multiple times in the same fay if you can. Second advice is don't use machine - i knew guys who could do 120kg on the pulldown machine but couldn't do a single pullup, the strength doesn't translate. Just use a band for assistance until you can do a couple unassisted with strict form then do them again and again as often as possible. Finally, stay lean every gram of fat on your body will increase difficulty. Gl
i enjoy using machines & obviously they affect aesthetic muscles but can see how the strength won't translate. guess it's just keeping at it, thanks! i'd like to drop the assist but is it worth just doing 1 rep per set if that's all i can do? i have a pull up bar at home so it's possible to practice every day.
>is it worth just doing 1 rep per set if that's all i can do?
hard to tell tbh, id say if you can do 1 strict (no knee drive + from deadhang) you can probably do 3+ dirty, but still - i'd argue you can train by starting at the complete top of a rep - use a stool or somthing and then go down slowly. And then get a band for the way up to help at 1st. Just don't cheese on form or it wont help long term, enjoy the stretch and learn the movement, how to place your shoulders, pulling them back ect.
get one of those doorway pullup bars and put it in a door you can keep open but pass by often. every time you go by the door. do your 1 unassisted pullup. do it every day, spaced out throughout the day. you'll notice that one pullup we become very easy, so start doing 2. continue to progress from there.
i have one so i'll give this a go, thank you
its the top where i fail, i'm ok at the bottom. i do close grip as well which i think (?) is easier than wide grip. i've always thought bouldering/climbing looks fun so i'll consider that. i'm content with not being as strong/able as men, but i enjoy the exercise a lot and would get a lot of satisfaction out of being able to progress in the same way as i see in other areas with barbell lifts etc. thank you, anon, appreciate it
thanks everyone, genuinely helpful advice. we can let this thread die now
The best way to get good at pullups is doing pullups. If you have an assisted pullup machine lat pulldowns are pretty pointless because they're basically just a pullup with less things engaged and easier to cheat. I'd drop them entirely. To break through your plateau maybe take a deload week so you can go back to pullups with less fatigue.
Which part of the pullup do you usually fail on? Most people are weak near the bottom (engaging scapulas) or near the top. This is why normie pullup form doesn't go low or high enough. You can try specifically training these parts of the pullup if you want. Or vary your grip up a bit to balance yourself out. Likely nothing is going to be the magic fix though.
Bouldering is also a pretty good/fun way to improve at pullups. I can do muscleups and 5 reps of +15kg pullups and I only boulder and don't train pullups.
Finally pullups are just a lot harder for women. I think a woman doing a pullup is equivalent difficulty to a man doing a muscle up. Stick at it and don't get discouraged comparing yourself to men!
>i've been training for just coming up to a year and i've hit a plateau in my pull-ups. i can do one unassisted pull up and around 7 reps for 7kg assisted (15lbs). i can't seem to hit anything more than that
Have you tried doing 2 unassisted pull ups?
>i can do one unassisted pull up
4xfailure unitl you can reach 12 in one set, then start adding weight. So in your case it's going to be 4x1, give yourself even 2-3 minutes of rest between them, kip if you have to. If you can do even one, the worst is over.
t. I'm at 13 11 10 9 without weight and 10 8 7 6 with 10 kg, my body weight is 82 kg. My starting point was 3 2 2 1.
Extra slow reps. You will feel it in your lats a lot more and failure will feel much closer even in the middle reps but you learn to go through that. I think the biggest issue with pullups is you always think you're at failure before your muscles are compared to everything else.
Do as many normal pullups as you can, even if it's only one. Then fill out the rest of the set with negatives.
do your max, then start doing negatives
58kg is way too much for your height frame.
you need to get down to at least 52kg, which will drastically improve your pullups as well.
also, assisted pullup machine is garbage. use a resistance band.
Russian fighter pull-up program. Got from 8 to 13 reps in under a month