How to increase the strength for doing more pull ups?

[roger2_you]

I have a well balanced body weight, as i am going to gym from last 6 months but still struggling to get more than 5 pull-ups.Can any one suggest some tips to improve the strength for doing more pull ups?

[alphakingxyz]

switch between low and high rep weights on the lat pulldown machine or find a pull-up assist machine. you could also find someone to spot you on the last few reps on a pull-up bar by having them hold your feet

[Bonnie]

How many times per week are you doing them ? I do pull ups 2 x per week & chin ups on the alternate day.First thing you need to do is tell yourself you CAN do one more & then DO IT, week by week they should increase.I was stuck at 5 for the longest time I now do sets of 8/7/6 roughly.

[Fygle]

These take a long time to improve, just keep doing them.

[roger2_you]

I thought shoulders are not build up and biceps are week to carry the weight of the body, but it seems that problems with pull ups are faced by many.
Thanks for the suggestions, I will try to improve by doing much harder and taking some support for pull ups from others.

[Razor]

Other body weight exercises such as push ups and inverted body weight rows are both great as they will strengthen your chest and lats respectively which are the big muscle groups used in pull-ups. The benefit of these is that you can most likely do a lot more of these exercises than you can pull-ups and that will ultimately help you a lot with your pull-up count.

[gatorman7980]

I was doing 3 sets to max 2 x week, and getting little improvement with pull-ups. Was stuck doing about 7-6-5 each time. Then I tried P90X, and one thing I quickly loved was the emphasis on the pull up bar. Instead of only doing 3 sets twice per week, I was suddenly doing about six or seven sets of pull ups in one day, ranging from wide grip to chin ups, etc. I quickly realized gains, and now can easily bust out 3 sets of 10.

Not here to debate the quality of P90X (though I love it). Just reporting on what helped bump me from a plateau to a new level.

[BillyG]

how i learned?
I used to rep close grip all day, but couldnt do 1 fucking wide grip pull up

so i tried and tried every back day.., I got to 8

then put on 20lbs db.. back to 1, then got to 8.. then
put on 30, etc.. and that was at 170lbs,

now at 205, I can rep out 4 sets of 10..

Train your muscle to lift hard, and become stronger.. you will get what you want and what you train for.

[T.P.W.]

A method I did for a while was essentially a 30 second chin up, perhaps you can apply this method for improving your pull up?

Grab yourself a DB (10kg for example)
Postion yourself under the pegs and put the DB between your knees (or ankles if you can comfortably hold it there)
You then jump up and grab the pegs and then lower yourself over 30 seconds (if you're a bit on the short side like me then grab a box to jump from )

You only do the decline of 1 pull up (so a pull down I guess is a more accurate description!), but over the weeks you increase the weight. After 6 weeks you should see an improvement. It's good to super set it with another lat exercise.

Good luck!

[TockyB]

There's a technique called 'greasing the groove' where you, for example, carry out a few reps of pull-ups every time you happen to walk past your pull-up bar and do this through-out the whole day. According to Pavel Tsatsouline, "repetitive and reasonably intense stimulation strengthens the nerve impulse to the muscles involved, making them stronger and more enduring". So the idea is that you carry out a high volume of reps without being fatigued, as the reps have been spread out through-out the day.

Here's an article about it:
http://trainingdimensions.net/SOS/SOS%2 ... rength.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Boss Man]

Well maybe Pavel Tsatsouline has access ot a pull-up bar when he wants it, but for those people that own them, (I'm not one such person), who have real lives, a Pull-up bar isn't generally available throughout the day when they'd like it to be.

Not unless a lot of workplaces would pay to have pull-up bars installed .

[TockyB]

Well maybe Pavel Tsatsouline has access ot a pull-up bar when he wants it, but for those people that own them, (I'm not one such person), who have real lives, a Pull-up bar isn't generally available throughout the day when they'd like it to be.

Not unless a lot of workplaces would pay to have pull-up bars installed .

Ha yeh I get your point, I guess that method is for those who have a bar installed at home .

[aplagens]

the best way is to do multiple sets of what you can do.

For example, you fail at 4 pullups. So, multiple sets of 3 pullups.
Combine your pullups with another exercise to maximize the training.
As you fatigue vary the grip. Add a rep to each set each week.
so the following week you would perfrom sets of 4 reps.
heres a sampe workout:

Squats superset with pullups
10 reps 3 reps
8 reps 3 reps
5 reps 3 reps
5 reps 3 reps
5 reps 3 reps
5 reps 3 reps
5 reps 3 reps

so instrad of fialing at sets of 4 and mabe doing a total of 12 reps, you perform multiple sub max sets equalling a total of 21 reps.

[GlennReepmeyer]

pull ups are always hard to master. You should work on them twice a week. You have to do this for a long time though. You should do Lat. pull downs as well. When you do the latl. pull downs try not to put so much weight that you are barely pulling it down. Instead focus on your form when doiung the lat. pull downs. After awhile when you actually build the lat. muscle you will be able to focus on it and almost "pop it out" and pull the weight down. Its hard to explain if you havent experimented with it.

[Boss Man]

Also, remember to do Pull-ups infront of the face. I myself and indeed others I've seen in the past, preferred a behind the Neck variation, but I now frown on it, as it could lead to possible Scapulae, Cervical Vertebrae and Rotator Cuff problems.

If you did the technique right, you would pull-up and look a bit like Jesus on the cross, but you shouldn't do them that way .