Pull Up Form

Hi guy I just want to ask you a quick question on form. What would you consider important things to keep in mind when doing strict pull ups with perfect form??

I tend to keep my elbows pointing sideways at the bottom dead hang position, while at the top position of a pull up I let my elbows point forwards. Is this good form??

Don't overanalyze pull-ups. As long as you use full range of motion (straight arm hang to sternum) and don't look like you're having a seizure, you'll be fine. There are nuances to every exercise, but with a basic exercise like this, they are only worth worrying about if you're being held up from progressing.

Cory Fair said:

Don't overanalyze pull-ups. As long as you use full range of motion (straight arm hang to sternum) and don't look like you're having a seizure, you'll be fine. There are nuances to every exercise, but with a basic exercise like this, they are only worth worrying about if you're being held up from progressing.

Sternum!? You meant neck right? The book shows neck. Sternum is pretty hard for an exercise progression right after jumping pullups. Well...chin ups are listed after jumping pull ups but do you get what I mean? It seems kind of unrealistic, especially in terms of the WOD like bent arm pulling days that entail, say, 10 pullups in 4 rounds. That's ridiculously difficult if we're talking about sternum.

Shakyamuni said:

Sternum!? You meant neck right? The book shows neck. Sternum is pretty hard for an exercise progression right after jumping pullups. Well...chin ups are listed after jumping pull ups but do you get what I mean? It seems kind of unrealistic, especially in terms of the WOD like bent arm pulling days that entail, say, 10 pullups in 4 rounds. That's ridiculously difficult if we're talking about sternum.

What's important is that you try for that range of motion. It will come naturally over time if you do. Again, don't over think it. Give the best that you are capable each workout and progress will sneak up on you before you know it.

Shakyamuni said:

Sternum!? You meant neck right? The book shows neck. Sternum is pretty hard for an exercise progression right after jumping pullups. Well...chin ups are listed after jumping pull ups but do you get what I mean? It seems kind of unrealistic, especially in terms of the WOD like bent arm pulling days that entail, say, 10 pullups in 4 rounds. That's ridiculously difficult if we're talking about sternum.

Sternum is the goal, it'll help you do muscle ups, too. I had to restart my pull ups with doing negatives starting from the sternum and rebuilt it back from there. Get a nice static hold at the top before descending and everything will fall into place.

One thing I try to stress to people at the gym that I see doing basic things like pullups is that they try to at least change it up somewhat either by using a different pull (wide grip, chin, neutral, etc.) (tip of hat to Slizzardman) or slightly modify form to avoid any type of potential repetitive stress issues.

May I add I question?

I've just started Slizzardman's routine in hope to increase my pull-up numbers and strength. I'm trying to reach 4 reps each set but I fail after 6 sets or something and then I fail to do 3 reps after like 8 sets. I'm just doing the reps with bar under the chin if you know what I mean? Is that the best I can do at the moment or should I try to do full ROM as I can't at the moment, I can just pull to chest if I'm fresh and maybe just like 1 or 2 reps on normal pull-ups.

What would you recommend me to do at the moment, I can do like 11 reps of good pull-ups but only chin above bar.

Cappe said:

May I add I question?

I've just started Slizzardman's routine in hope to increase my pull-up numbers and strength. I'm trying to reach 4 reps each set but I fail after 6 sets or something and then I fail to do 3 reps after like 8 sets. I'm just doing the reps with bar under the chin if you know what I mean? Is that the best I can do at the moment or should I try to do full ROM as I can't at the moment, I can just pull to chest if I'm fresh and maybe just like 1 or 2 reps on normal pull-ups.

What would you recommend me to do at the moment, I can do like 11 reps of good pull-ups but only chin above bar.

When you see a drop like that, your intensity is too high for the target volume. Do less reps with full ROM, but add more time under tension for the negative portion. It's the quality of the experience that matters most.

What do you mean with big drop? It's like this, 4,4,4,4,4,4,3,3,2,2 not a very big drop but I got an idea? Maybe I should try to aim for 3 reps all sets higher reps and try to do a static hold at stenrum height or something to get more strength in the position because i can barelely hold for 1 sec there I think :/

Cappe said:

What do you mean with big drop? It's like this, 4,4,4,4,4,4,3,3,2,2 not a very big drop but I got an idea? Maybe I should try to aim for 3 reps all sets higher reps and try to do a static hold at stenrum height or something to get more strength in the position because i can barelely hold for 1 sec there I think :/

Doing half of the prescribed reps is a huge drop in performance. If your intensity is correct, you should be able to do 4 reps across the board with maybe an occasional missed rep. Once you start losing reps for more than a single set, it means you're done or doing the wrong amount of reps altogether.

Start with 2 reps and try to pull from the dead hang all the way up to sternum. Don't stress about getting it perfect so long as you give your best full ROM. Aim for 10 seconds on the negative. It's important that you attempt to distribute the time evenly in the range of motion: aim to go just as slowly in the weak portion (sternum) as the strong portion. It gives no benefit to rush through the weak portion and then spend extra time where you're already strong!

If you can do this correctly for all 10 sets with 2 reps, then you can bump up to 3. Again, don't stress on having perfect ROM before moving on, just getting your best current while attempting full ROM.

Well I can't do a single rep to the stenrum, what now? :/ I'm not sure if I can hold myself in that position even if I do a negative and jump up there or step up on a chair and try to hold at top. Don't think I can do that Is it worth working on in or should I just try to do 10 x 2 or 3 reps slightly higher than before?

Cappe said:

Well I can't do a single rep to the stenrum, what now? :/ I'm not sure if I can hold myself in that position even if I do a negative and jump up there or step up on a chair and try to hold at top. Don't think I can do that Is it worth working on in or should I just try to do 10 x 2 or 3 reps slightly higher than before?

As stated further above, simply do the best you can towards that ROM. I'll edit the last post to be more clear.

Cappe said:

May I add I question?

I've just started Slizzardman's routine in hope to increase my pull-up numbers and strength. I'm trying to reach 4 reps each set but I fail after 6 sets or something and then I fail to do 3 reps after like 8 sets. I'm just doing the reps with bar under the chin if you know what I mean? Is that the best I can do at the moment or should I try to do full ROM as I can't at the moment, I can just pull to chest if I'm fresh and maybe just like 1 or 2 reps on normal pull-ups.

What would you recommend me to do at the moment, I can do like 11 reps of good pull-ups but only chin above bar.

I have several suggestions.

1) Make sure you eat plenty of carbs, and get them regularly for at least 24 hours before the workout. By regularly, I mean every 2-3 hours in 40-80g doses, depending on how quickly they digest and how big you are. Find out what feels right. If you don't have the carbs, you won't be able to perform well with high volume anaerobic work.

2) When you are unable to hit 3 reps, end the workout. There's nothing wrong with dripping off the way you are, really, but because what you are doing is very strength-oriented right now you'll probably get better results if you stick with 6-8 sets. If you were dropping from 10 reps to 7 reps with 6 on the 10th set I wouldn't tell you to drop the last 2 sets, but with where you are right now I think that either dropping to 3 reps after the 5th set and resting longer when you get to the last 2 sets OR dropping the last 2 sets. However, if you feel like you're making progress then keep on going.

3) Make SURE you're eating a lot after each workout. I mean immediately after, and having high GI carbs + 30g whey protein (or other protein powder, if you can't use whey for some reason). If no powder, well-chewed chicken breast is pretty much just as good. Also make sure that for every 60g of protein + carbs you drink 32 oz of water. It seems like a lot, and you'll probably pee 2-3 times in 2-3 hours if you're like me and consuming a huge amount of food in a short timespan, but you'll be surprised at how quickly everything gets absorbed when you do this. PWO is the time to make fast absorption happen.

4) Start off at least the first 2-3 sets with a static hold where your chest is 1-2" away from the bar if you're doing arched pull ups, or directly against the bar if you're doing hollow pull ups. Hold for 2-3 seconds and then do your reps. When you can't get a decent hold, don't bother with it anymore and just do the rest of the sets without the hold. During your hold, you may need either a band assist or assistance from your foot. Use band(s) or a chair to make this happen until you feel like you don't need it anymore. This will come with time.

5) Do not do slow eccentrics for all 10 of your sets. I think these are best done every other workout (because you really need to have workouts where you are moving at a normal tempo as well,)and only for the first (or last, whatever feels best for you) 2-3 sets.

Thanks a lot Joshua Naterman!

1. I try to eat very much but I don't wanna go up in the middle of the night to eat, or do you mean just during the day haha? I usually take a fruit and sandwich as a snack when I'm home.

2. Hmm... Maybe I should keep doing 10 sets but try do 3 reps all sets but a bit higher reps. I have just done this for 2 weeks so it's hard to measure any progress at all.

3. I don't use protein powder but I try to eat high protein food and much, but I don't consume very much as I'm only 177cm, 62 kg, around 7%bf and 15 years old.

4. Ok so the first 2-3 sets I do a static hold before the other 3 reps at chest height and I stand on something to get up there and if I can't hold I'll try with assistance band.

5. Ok so slow reps on the 3 first sets every other workout? How slow, like 10 sec negative and normal speed up? And can I combine this with the first 3 sets where I do a static hold at top before the slow reps?

EDIT:

An example of what I just did:

Pullups with 3 sec hold at chest height and 4 reps

30s rest between all sets

Closegrip pull-ups with 3s hold, 3 reps

Chinups with 3 s hold, 3 reps

Ring pull-ups, 3 reps

Wide grip pull-ups 3 reps

And the rest was 3 reps without last set that was only 2 reps and most of the sets was last good rep I could manage to do.

What should I've done instead of this?

That sounds pretty good I think. Next step is to complete that last set with 3 reps!

After that, when the workout seems a little easy, add a 4th rep to your second set, and then the third, and so on. Don't add to another set until you complete all your later sets with 3 sets.

Perfect!

And I will try to pull higher on each rep now, at least on the first sets and reps. Also, I went to failure on 3 sets I think (close grip pullups, ring pullups and wide), is that alright?

Anyway, if you remember you told me to sort of bulk up a bit, or eat more some weeks ago. I don't think I've gained any fat and I hope I don't but during the first week of measuring weight in the morning before breakfast my average weight was 60.8 kg's, now about one month later when I took a average weight the result was 61.5 kg's. Quite good in one month I think, and I think most of it is muscles but as I've still growing it might be because of that, who knows

As long as you are getting stronger and looking as lean as ever you're pretty safe assuming it's almost all muscle gain. Especially if you aren't getting taller at the moment.

Cool!

I wish I could see how tall I was, don't have anything exact to measure with...