Need advice, I'm not making significant gains with chin-ups / pull-ups

[marmel75]

Lift more weight. If you want to get stronger and/or bigger you have to lift more weight. Try doing BW+40lbs for 1 rep or BW+50 lbs for a half rep and then hang there as long as you can.

Lifting the same weight over and over will get you stronger initially but you need to give your body a reason to get stronger and ass more muscle...it doesnt want to do it...it takes energy that it doesn't want to expend and then it takes ongoing calories to maintain it that it would rather store as fat. Adding 5 lbs isn't giving it a reason.

I used to do BW+ 90lbs for multiple sets/reps and pullups was not one of my stronger exercises. If you want to get strong start lifting heavier weight.

 

[Bible_Belt]

When I was a kid in jr high school PE, we had a pullup competition every year. The same kid always won. He wasn't the strongest kid; he was almost the smallest, no visible muscles at all. Pullups are just easier for lighter-weight people. Any expectation of the number of reps you should be able to do should be tied to your body weight. Pull up champions would look like the contestants on American Ninja, lean and toned, but never bulky. If you want muscles and bulk, which most guys do, then you are not going to have amazing pull up rep counts.

 

[mellow_yellow]

@Espi Ah, I remember reading that thread of yours when scrolling through the vault years ago. @EyeBRollin said the same thing about focusing on the back in the workout routine thread I posted in this forum. He recommends 2 pulls (back development) for every push exercise like bench press.

what's your squat and deadlift like?

squats. 235 lb. x 3 sets x 3 reps
deadlifts. 255 lb. x 1 set x 5 reps

Here's a method of increasing rep count (it's primarily an endurance method but worked well with pullups for me at lower reps). This is a method from Lyle Mcdonald.

I recomend you focus on bodyweight pullups until you're around 3x15 reps at bodyweight. My weighted pullups didn't budge until I got decent numbers with bodyweight. Before starting this I recommend test your max pullups, unweighted 1 set and then stop pullups for 1 week. After 1 week off pullups:

1. Take your max rep count
2. Take 60% of that
3. Perform sets of that many reps
4. Rest 1-2 minutes, perform next set
5. When you start to grind, stop, avoid failure
6. Perform this 2x/week
7. Retest for max after approx 6 sessions

Fleshed out:

Let's say I can perform 13 pullups max. 13 x 0.6 = 7.8 (8). I warm up and then perform sets of 8 reps resting for 1-2min in between. When I start to grind, no more pullups.

It sounds unnecessarily complex but really the concept is very simple: Get more volume by avoiding excessive exertion. You'll be surprised, first workout you may get 3-4 sets of your 60%, by your 6th session you'll be around 8 sets.

So weighted vs. BW

1. 3 sets of 4 (12 total reps)
2. Average 6 sets of 6 (36 total reps)

Also remember that pullups are subject to fluctuating BW. A difference of 5lb give or take due to BW will make a huge difference if you don't have a solid base to work from. I prefer neutral grip or ring pullups.

This is really interesting. It's like deloading from your body weight (even though you really can't deload from BW) and progressing again.

 

[switch7]

@Espi Ah, I remember reading that thread of yours when scrolling through the vault years ago. @EyeBRollin said the same thing about focusing on the back in the workout routine thread I posted in this forum. He recommends 2 pulls (back development) for every push exercise like bench press.


squats. 235 lb. x 3 sets x 3 reps
deadlifts. 255 lb. x 1 set x 5 reps

You need to lift heavier in all aspects of your lifting, I wouldn't worry about pull ups. Get your dead lift and your squat higher and the rest will follow.

 

[Ranger]

There is one way that I know of. Weight yourself with extra weight until you can do just five pull-ups. This is your max.
This is called, MSP (maximum sustained power)

One set is 5 reps. Rest 20 seconds. 3 reps. Rest 20 seconds. 2 reps. Rest 20 seconds. 2 reps. Rest 20 seconds. 2 reps. Rest 20 seconds. 1 rep. Rest 20 seconds.
5,3,2,2,2,1 this is one set. Recover. Do two more sets for a total of three sets. DO NOT LOWER YOUR WEIGHT BETWEEN SETS. Get someone to assist you up if you need it.
To read about the MSP mechanics online. It is designed for explosive power for athletes.
I do MSP deadlift sets once a week. Three of these sets at 260 lbs is a no joke grueling workout. It’s a serious gut check. You are going to have to suffer some intensity. Most give up after a week or two and go back to candy a$$ town.

 

[jason1122]

You give the body 48 long periods of rest before doing comparative opposition activities or weight preparing, so the body has sufficient energy to recoup and develop more grounded, that is the reason numerous exercise schedules offer abdominal area practices on Monday Wednesday Friday and lower body works out...








Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans