Get Good at Pullups, Part I

by Dan Donche, July 23 2007. I used to hate pullups. On some days I still do. But the fact is, most people hate the things they just aren't good at. Neglecting pullups is a cardinal sin. We believe there is no better back exercise than the basic pullup. We also believe every person in the world should be able to perform a minimum of 15 of the things in one go. With our help though, you'll be doing 25-30 in no time. Therefore, in order to help you achieve this, we offer you these tips that will help you get better acquainted with one of the four core bodyweight exercise that maked up what we call The Four Horsemen. The First Rule of Pullups: Don't use a spotter. Instead, do as many as you can--even if it's only one--and then get off the bar. Take a break, then do another set. Do this until your set is complete. Even if your goal is to perform 20 pullups and you can only do them one at a time, do it. 20 sets of 1 is better than 2 sets of 10 assisted pullups. The Second Rule of Pullups: Utilize the negative. This is something you can do in lieu of a spotter. If you don't have a spotter, use a chair or something to get to the top position. Use negatives in the event that you absolutely CANNOT complete any more pullups, not a single one. The Third Rule of Pullups: Volume is the answer. You need to dive in and smoke yourself. Even if you've never done pullups before, don't say to yourself "okay, today I'm going to do 5 pullups." You need to say to yourself, "today it's going to be 50 pullups by the end of the hour." Then do just that--50 pullups. Remember it's okay to do 50 sets of one. You can do this. Many people can do this and they just don't know it. Then before you know it you can do 25 sets of two. And so forth. Pretty soon you'll stop hating them so much, because you'll see vast improvements in your ability to do them. Another thing you can do is do them throughout the day. Like make it a rule that whenever you go downstairs, you have to do 5 pullups. Anything like that works to your benefit. The Fourth Rule of Pullups: Quality > Quantity Use good form. Go all the way up--chin past the bar--and go all the way down. Don't jerk or bounce or jump to get up. The Fifth Rule of Pullups: The grip doesn't matter. Use whatever is strongest for you be it underhand, overhand, whatever. Switch off occasionally to change it up. The Sixth Rule of Pullups: Weighted pullups are good too. By using weights you are increasing the load and therefore, stressing your muscles even more. It stands to reason that if you can do 10 pullups with 45 pounds, you are in a position to easier perform 10 pullups with only your bodyweight. The Seventh Rule of Pullups: Increase the intensity to maximize your workout. Get more out of your training by adding plyometrics to your pullups. Either do plyo pullups--add a release at the top and catch the bar on the way down--or add a squat jump from the bottom to raise escalate your heart rate to fantastic levels. This will help you burn more calories and lower your body fat percentage while also recruiting more muscles into the action.