What's a pull-up rep, even?
February 4, 2009 2:15 PM Subscribe
Could a person do 100 pull-ups?
I did 100 push-ups in my office lunch hour today! After, I went to back-to-back meetings and I was pumped and motivated the whole day. Seriously, it's so wonderful to go over-the-top like that.
Actually before I started 100 Push-Ups dot com or whatever, I read this article about how pull-ups were a better whole-body exercise than push-ups. I did start the 100 push-ups thing in the end. I didn't think I'd stick to it but I am proud I did.
I am thinking about starting to practice doing pull-ups. The last time I did one I put my hands on the bars and couldn't even move two inches. I had been smoking at that time, and so I realize I was not healthy in a myriad of ways.
I think I can go the course on this but I would happy the first session just to do one and try another.
Can anyone think of a really good regimen to do that I can build up over time (what do you think), two months?
Thanks in advance!
I did 100 push-ups in my office lunch hour today! After, I went to back-to-back meetings and I was pumped and motivated the whole day. Seriously, it's so wonderful to go over-the-top like that.
Actually before I started 100 Push-Ups dot com or whatever, I read this article about how pull-ups were a better whole-body exercise than push-ups. I did start the 100 push-ups thing in the end. I didn't think I'd stick to it but I am proud I did.
I am thinking about starting to practice doing pull-ups. The last time I did one I put my hands on the bars and couldn't even move two inches. I had been smoking at that time, and so I realize I was not healthy in a myriad of ways.
I think I can go the course on this but I would happy the first session just to do one and try another.
Can anyone think of a really good regimen to do that I can build up over time (what do you think), two months?
Thanks in advance!
World Record for Chin-ups & Pull-ups suggests that it's certainly possible.
(I like how it splits into in 1-, 3-, 30-, hour- ... intervals)
When I first started, I moved up from 3 or 4 up to about a dozen pretty quickly, then plateaued for a long time. Non-pull-up exercises that work the shoulders and back should help with pull-ups.
posted by porpoise at 2:24 PM on February 4, 2009
(I like how it splits into in 1-, 3-, 30-, hour- ... intervals)
When I first started, I moved up from 3 or 4 up to about a dozen pretty quickly, then plateaued for a long time. Non-pull-up exercises that work the shoulders and back should help with pull-ups.
posted by porpoise at 2:24 PM on February 4, 2009
It's entirely possible. In fact, it's a part of the Crossfit 'Angie' workout along with 100 pushups, squats, and situps.
If you can't do any pull ups yet, then you need to spend some time doing lat pull downs until you build up to your body weight.
posted by jedicus at 2:25 PM on February 4, 2009
If you can't do any pull ups yet, then you need to spend some time doing lat pull downs until you build up to your body weight.
posted by jedicus at 2:25 PM on February 4, 2009
Response by poster: Jedicus, I am actually building down. I got really big last year, going from 190-230 in three months although I worked to not show it by wearing a lot of sweaters and hiding my size 40 blazer. I am eating a low- carb diet and have gotten to 210 since November. Do you think I could do pull-ups for toning or would I have to build up?
posted by parmanparman at 2:34 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by parmanparman at 2:34 PM on February 4, 2009
If you want the pullups to count, hang down all the way until your elbows lock out. If you want to do something impressive that wont take until 100 reps, doing even 1 one-armed pullup/chinup or 1 muscle-up would put you in the mightily strong category.
posted by GleepGlop at 2:36 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by GleepGlop at 2:36 PM on February 4, 2009
100 pullups is a lot more work than 100 pushups. A lot more work.
posted by zpousman at 2:54 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by zpousman at 2:54 PM on February 4, 2009
I like this quick routine:
1 pullup
2 pushups
3 squats
as many rounds I can do in 10 min.
I've noticed that, while I could do about 3 pullups (strict dead-hang, all in a row) before I started doing this every couple of days, now I can do about 15. Plus, I'm getting more rounds in and not feeling like I'm going to die after 10 min. That's one month worth of progress.
Soon (maybe today? maybe not.) I'm going to up it to 20 min. After that gets easier, I'm going to start raising the reps to 2/4/6, 3/6/9, etc.
5/10/15 for 20 minutes is CrossFit's "Cindy" workout. I'll be more than satisfied when I can do that without dropping dead. Or, maybe I won't.
From the crossfit site regarding can't do a pullup:
posted by ctmf at 2:54 PM on February 4, 2009 [4 favorites]
1 pullup
2 pushups
3 squats
as many rounds I can do in 10 min.
I've noticed that, while I could do about 3 pullups (strict dead-hang, all in a row) before I started doing this every couple of days, now I can do about 15. Plus, I'm getting more rounds in and not feeling like I'm going to die after 10 min. That's one month worth of progress.
Soon (maybe today? maybe not.) I'm going to up it to 20 min. After that gets easier, I'm going to start raising the reps to 2/4/6, 3/6/9, etc.
5/10/15 for 20 minutes is CrossFit's "Cindy" workout. I'll be more than satisfied when I can do that without dropping dead. Or, maybe I won't.
From the crossfit site regarding can't do a pullup:
Assisted Pullups: use a Gravitron machine (if you're lucky enough to have access to one), or, even better, a human spotter to give you a lift. Bend your legs at the knees so that the tops of your feet are facing down, have the spotter support you there to provide some lift.Sorry to be such a crossfit fanboy, but, well... I have no excuse. It's working for me, that's all I know.
Assisted pullups 2: Get a large elastic band (surgical tubing works great), loop over the bar, step in it to provide some lift
Reduced load pullups: Suspend a bar (maybe an Olympic bar for weights?) at a height less than overhead . . . maybe about chest high . . . get underneath it with you legs in front and body straight . . . do "pullups" with your legs still on the ground, supporting part of your weight . .
All of these have the advantage that they are neurologically more valuable than the fairly un-natural motion of locking your knees under a pad and moving just your arms . . . in all of these, your arms are going to be drawing your whole body up . . . you will progress toward "full" pullups faster.
But yes, you can do pull-downs, and doing those are infinitely better than skipping this workout.
posted by ctmf at 2:54 PM on February 4, 2009 [4 favorites]
Ok...so...there is no such thing as "toning." Your muscles either grow or shrink. You lose or gain fat.
Also, there is no reason you can't do pull-ups while on a cutting diet. Just keep your protein intake up.
Even if you did pull-ups for an hour vigorously you'd probably only burn like 600 calories so make sure you keep up on your cardio.
You should be able to do a pull-up now since you can do 100 push-ups. Ctmf's crossfit advice is good.
posted by zephyr_words at 3:04 PM on February 4, 2009
Also, there is no reason you can't do pull-ups while on a cutting diet. Just keep your protein intake up.
Even if you did pull-ups for an hour vigorously you'd probably only burn like 600 calories so make sure you keep up on your cardio.
You should be able to do a pull-up now since you can do 100 push-ups. Ctmf's crossfit advice is good.
posted by zephyr_words at 3:04 PM on February 4, 2009
I spent all last year working towards my goal of doing 10 pull-ups. You can read my self-congratulatory post about it here. (That pic is old, BTW - I'm bigger now, but the same weight.)
Judging by the responses by guys who are already generally fit, I'd say that 100 pull-ups is somewhat unlikely.
That said, the key to increasing the number of pull-ups you can do is (for me, at least) weighted pull-ups. Once you can do 6 or 7 pull-ups, put 10 or 15 pounds in a backpack, put the pack on backwards (so the weight is on your chest), and keep doing as many as you can. Add more weight as you get stronger.
I've progressed to 12 pull-ups without weights, and 5 with 20 lbs. added. Current goal is 3 sets of 10 without weights.
posted by coolguymichael at 3:39 PM on February 4, 2009
Judging by the responses by guys who are already generally fit, I'd say that 100 pull-ups is somewhat unlikely.
That said, the key to increasing the number of pull-ups you can do is (for me, at least) weighted pull-ups. Once you can do 6 or 7 pull-ups, put 10 or 15 pounds in a backpack, put the pack on backwards (so the weight is on your chest), and keep doing as many as you can. Add more weight as you get stronger.
I've progressed to 12 pull-ups without weights, and 5 with 20 lbs. added. Current goal is 3 sets of 10 without weights.
posted by coolguymichael at 3:39 PM on February 4, 2009
Put your chin-up bar just high enough that nobody's going to bump into it. Assist yourself by pushing as gently as you need to with one foot and alternate them. 100 pushups sounds pretty daunting to me now but I remember doing tons of them (plus rope climbing) when I wrestled in highschool.
I think a huge factor will be your body weight.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:05 PM on February 4, 2009
I think a huge factor will be your body weight.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:05 PM on February 4, 2009
I spent a long time trying to do pull-ups. In hindsight I had a ridiculous goal in mind given the time-span that I wanted to do that in, so I think your two-months goal might be a little unrealistic. I actually found out that whilst I could do lat pull-downs fairly easily and that my back was quite strong pull-ups really got the better of me for a while.
Now I can quite comfortably do a few sets of eight-to-ten which is fine by me (I also do supersets of these and push-ups which is great, btw) and I'm going to start adding weight. I've noticed a huge difference in my strength from being able to do free-weight and machine back exercises to being able to do a few sets of unassisted pull-ups.
So, that all having been said, I'm sure it's possible to do 100 pull-ups. It just depends how long you want to work at doing it and how long you will allow yourself (10 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour??) in the attempt. I have to say that I'm pretty confident that I could do 100 push-ups in one go but doing 100 pull-ups in any one session? No way. That's really, really intense. It's one hell of a goal but if you try it let us know how you got on!
posted by ob at 4:59 PM on February 4, 2009
Now I can quite comfortably do a few sets of eight-to-ten which is fine by me (I also do supersets of these and push-ups which is great, btw) and I'm going to start adding weight. I've noticed a huge difference in my strength from being able to do free-weight and machine back exercises to being able to do a few sets of unassisted pull-ups.
So, that all having been said, I'm sure it's possible to do 100 pull-ups. It just depends how long you want to work at doing it and how long you will allow yourself (10 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour??) in the attempt. I have to say that I'm pretty confident that I could do 100 push-ups in one go but doing 100 pull-ups in any one session? No way. That's really, really intense. It's one hell of a goal but if you try it let us know how you got on!
posted by ob at 4:59 PM on February 4, 2009
Lat pull downs are NOT a good way to translate to real pull-ups. Sounds counterintuitive, but it's the same way a giant leg press is not going to give you a good squat.
Try the following:
- Assisted pull-ups on an assisted pull-up machine
- Jumping pull-ups - the lower the bar, the easier it is
- Body rows - the higher the bar and lower the feet the easier the exercise
- Negatives: Jumping into the top of the pull-up and then letting yourself down as slow as possible.
Mix these up to work towards a full pull-up. Be careful with the negatives. They're probably the most effective of the three but also the easiest to overdo and hurt something.
Once you get there, you can use the grease-the-groove method to get yourself to more pull-ups. Do multiple sets per day at 50-80% of the max number of pull-ups you can do. Of course, when you can only do one, you'll only be doing one. But when you can do two, do one pull-up multiple times per day until you can get to two at once. Do sets of 2 when you can do 3 for your max, sets of 3 when you can do 4-5, and so forth.
Be forewarned: Doing tons of pull-ups all the time is a great way to get tendinitis in your forearms. Why do you want to be able to do 100 pull-ups? If it is just to get stronger in the upper body and core, think about working up your pull-ups more gradually and using a strength program full of free weights, low reps, and compound movements to develop the rest.
posted by Anonymous at 5:05 PM on February 4, 2009
Try the following:
- Assisted pull-ups on an assisted pull-up machine
- Jumping pull-ups - the lower the bar, the easier it is
- Body rows - the higher the bar and lower the feet the easier the exercise
- Negatives: Jumping into the top of the pull-up and then letting yourself down as slow as possible.
Mix these up to work towards a full pull-up. Be careful with the negatives. They're probably the most effective of the three but also the easiest to overdo and hurt something.
Once you get there, you can use the grease-the-groove method to get yourself to more pull-ups. Do multiple sets per day at 50-80% of the max number of pull-ups you can do. Of course, when you can only do one, you'll only be doing one. But when you can do two, do one pull-up multiple times per day until you can get to two at once. Do sets of 2 when you can do 3 for your max, sets of 3 when you can do 4-5, and so forth.
Be forewarned: Doing tons of pull-ups all the time is a great way to get tendinitis in your forearms. Why do you want to be able to do 100 pull-ups? If it is just to get stronger in the upper body and core, think about working up your pull-ups more gradually and using a strength program full of free weights, low reps, and compound movements to develop the rest.
posted by Anonymous at 5:05 PM on February 4, 2009
Also, to be honest, there is no way you are going to get to 100 strict, full-range-of-motion pull-ups in two months. Unless you are currently a 120lbs highly-trained gymnast.
posted by Anonymous at 5:07 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by Anonymous at 5:07 PM on February 4, 2009
Oh I meant to say, I did assisted pull-ups for a long time as a way of being able to move on to the unassisted variety.
posted by ob at 5:24 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by ob at 5:24 PM on February 4, 2009
I don't know if it's possible, but there's a guy trying it here.
posted by Edubya at 5:43 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by Edubya at 5:43 PM on February 4, 2009
Sorry to be a contrarian, but: default Crossfit pull-ups (whenever you see "do 50 pull-ups" or whatever in a WOD) are kipping pull-ups. These are a distinct exercise from strict hanging pull-ups.
posted by dubitable at 5:49 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by dubitable at 5:49 PM on February 4, 2009
If you were tall and super skinny, I might say yes, you could get to 100 pull ups (kipping) at... some point in the vague future. As a big guy? Not bloody likely, sorry, this is one of those things that body weight *really* matters on. Also in addition to all the tendonitis problems mentioned above, pull-ups are hell on the skin of the hands (especially when kipped). I spent at least a year just getting my hands used to kipping, and I still have to worry with my callouses constantly. A year of bloody blisters and torn skin and pacing workouts to match what my hands could handle. Not terribly fun.
All that being said, you should be able to do some pull-ups. Maybe try for 20 instead of 100.
posted by ch1x0r at 7:57 PM on February 4, 2009
All that being said, you should be able to do some pull-ups. Maybe try for 20 instead of 100.
posted by ch1x0r at 7:57 PM on February 4, 2009
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posted by gnutron at 2:24 PM on February 4, 2009