Alternatives to Pull-Ups/Chin-Ups

Okay, I’m 5’2", female, 220.

I’m very familiar with weights and I plan on trying V-Diet however I’m crap at pull ups/chin ups. Meaning, I can’t do them.

I was wondering if anyone knows any other excercises that target the same area, while at the same time helping build muscle to successfully do a chin up.

I know of Pendlay rows and I plan on adding it. Any others that use the same or similar groups as chin-ups?

Thanks in advance.

Lat pull downs. But keep attempting to do a pullup as well and eventually you will get it.

[quote]vaberella wrote:
Okay, I’m 5’2", female, 220.

I’m very familiar with weights and I plan on trying v-diet however I’m crap at pull ups/chin ups. Meaning, I can’t do them.

I was wondering if anyone knows any other excercises that target the same area, while at the same time helping build muscle to successfully do a chin up.

I know of Pendlay rows and I plan on adding it. Any others that use the same or similar groups as chin-ups?

Thanks in advance.[/quote]

Assisted pullup machine. It more mimics the pullup than the lat-pulldown. Gradually REDUCE the weight that you use on the machine (so your using more of your bodyweight and less assistance) and then eventually get to the point that your using your complete bodyweight.

Cheers

I’ve found heavy rows along with partial ROM and eccentric chins got me able to do real chins much faster than pull downs did. I’m not sure what it is about pull downs, but I get the feeling they don’t really do much for strength.

I know that chin up progressions have been mentioned in articles here before, try a site search.

Rack Chins are a good alternative, and better emulate the actual movement of a pull-up than lat pull downs.

Check it out and give 'em a try… Great exercise:

Oh thanks guys for all the advice. More than enough alternatives. I was a real loss as to where to begin.

I’ll look some of them up since I’ve never heard of them.

By any chance, anyone here knows what a “negative” is?

Thanks again so much. Very helpful, I appreciate it.

Negative, meaning eccentric muscle action, is starting at the end state of a movement and resisting until your muscles reach the start of the movement.

A negative pullup, for example, would involve you jumping up to the top of a pullup and hanging there for some amount of time (or maximum) before your return to the start position. Repeat this for reps. In the USMC this is common practice for women (we call it flexed arm hang) as women are not expected to do pullups. Just as a reference point, a 70 second hang is considered perfect in the USMC.

PS - Where in NY are you from?

Negative is where you hold yourself at the top of the chinup and then slowly lower yourself down as slow as possible. Eventually you will get a pullup/chinup that way. I started on the lat pulldown myself.

[quote]Anonymous Coward wrote:
I’ve found heavy rows along with partial ROM and eccentric chins got me able to do real chins much faster than pull downs did. I’m not sure what it is about pull downs, but I get the feeling they don’t really do much for strength.

I know that chin up progressions have been mentioned in articles here before, try a site search.[/quote]

Actually wondered if you’d mind defining partial ROM and eccentric chins?

I did do a search before I posted.

The search only brought up the pendlay rows and something called negatives. Are heavy rows just pendlay rows with heavy weights?

Thanks.

[quote]njrusmc wrote:
Negative, meaning eccentric muscle action, is starting at the end state of a movement and resisting until your muscles reach the start of the movement.

A negative pullup, for example, would involve you jumping up to the top of a pullup and hanging there for some amount of time (or maximum) before your return to the start position. Repeat this for reps. In the USMC this is common practice for women (we call it flexed arm hang) as women are not expected to do pullups. Just as a reference point, a 70 second hang is considered perfect in the USMC.

PS - Where in NY are you from?[/quote]

NYC Baby!!! Uptown…the Harlem area!! :smiley: I get very excited when I talk about my home town.

Thanks for that…I’ll have to try it. Hanging? I can hang, I think. I’ll have to try it at the gym on Monday.

I did that at the jungle gym a few months back and 20 seconds was a problem. I guess I have a lot of practice to do. Thanks for the definition.

[quote]elano wrote:
Negative is where you hold yourself at the top of the chinup and then slowly lower yourself down as slow as possible. Eventually you will get a pullup/chinup that way. I started on the lat pulldown myself.[/quote]

Lord…that I cannot do. We’ll have to test that out. I’ll post back here and let you guys know if I was successful at that. I’m already intimidated…jumping and hanging okay…I was planning on not holding thet position above the bar. Lordy. Well…practice makes perfect.

Thanks for letting me know.

Vabby.

http://www.T-Nation.com/article/bodybuilding/keep_your_chin_up

That is the article I was thinking of. I didn’t read it this time, but if I remember right, it’s got everything you need.

ROM is range of motion, so a partial ROM chin is basically as much as you can handle. To start with, pull yourself up as far as you can from the hang. Once you can’t go farther, just let yourself back down. That’s one rep. Within a few weeks, you should find that you’re moving up much higher, and therefore getting closer and closer to doing a full chin.

The thing that helped me increase the number of pullups I could do, from none, was to simply do as many negatives as I could. I just did negatives until I could no longer hold myself up for 2 seconds.

-Also doing negatives with added weight works, like you would do with dips.

As so often, the forum complicates something that is crystal clear.
You don’t need to follow special programs or perform exotic exercises.

At 220, you’re just far too heavy.

Slim down and the chin up shall become a possibility- I’ve had clients weighing half that much who were still struggling.

Keep lifting.

When I first started lifting, I was 175-180 skinny as shit and couldnt do a pullup to save my life. So literally, I would do partial reps every day til I could get one, which wasnt until a while after my first attempt. After I got one I would do ten sets of 1. Then I would do them on just back day. Then Id do five sets of 2.

Now I do five sets 8,8,8,7,6 in less than a year. I never really found anything to help them except for doing them all the time. They’re not easy ever but theyll get to the point of being tollerable. Negatives, partial reps, do what you can. And remember that pullups are harder than chinups so strive for those pullups. If you can do 10 pullups you can do 15-20 chinups

[quote]vaberella wrote:
The search only brought up the pendlay rows and something called negatives. Are heavy rows just pendlay rows with heavy weights?

Thanks.[/quote]

Here’s a great video of pendlay rows (with some nice weight being used at that!): Pendlay Rows 250 X 5 - YouTube

*Each rep is done from the floor.

*Shoulders are relaxed prior to pull.

*Shoulders are pulled back and back is arched to pull the bar.

*There is no hip or knee extension.

I do these supinated, and they have had a fantastic carry over to my ability to do chinups.