Armstrong Pull-up Program

Hi - and apologies if this has been answered elsewhere - I did look unsuccessfully.

My question is regarding the Armstrong pull up program : Specifically Day 2 - the Pyramid day.

Mu understanding is that sets are done in increasing reps until failure - and then ‘backed-off’ down to one rep again

For example 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 (Max effort) 7/6/5/4/3/2/1 - thus being my understanding of a ‘Pyramid’.

My confusion has arisen as I’ve downloaded the App to support and track this program, and it seems to suggests that the workout for this day ends when maxed out at 6 Reps, without the need to to continue the workout, but with reduced rep sets.

Any guidance from the community would be much appreciated !

I did the program in the Marines a couple times. I just didn’t use an app - it’s a pretty easy program to track.

It’s possible that they updated the idea in the app to prevent from overuse injuries, which can happen from doing tons of pullups all the time.

But I would say, if you can do more, just do it, and then you just have to keep track of that.

This is accurate. I’ve been doing weighted chin-ups alternating with unweighted pull ups every training session for the last several months. It’s added a lot of size to my upper back, almost like magic, but every couple of weeks I’ll get extreme soreness under my left armpit that makes it hard to complete even a few unweighted pull ups. Usually that’s a sign for me to pull things back for a session or two with lower volume and intensity so I can go back to hammering it after a few days when it feels recovered.

How have you fitted these around your other back work?

I’ve tried to add in chins/ pulls to all my sessions previously and it’s died a death when I got my normal back work which wipes me out for a week or so.

I usually like to superset all assistance movements, so I would place it with like a pause bench or Overhead Press on Upper days and then pair the rows with arm movements.

If you’re struggling to manage to fit both into your sessions, it could be a work capacity issue. In which case, I would recommend just toughing through it or separating it and doing your chins/pull ups at a different time during the day at home. Eventually your work capacity will catch up and the recovery won’t be quite as brutal.

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