I love doing pullups, and in the past months i have made pretty good progress, going from being able to do 2 bodyweight pullups to being able to do 1 pullup with 35 pounds strapped to myself.
I achieved this by doing 15 sets of 3-5 reps of pullups to failure once a week every week. however, this has seemed to stop working for me and i have been stuck at +35 pounds for a month now.
what is a routine i can adopt and what else can i do to increase my 1RM pullup?
thanks.
I personally wouldn’t start trying for higher 1RM on pullups unless I could already do 20 bodyweight pullups.
This is personal opinion, and has worked well for me (I have worked up to BW + 135), though I’m sure everyone will have their different preferences. Once you can do 15 BW pullups in a set, it would make sense to start incorporating extra weight IMHO.
[quote]FROGGBUSTER wrote:
I love doing pullups, and in the past months i have made pretty good progress, going from being able to do 2 bodyweight pullups to being able to do 1 pullup with 35 pounds strapped to myself.
I achieved this by doing 15 sets of 3-5 reps of pullups to failure once a week every week. however, this has seemed to stop working for me and i have been stuck at +35 pounds for a month now.
what is a routine i can adopt and what else can i do to increase my 1RM pullup?
thanks.[/quote]
Clapping pullups. Yank yourself up, release the bar, clap, grab the bar and let yourself down under as much control as possible. These are ballistic though.
why not try west side kind of approach?
like doing fast pull ups on Monday with 50->70% for some thing like 8x3reps in 3 week waves, then 10-12x2-1reps for ME on Thursday, every week different ME (different grip).
or some plane old RE to failure for a few weeks. just to shake things up a bit. and 'm talking about 20-40 body weight pull ups.
[quote]sabaz wrote:
why not try west side kind of approach?
like doing fast pull ups on Monday with 50->70% for some thing like 8x3reps in 3 week waves, then 10-12x2-1reps for ME on Thursday, every week different ME (different grip).
or some plane old RE to failure for a few weeks. just to shake things up a bit. and 'm talking about 20-40 body weight pull ups.
[/quote]
Read this article on westside methods applied to pullup/dip training:
www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/abstracts/pullup-dip-training.html
If you play other sports be careful with wieghted pull ups. When you are at the bottom before your next rep if you don’t concentrate keeping your scapula pulled tight you can loosen your shoulder ligaments with maxes. Won’t really effect too many things, unless you swim frequently or play football within the next 36 hours.
Personally I would start working on high reps. Your weighted pull-ups won’t go up alot but they should go up a little bit. The only reason I even suggested is that if you’ve worked up to 35 lbs you’ve probably been on what would be similar to a power routine for pull-ups for the last few months. The body grows in cycles and does need rest sometimes but you don’t want to fall off by not doing them at all.
Build up your reps(10-15) across multiple sets for about a month with maybe 5 or 10 lbs. Then go back to your low reps with higher weight.
Try Pavel’s GTG (Greasing The Groove), where you would perform pull-ups periodically throughout the day, every day in order to increase neuromuscular efficiency or if you don’t have that kind of time do a few sets every day. When I was using the latter method for awhile, I increased my 1RM from 100lbs. to 150lbs. in about 6 weeks!!!
I had the most progress with a 1-6 style of training. Also, rotating handles are one of the best things I discovered for doing pullups.
[quote]Mike Sammon wrote:
Try Pavel’s GTG (Greasing The Groove), where you would perform pull-ups periodically throughout the day, every day in order to increase neuromuscular efficiency or if you don’t have that kind of time do a few sets every day. When I was using the latter method for awhile, I increased my 1RM from 100lbs. to 150lbs. in about 6 weeks!!![/quote]
wouldn’t this be overtraining if i’m already on a workout program? i’m currently on mark rippetoe’s starting strength program, which takes place three days a week; and the program works my lats and biceps already 3 times every two weeks.
Who the fuck cares about a 1rm pullup?
[quote]Florida Titan wrote:
Who the fuck cares about a 1rm pullup?[/quote]
it is a true measurement of strength.
Much better than the bench press, which is pretty boring in my opinion.
[quote]FROGGBUSTER wrote:
Mike Sammon wrote:
Try Pavel’s GTG (Greasing The Groove), where you would perform pull-ups periodically throughout the day, every day in order to increase neuromuscular efficiency or if you don’t have that kind of time do a few sets every day. When I was using the latter method for awhile, I increased my 1RM from 100lbs. to 150lbs. in about 6 weeks!!!
wouldn’t this be overtraining if i’m already on a workout program? i’m currently on mark rippetoe’s starting strength program, which takes place three days a week; and the program works my lats and biceps already 3 times every two weeks.[/quote]
If you keep your daily loading parameters below 70%, you won’t tax your CNS, which would avoid overtraining. “Practice makes perfect!” If you want to be a better pool player, then you play pool everyday. If you want to be a better golfer, then you play golf everyday. The same could be said for improving specific lifts.
[quote]FROGGBUSTER wrote:
Florida Titan wrote:
Who the fuck cares about a 1rm pullup?
it is a true measurement of strength.[/quote]
IMO the greatest indication of overall body strength is either the deadlift or the power clean.
[quote]binko wrote:
sabaz wrote:
why not try west side kind of approach?
like doing fast pull ups on Monday with 50->70% for some thing like 8x3reps in 3 week waves, then 10-12x2-1reps for ME on Thursday, every week different ME (different grip).
or some plane old RE to failure for a few weeks. just to shake things up a bit. and 'm talking about 20-40 body weight pull ups.
Read this article on westside methods applied to pullup/dip training:
www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/abstracts/pullup-dip-training.html[/quote]
And check out the thinkers posts on elitefts You could also ask him this question as well.
Hurrah Im working on this also! Although Im using 3RM as a guideline just for safety with the shoulders and all. Currently on the velocity diet and I worked up to 3 pullups with 50lbs last workout 
I would love to know some peoples thoughts on upping this hard! My short term goal is to reach a 3RM with 50% of my bodyweight attached (about 92lbs)… and eventualy with 100% of my bodyweight for a 3RM. I really want my one arm pullups!
If you want to increase your 1rm pullups, then do some heavy pullups. Try 80-90% of your max ea set, and do 1-3 reps per set.
Also, if you have sticking points, like the last couple of inches at the top, you can do a really heavy weighted isometric hold in that position.
You dont need to be able to do 15+ pullups before you add weight. If your training for strength, then once your reach about 7-8 pullups, its time to add some weight.