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Old Forum Major chink in my armour. Need guidance.

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Mark McDonagh

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Hi all. I'm someone who's hoping to cert somtime in the future. My training is coming along fine but due to various shoulder injuries down through the years, I've left pull ups off my agenda for years. Big mistake I know but I now gotta started from stratch with them.

What's the best way to integrate them into my training considering I'd only just about manage one decent strict pull up. I'm about 5'9 and weight about 100kg.

Any advice welcome.  Thanks.
 
Hi Mark,

If you can only do 1 pull up I would focus on negatives, holds in various positions (top, middle, bottom) and horizontal rows as well.  I have found these exercises to be a lot more beneficial than assistance machines and bands.

Another thing to consider is your weight.  Do you have a rough idea of your body fat?

or to put it more bluntly are you a lean 100kg or a fat 100kg. If its the latter, diet will be your biggest asset
 
Thanks Chris, have been trying the horizontal rows but might try the static holds also and see id that offers something. Definitely not a fat 100kg but could certainly lose a few kilos. Working on that slowly but surely.
 
Welcome, Mark.  I'm also 59.

For something you can do one of, I've had success with GTG.  Try doing one pullup more than once a day.  Start with just twice, then go for 3, and so on, all spread throughout the day and separated by as much time as you need to feel completely recovered or longer.

The most important thing is to stay far from failure - never start a pullup, even if it's part of your "plan," if you aren't 100% confident that you'll be able to finish it in good form.

Take a day off as needed - if one day, you just feel like you need a rest, don't sweat it, take the day off completely.  And sometime, if you do a single pullup and you've noticed they're getting easier, try a second pullup a few minutes instead of a few hours later.  Eventually, when you feel you can, take just a minute or two between pullups some of the time, and soon enough, you'll be able to do more than one at a time.

Last but not least, you don't mention your body composition, by losing bodyfat is one of th easiest ways to get better at pullups - you have less to pull up over the bar.

Best of luck to you.

-S-
 
Steve, many thanks for the advice.

Amdemarais- I'm concentrating on the six main drills of SFG certification only.
 
I'll be blunt - I'm skeptical about 5' 9" / 220 lbs. and not chubby. If you are lean at that bodyweight you should be absurdly strong, squatting or deadlifting at least 500 lbs.  Many people dramatically underestimate their body fat levels.
 
Mark - I ask because bent presses are a nice way to increase your pullups.  If you can only currently do one rep, you might need to think of other ways to train in order to increase your PU.  If you can do 15 reps and are looking to do 20, that's a different story b/c you can work volume, ladders, etc.  Dropping some body weight, snatching and bent pressing will likely help you achieve the five reps required.
 
Good points - other things one could do to help pullups are deadlifting and overhead pressing.  Both helped my pullups tremendously.
 
Thanks everyone for the sound advice. I'll be putting a plan of action into place right away.

I appreciate everyone taking the time to offer advice.

(Even the scientist!)
 
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