I’m 70 yrs old and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 10 years ago. I exercise 7 days a week to slow the progression of the disease. Today I tried just a static hang from a bar at the gym. I lasted 40 seconds. I thought I would try to do a pull-up because I haven’t done ay since I was in my 50’s. I was unable to do even 1/2 a pull-up. thank you for this great video. My goal is to do two pull-ups within the next 90 days. I appreciate you taking the time to post this! Jim in Oregon
40 seconds is a great start! What got me going was: starting with chin above the bar, slowly as possible, lower my body until I was just hanging on with straight arms. After a couple weeks, I was lengthening the lowering time, and eventually started pulling back up. At first, just 1/4 of a pull up, but eventually got to one full pull up. Months later I could do 5 good ones! My elbows were hurting, so I changed to inclined pull ups, and I do 10 to 15 of them every time I go down the cellar to get a beer. Never Quit!
I used to be 330 lbs and back then my friend would not let me not try a pull up, to the point where he held my legs during one and my grip failed me and I face planted in the gym. Now I'm pushing down on 250 lbs and while I still can't do a full pull up, I can hold myself for a few seconds and can even flex a touch of movement. Gonna get there one day!
When I first started I could do about half of a chin up, so I did partial reps and negatives. I'd pull myself up as high as I could with an underhand grip, then boost myself up to where my chin was over the bar, then slowly lower myself back down to the bottom and repeat 3 to 5 times. After a few workouts I got my first full chinup. The next couple workouts I did one full chinup, then partials and negatives. Then I did two chins followed by partials and negatives, and so on. Once I could do 3 chinups I was able to get my first pullup, so I did one pullup then switched my grip and did 2 chinups, then did a couple more sets of chins. This also was when I stopped doing negatives and patials. Once I was strong enough to do 5 chinups I was able to do 2 or 3 pullups back to back, so I'd do 2 sets of pullups followed by 2 sets of chins for a total of 4-6 pullups and 7-8 chins. My bests so far are 4 pullups or 8 chins at ~185lbs last summer, and now 4 pullups or 6 chins about 9 months later at ~220lbs. Now I just need to drop the fat and I should be doing 8-10 pullups and 12-15 chins per set. It's worth noting that I'm 35 years old, struggle with diet due to inflammatory bowel disease, and and life often gets in the way so I've gone through multiple setbacks where I'd lose strength due to a layoff then spend several weeks regaining lost strength before making more progress. Whatever happens, just keep plugging along and you'll keep progressing. Setbacks happen but as long as you keep putting in the effort youll keep progressing.
I'm starting my first pull up journey, and this is by far the best and most thorough pull up progression I've seen. Thank you for your service and for this video!
Really good instructional video. I'm 68 & never could do a pull-up. My goal is 8 to 10. I'll try your ideas. And a huge thanks for not blasting background music while you're talking, teaching us!
@@jimcoon I worked up to 10, but my elbows hurt, so I lowered my bar (hung from floor joists with rope) and now I do them inclined. Like an opposite push up or opposite inclined bench press. Less stress on the elbows!
Grip strength: farmers walks. Go till failure. Pinch plate hold..stand stationary. Squeeze until failure. Then dead hangs- thumb under or over the bar. No leg crossing Bicep curl with standard barbell for bicep. Plate pull Isometric contraction. Hold yourself in any position within a pull up. Negatives. Step on an object and lower. Takes out concentric portion of pullup Assisted pullup
This is what I did to go from 7 pull ups to 20 back when I was in my late 30's.: 1. Do pull ups 2x/week. This is an exercise you need to do a couple times a week to get better. Make sure you have at least 2 days rest between though. 2. Having a spotter will help you improve much faster. Go to fatigue and have your spotter help you with a few more reps focusing on the negative resistance. My wife and I did them together on Saturdays. (She was able to do 12 unassisted pull ups). 3. If you are over weight do you best to lose fat. If you lose 10lbs of fat that is 10lbs less you are pulling up. That's it, I didn't do any farmers walks or grip strengthening or extra bicep curls, (I have very weak biceps by the way, the max I could curl was a 30lb dumbbell).
I honestly wish I could have met you while I was in. I feel like you could have helped me a lot with some of my goals I had but thanks for continuing to post videos they still motivate me.
I took these steps as the benchmark for trying to improve as fast as possible. At the end of February I could barely lift my body a few inches. Now I can do 2-3 clean and moving quick towards 5, aiming for 10. The exercises are a great foundation, I'd advise studying the technique carefully. For me how all the muscles worked today was completely counter-intuitive, and knowing to pack back, contract legs and activate core meant I'm moving quickly from 1 forwards. Also pay attention to scapula. Get your pull largely vertical but your angle correct. Technique and strength will do a lot alone, but fat loss and a few excercises just to get the motions to certain parts of the motion area important too. I've been making a lot of progress working on them every day, you're trying to improve a strength exercise here, not build muscle.
My problem is the sholders. Pain problems in sholders long before arm, elbow, hand strenght. I train a lot and my dead lift is ok. Ok I am old. .. so I guess it is normal...
Hope you see this one day... 💐💐💐 I've been stuck in step 4 (negatives) for a very long while, and I've been thinking of getting a resistance band for quite a while. I'm so glad I came across your video to find out not only that this is the best thing to do next, but also the REASON behind it. Thank you for youe service and this great tutorial ❤💪❤
April 2021 was the very first time I started doing pull-ups. I took a metal bar, a few straps and wrapped them around the RSJ beam in my garage. On Day 1, I couldn't even do one pull-up. I was 48 years old when first started doing pull-ups and was reasonably fit. I started doing reverse pull-ups for the first fews weeks. Only then, I was able to do 1 pull-up. By the end of Summer, I was able to 5-6. Then Autumn came, and I didn't do any. I restarted back in January 2022 and I struggled doing 1-2 pull-ups. I decided to build back up gradually and did 1 pull-up for the whole of January. Then for the whole of February I did 2 pull-ups. The goal was by the end of 2022, I would be able to do 12 pull-ups. By August, I reached 8 pull-ups and was struggling to do anymore by September. I decided to put extra weight in a backpack and use that for a few weeks to see if the extra weight helped. It did help and was managed to do 9 pull-ups. Then I suffered back and neck pain (old injury), so didn't do any pull-ups for a while. Now Mid October, I have managed to get back to 7 pull-ups
I’ve just added pull ups to my training. But one thing I’ve added to aid in this was walking lunges with kettlebells. Which I feel addresses your first suggestion as it’s heavy weights being gripped tight and I’m moving around, plus I get the benefits of doing lunges.
Few months ago when I started training for law enforcement I couldn't do a pull up or a chin up I can finally do chin ups and I got disqualified from my application but it didn't stop me from continuing to train I'll just keep applying or try another department im 27yrs old and I can finally do chin ups struggling to do pull ups but this has been very helpful advice and information I feel a lot more confident in being able to get to do pull ups.
One of the things that leveled up my ability at pull-ups was to consciously engage my back muscles in the contraction rather than just using arms and shoulders. This was a great video but I would have liked to have learned a bit more about the technique of the motion. Maybe another video?
It was pretty fun getting to go to a huge air force base I live close to with a couple of my best friends and some marine corps recruiters were there and doing a lot of the work outs they have at basic training.
First CrossFit gym I was a member of was owned by a marine. He did a workout with us one day, with farmer carries. He sprinted with 100# kettlebells in each hand and I screamed in disbelief like a child.
This was very valuable even though I will probably never succeed in doing even one pull-up. I was very agile and strong as a teen, got injured and now, after many years of severe illness, I have no strength at all. Have been trying to get back but only over extend myself and get injured again. This was a re-set for my mind on how to get back. Break it down, one step at a time. I think I finally get it.
Finally a video that tells you how to do it without using any gear You can swap plate for a backpack with books You can do bicep curls...With a backpack Like,really,this video is so much better,because it can help pretty much everyone
Took me 11 months to do 20. After that my standard workout became 10 sets of 20 then 25 every 4 minutes 2 or 3 times per week. I did 40 on my 40th birthday. Never lifted weights. Had massive callouses on my hands. Timing is important, builds endurance.
Ive been plateauing on 4-5 reps im going to try these exercises ill update in a month. Also ive been doing commando pull ups like i saw in another video. Be back in 30 days
@@michaelpeck1346 had a daughter back in march 2022 havent had time i still workout im still at 4-5 reps but i only workout like 2-3 times a week 3 if im lucky most of the time im hitting dips and cardio or chest and arms
My son has been using your techniques to help him with his CFA assessment. You have been very helpful. Gripping, wide pulls and additional tips have worked for him.
I have gone from 20 pullups in 2019 to struggling beyond 7 now. Thanks covid 😞 This video is really helpful and will enable me to progressively work towards improving my pull ups without just getting demotivated as I have been recently.
@@frankblangeard8865 yeah. It's not a covid infection that messed up my fitness. Just sitting on my arse during lockdown. No excuse, but the damage was done.
65 Navy Vet. I used to do these easily, now I'm getting back in shape. I'll try your routine, only I don't have plates so I'm not sure how I'll improvise that one.
Great video and information... the funniest bit was at the start where he was trying to play "guy who can't do pull-ups" because he clearly can. It's like a good singer trying to sing badly. Also, 25lb plates for pinching... that's GOALS.
I never did. But I’ve learned that it’s an easily accessible tool for confidence building so I recommend it. I mean I was doing Pull Ups out of the womb. I’m just trying to expand to better help y’all 💪
I just wanted to state that I have only done a single in my life, but for two years I held school record on time in which I ran my mile. Never count one out due to ability. If I had this advice when I was in school and started dropping weight, surely I'd nail it.
Excellent video Mike. Looking forward to improving my grip strength and just ordered a bar. Youre spot on re grip strength - definitely a weak are I intend to improve upon.
Regarding whether you place arms closer to shoulder length or wide apart really depends on what muscle group you're strong at. My highest back in the olden days was 27 pull ups (upper chest actually touching the bar, not just tilt the chin up) and I used back hand and wide opened arms. Any other positions will greatly affect my effectiveless. So, really depends on individual.
Not really, it would good for armwrestling but in pull ups you need to focus both arms. What you are saying is more time consuming. So just farmer’s walk untill failure then rest and go again.
@@BocusVeLucy well it worked for me, added core stability & much needed back strength so thought someone would find it useful. Really helps with proper pull up form too. Edit: I left out the important part which is to switch to the other arm after you're done on the arm you started with and the idea is to keep your core & back stable so don't let the weight swing you side to side when fatigue sets in. Best do 20m 5 times on one arm & switch.
@@mosseblack8635 Of course it will make you stronger you are still working out your grip strength but you doubling your training time is not equal to double gains. It may cause different strength level on both arms tho. But if it is works for you, then keep doing it.
@@BocusVeLucy ok it's either you're trying to be funny or you legit have no idea what I'm talking about. I mean it's one thing to watch folks do functional training on RU-vid & actually doing it. I'm replying to your comments because I am legit confused about your opinion on something I'm sharing which some (who love to keep their training routine fresh & interesting) might find helpful. Just to be clear no one trains this method to "double training time", its for core stability to aid controlled breathing which gets really hard when trying to rep out 20+ pull ups in a single set & back strength for that clean form . Being curios leads me to ask this, Who the hell continues to train with strength imbalances?
@@BocusVeLucy this is not done to "double training time", it is not an arm/ grip oriented exercise, it is a bonus core/ back stability set (which means this is a core exercise that does not involve crunches, planks or sit ups, don't get me wrong, I like them since they do wonders for pull up gains but this is a nice bonus for those that are not a fan of those core set routines) mainly since it aids controlled breathing which feels like a chore when trying to rep out 20+ pull up reps & strength imbalances in the arm is not possible unless you do not repeat the same routine on the other arm. Why do i feel like you have no idea of the main purpose this method serves and you have decided not try it out but chose to over analyzing it?
I used to do 15 pull-ups while smoking when I was 18. I am 87 kilos now and I can’t even pull one. I will back to the past and I will revive my rusted body.
Very good tips very solid went to the park a few years ago and I couldn’t do one, but I included gradual underhand and overhand body weight rows and was able to do 3 so all these steps do really work.oorah!
Appreciate it exactly what I being looking for I’m 48 years old looking to be in better shape but this pull ups are extremely hard for me to do it thanks for the instructions very well explained it And thank you for yo service
At the beginning of the year could only 1 negative every 3 4 days with my 104 kg. My forearm just exploded and hurt everytime. So started to walk 1 kilometer with a piece of 5 kilograms in my hand, pinch holding 500 meters each hand as I was on my way to train and way back home. 2 months ago started to isometric hold about 5 seconds then get 90 degrees 5 seconds then lower 5 seconds and then passive hang 5 seconds. Get to do 5 sets 3 times per week Today was my second day making 2x5 slow controlled negatives with an rest of 4 minutes beetween sets (jog about 250 meters) with my 99 kg.
Bruh why is exercising so complicated😭 even on posts that are like “it’s actually not” it still is😭😭 for people that are less overwhelmed, though, great viddddd
I saw several videos about people 'learning' to do pull ups and was curious. Went and bought a bar. I can only do 5, which I hold to count of ten, but I'm 60 and haven't done them since a kid. Mind you, I have farmed and been a landscaper all my life :) I no longer feel like a lame little old lady.... and it pays to live like a peasant.... :)
