One of the best, and toughest, measures of upper body strength are pull ups. Especially for many military and first responders, pull ups are often part of your test. For SEAL students 20 pull ups is a definite minimum and for Marines , 20 pull ups is part of a perfect score on fitness tests. The Presidents Council on Fitness test in schools, at least used to, also test pull ups. They involve so many muscles, latissimus especially or biceps, forearms, abs, lower back and glutes. Grip strength plays a vital part, and you're lifting your body weight up. Good, honest pull ups work almost everything but your triceps.And even from a cosmetic point of view, pull ups are one of the best back exercises, which in combination with a lean waistline, will really add to that v shaped back look. Unfortunately most people , including men, can barely do even 1.
Seriously, look around in gyms , magazine articles and social media and you'll see numerous articles about how to build big arms or lose weight,etc. Some of those articles are okay but rarely will you see anything describing how to max your pull ups. The fact is pull ups are tough, even 1, let alone 20 reps. I understand because I've been there but like much of my training I tested what worked & what didn't. And now I'll show you how to do pull ups, going from 0 up to 20. So let's get started.
First remember, when we say pull ups, the term usually refers to palms facing away from the body. These tend to work the latissimus more. With the palms facing you usually is called chin ups and the biceps are the main movers.Most tests usually involve the traditional back pull up. This is also tougher unfortunately so prepare accordingly. Next thing is what qualifies as a pull up. When we say pull up we mean hanging from the bar at full extension , then pulling your body up until your chin clears the bar, then letting yourself down. Form is a big problem, with many guys swinging, kipping , or bicycling their way up. Sorry guys, that doesn't count. You want to use strength, not momentum.
Also some of these so called supplemental exercises unfortunately won't help you. By that I mean exercises like rows, dead lifts, curls,etc. You're pulling weight up, although at least with dead lifts you're also strengthening your grip.Worst of all are machine pull downs. Again, in this case you're pulling weight down. In a pull up you're pulling your body weight up, You'll get better at pull ups by doing pull ups.
So the first thing is to see how many pull ups you can do. If you can't do even 1 start with upside down rowing. Either use a weight lifting bench with a bar or a couple of chairs with a strong bar across them, lie down and pull your body up , contracting your lats pulling your elbows back. This is a very short range of motion so you should be able to handle this. After awhile, move to the pull up bar and work on negatives. Using a chair or a friend to help you get your chin over the bar, hold yourself there, then let yourself down on a 5 count or even a 10 count. I mean count to yourself , one one thousand , two one thousand,etc. Trust me, this will help strengthen your lats and grip. Rest, then do a few more reps. After awhile you should be able to do 1 or more reps.
Keep doing this as often as possible. Every day if you can. Build up. You want to train your central nervous system and get your body used to pull ups done correctly.After a couple of weeks, at a point in the day when you're feeling energetic, test yourself and see how many pull ups you can do. Use that number as a guide. I would recommend doing half of your maximum reps on a regular basis, usually as part of a circuit. So if your max is 4 pull ups you'd do 2 pull ups per set, alternating that with 1 or 2 other exercises, definitely other body parts, i.e, push ups, abs,etc. You want to train frequently but not to failure every time. So definitely do pull ups 5 - 6 days per week but don't max out every day. That'll just burn out your central nervous system and teach you to fail. Another way to train frequently yet stay strong is do half or 60 % of your maximum pull ups through out the day. Kettle bell expert Pavel Tsatsouline popularized this method, his " grease the groove" method in his book "The Naked Warrior" where he described helping his father in law improve his pull ups. This is also a time saving method for those days when you don't have an hour or more to devote to a circuit work out. You could also do a set of pull ups every day at regular intervals, say every hour or couple of hours, or maybe once in the morning, once in the evening. Pavel in fact put a pull up bar in his father in law's basement and every time his father in law went to the basement he'd do a set, in his case 5 pull ups. In the beginning, since I have a pull up bar on my doorway, I myself would do a set, from 1 - 5 reps, every time I entered the room!
Every couple of weeks take a couple of days off from pull ups , but not exercising, and then again, when you're feeling energetic, try to do your all out max. See what your total is. Keep this training up until you get to 10 reps. Once you're at 10 , you'll have to do circuit style, trying to up your reps more often. I don't mean fail but try to get 1 more rep per set each month. So if you were doing 5 reps per set the previous month try to do 6 reps per set the following month. In addition, I would recommend adding weight to your pull ups. You could use a dumbbell or a kettle bell hanging from your legs or wrapped around a belt or in a backpack, or a weighted vest. Once a week is enough. Again, start small, say with 5 - 10 lbs, and try to build up from 1 - 5 + reps. One popular weighted circuit, and very tough, is the Murph workout. I've described the Murph Challenge before. Named in honor of SEAL Lt./ Medal of Honor recipient Mike Murphy, this is a weighted workout consisting of a 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats and another 1 mile run. Easy, right?! Obviously this is a workout you only want to do occasionally. Another similar but slightly different option is , again to do a circuit workout with heavy weighted pull ups and alternate them with other exercises. In fact, once a week, I've done weighted pull ups, with 25 lbs, then 30 lbs, and now 35 + lbs ( I'm using a 16 kilo kettle bell ) but low reps, basically 1 - 3 reps per set depending on the weight , alternating them with 1 arm 1 leg dead lifts with a dumb bell or kettle bell swings and sometimes throw in 1 leg squats, again with a dumb bell. Depending on how much time I have, I do anywhere from 15 - 20 sets. Even though the total reps are low , 20 - 60, the heavier weight requires more strength and will help you get more reps when it's just your body weight. One other good thing about weighted pull ups is, for you guys who want to head off to BUD/S , this will prepare you where you'll have to do your pull ups wearing boots and pants and belt, not shorts and nothing else. The boots may not seem like much but it will add a little extra and every extra bit of weight will slow you down so be prepared.
Once a week, I also did my pull ups going up at normal pace, then held for a second, but let myself down on a 5 count. I described this earlier, for beginners but even advanced guys can benefit from this slow, eccentric training. Obviously total reps per set were less, in my case building from 2 reps up to 5 - 6 reps per set, again alternating them with other exercises, usually for 20 sets. Recently I've also slowed down the concentric phase, the up part, going :05 up, hold, :05 or even more on the last rep down. Again, this type of training will help increase you max.
I also recommend changing your grip every now and then. Examples include very narrow grip, bicep pull ups, mountain climber pull ups. These will work different muscles, training various neural pathways helping your overall training as well as breaking things up.
Avoid extra wide grip or behind the neck pull ups because they can cause shoulder problems and don't really help you with getting more reps. Besides the latissimus muscles, a strong grip is required for all types of pull ups, especially multiple reps. One of the best types of training pull ups is towel pull ups. Shown to me by a friend, using moderately small hand or dish towels hanging from a pull up bar, this works not just wrist and forearm strength but also your biceps and core. This is truly a full body exercise, something which I keep emphasizing, as opposed to isolation.Again, don't keep a wide grip. In fact sometimes you may want to keep your hands less than shoulder width. And obviously you won't be able to do as many reps as regular reps.Nor will you be able to get your chin over the bar in most cases because of the height difference. Don't worry, just keep building up every week.
Another way to use towels to improve your grip is to wrap the towels around the bar. This will really challenge your grip, depending on how thick you've wrapped it.Hanging on to the bar could be tough. Again, you'll probably be limited on the number of reps you can do. By the way, one problem I've found is sometimes the towels can come apart. You may want to consider taping the towels or maybe a sponge around the bar.
Another different pull up is ledge pull ups. Essentially you're using only your fingers to grip. Sometimes , depending on the size of the ledge, you may be using only the first digits of your fingers. Again you'll definitely do less reps but it'll force you to work more muscles, and it'll help you get a feel as to perform when you're tired and your grip starts to go . You end up literally hanging from the pull up bar by your fingers for the last 2 or 3 reps. These type of pull ups are also a great intro exercise for rock climbing and some obstacles in the military and obstacle races ( Ninja Warriors "Ultimate Cliff Hanger ").
Keep training regularly, at least 5 - 6 days a week. Again, preferably, in circuit form with high volume ( multiple sets ) and sub maximal reps, about 25 % - 60 % of your maximum reps.But notice I'm mixing it up, each day. For example Monday maybe regular pull ups, Tuesday weighted pull ups, Wednesday towel pull ups, etc. You get the idea. Ideally, at this point, I'd suggest you try to get 100 reps at least 3 - 4 days a week , sometimes even more. Maybe pull up circuits twice a day. There were days when I did 200 pull ups in a day, maybe 100 towel pull ups in the morning and 100 slow pull ups or bicep pull ups at night.Is this a lot of work? You bet! I guess the question is, how much do you want it? Anything worth achieving takes effort, especially major accomplishment's. Champion athletes spend hours daily training in their various disciplines. And for those of you who want to go on to military special ops this is just a sample of what to expect ( don't forget the runs and swims ).
Another work out to do once a week is interval style pull ups. This is another time saving workout. I did this , basically going from 1 pull up per minute up to now 5 pull ups per minute, grabbing the bar on the minute, x 20:00. Think about it, that's 100 pull ups in 20:00. Relax between each set, shaking it off or as I do now, I use that time to do a few jumps or a 1 leg squat. This is also a way to do weighted pull ups although your reps per minute and thus your total reps will be relatively low.
Another circuit style workout you could do once a week, which I first saw by fitness trainer/retired SEAL Stew Smith is the pyramid system. Do 1 pull up, rest or better yet do another exercise or 2 , maybe 2 push ups and 5 leg raises, then 2 pull ups, 4 push ups and 10 leg raises. Keep increasing your pull ups by 1 rep each step up this pyramid 3,4,56,7,8,9 until you get to 10 pull ups, then go down the pyramid working your way back down from 9 pull ups,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.Do this with the other exercises, doubling your exercises.If you followed this style, you'd end up with 100 pull ups, 200 push ups and 500 leg raises in your workout. Or just do one other exercise in between each pull up, shake it off and go on to the next pull up. Either way, you see how much work you can get done using the pyramid system.
At this point in your training , once a week do a max/burnout pull up workout. Do your pull ups until you fail, then depending on time constraints, either do other exercises like push ups or any ab exercise, also preferably to failure or at least 90 % of your maximum, then repeat , for a total of 2 - 5 sets/rounds. Or if you're short on time after your first fail, rest a bit and jump back on the bar and go to failure again, and do this for whatever time you have. You could also do this once a week with your towel pull ups or your weighted pull ups, especially the last set. This seems to contradict what I said earlier about not training to failure. But if you want to up your numbers and set a new personal record at least a couple of times a month, or better yet once a week you should give it your all without taking time off. By the way, this type of burn out/low rest training is more suited for high rep/strength endurance than short, maximal effort, like Olympic lifts or sprints.I myself started doing this burnout style once a week when I was stuck at 13 - 15, sometimes maybe 17 max reps. And this was after even taking off a couple of days. But then I started doing max/burn out style workouts once a week and I could see the difference.Without taking time off I started to max/burn out at 15 - 17 reps .After a few months I would take a few days off before trying to "test" my max. On January 1, 2016 for the first time in my life I hit 20 reps! Barely! But nevertheless I did it!Finally! Notice I said only once a week you should do this burnout training and remember you should take a couple of days off before your test in order to recover.
There are a couple of other factors that can make a difference. As I mentioned earlier, grip strength is a very important factor. That's usually the first thing that goes. The list of grip exercises is an entirely long article itself. One exercise that'll help, as I mentioned earlier, are towel pull ups. You're practicing pull ups while simultaneously strengthening your grip along with other muscles, especially the core. One of the better non pull up exercises, is the farmer's walk. Essentially you walk a set distance holding a kettle bell or heavy dumb bell or other heavy object at your side. Also holding a kettle bell upside down by the handle, in the bottoms up grip, is another excellent grip strengthening exercise. In fact, if you want more bang for your buck, do various exercises like lunges and especially overhead presses with the bottoms up grip.
Speaking of grip I'd suggest you put tape around the pull up bar. Sports grip tape or medical wrap tape should work. After awhile, especially on hot days, your palms will be sweaty, causing your grip to go. Avoid weight lifting gloves as they're not allowed in most tests. Chalk is okay.
Another important factor is your weight/body fat. Obviously, the more you weigh the more extra weight you'll have to pull. Losing fat will definitely help you get more reps. Again, losing fat is an entire article in itself which I can do in the future. For the time being, all I'll say is watch what you eat and keep working out, especially cardiovascular workouts ( running, swimming,etc) in addition to your strength training. By the way, that's another good thing about these pull up circuits. By moving from one exercise to the next without rest you're keeping your heart rate up and thus burning calories.
Finally, let's focus on form. Remember, no kipping, no bicycling,no swinging, use strength. As I said earlier, with your palms facing away from you, grip the bar firmly, really focus on contracting your lats , bringing your elbows down as your body rises, thinking about bringing your neck or even your chest to the bar and bring your chin over the bar.
You may want to arch your back,looking up, leaning back as you pull your body up. Going straight up is okay but will make it unnecessarily difficult, especially during a test. Leaning back and looking up will also help put emphasis on your lats. Also, crossing your legs, will help prevent you from using momentum as well and may be necessary if there's not much space between your feet and the ground. As for tempo, in most of your training except for special slow training, do your pull ups at normal speed without swinging , fully contracting so your chin is over the bar, pause very briefly at the top, let yourself down at normal speed to full extension so your head is below your elbows. I will add be careful not to hyper extend as that can cause or aggravate existing shoulder and elbow problems. Trust me, I know! In fact, letting yourself down too fast can cause hyper extension so let yourself down carefully.
Of course in a test you don't want to go slow which will make it unnecessarily difficult. Just go at a quick tempo up without swinging, barely pausing as your chin clears the bar, and let gravity take you down , carefully, and go again. Avoid resting at the bottom. Of course as you saw, after several reps you'll have to rest, catching your breath, recovering. That's okay. Just don't jump off the bar. That's when the test is over.
If it seems like I think pull ups are a great exercise, the answer is , well, yes! As I've pointed out, numerous military and first responder tests , as well as obstacle style races ( Ninja Warrior, SEAL Museum Bridge Challenge, Spartan,etc.) require them. They are a first step to prepare you for climbing things like caving ladders , walls and ropes. And as I've pointed out, from a cosmetic point of view, all the different types of pull ups can directly work so many muscles in the upper body. The lats, forearms, biceps, and even the hard to get serratus and intercostals can really pop out.
How often should you test yourself? For most people, once every month or 2 months is enough. For those of you who want to go to BUD/S, PJ pipeline,etc definitely test yourself every month. I hope this post will help those of you reading this. Like most things I talk about in this blog I can back it up from experience. And hopefully you'll also make it. Follow my advice and you too can go from 0 to 20.Hopefully you found this post informative.Like and follow me as well as my YouTube channel and if you have any questions feel free to email me at mbrls2000@yahoo.com or gofitfl@gmail.com. And please let me know how your progress is going and when you get to 20.Now go for it!
Saturday November 5th, at The National Navy UDT/SEAL Museum, a few hours after the 5 K. 20 pull ups on the monkey bars!
