Pull-ups

[moliva1015]

I can't say I know anything and everything there is to know about diet and exercise for getting lean or building muscle, but I don't seem to struggle in that department. However, I'd really like to be able to do REAL pull-ups vs. the assisted kind. Does anyone have a routine for helping one accomplish such a feat?! Or any suggestions...

[VoxExMachina]

I would suggest two things:

1) Do assisted pullups using a chair (you use one leg to assist your arms) and gradually work up to a full pull-up (as opposed to using the assisted pullup machine).
2) Do a few negatives. Use the chair to allow you to get your chin over the bar, then lower your full weight without any assistance. This will get your muscles used to the heavier weight.

You could try a routine such as:

5 reps assisted
2 Negatives
5 reps assisted
2 Negatives

Or some combination that's good for you. You'll have to experiment based on what you are able to do now and how you feel recovery-wise.

[samseed101]

Since you have access to an assisted machine, I'd work on those while reducing the amount of assistance it is giving you with each workout. But if you wanted to do something without any assistance at all, then work on "negatives."

basically, jump to the "up" position in a pullup and SLOWLY lower yourself. Try to take 30 seconds or so to lower yourself all the way down. Do a few sets of those when you workout the back. Once you can do the negatives in a controlled manner, you should be able to do at least 1 pullup.

[moliva1015]

Thank you so much for taking time to answer that question for me I'm going to give this a try and let you know how things go.. I truly do appreciate it!!

[Lock1133]

I started with lighter lat pulldowns that were much less than my bodyweight. 4 sets of 6-10 every 3-4 days or so. I then got stronger and stronger until I was lifting myself off of the bench. Then it was time to do real pullups! Now I'm doing 8 for bodyweight +40 pounds.