Pull-up/chin-up questions

[eriksatie]

1. Does it matter if, between reps, I go back to standing instead of hanging? I feel like I can do more reps if I pull up, lower myself to my feet, and then pull up again. Doing this, I still have almost a 180 degree between my forearm and arm when touching the ground.

2. If I shouldn't put my feet back on the ground, how far do I go down when hanging? Do I maintain a slight bend?

Thanks

[eriquee]

1. Does it matter if, between reps, I go back to standing instead of hanging? I feel like I can do more reps if I pull up, lower myself to my feet, and then pull up again. Doing this, I still have almost a 180 degree between my forearm and arm when touching the ground.

2. If I shouldn't put my feet back on the ground, how far do I go down when hanging? Do I maintain a slight bend?

Thanks

You shouldnt touch the ground with your feet, that allows your muscles to relax. You should always do a pullup/chinup, from a dead hang. It´s going to be harder, and you will do less reps, but that´s the best way.

[Rasputin4]

Your feet shouldn't touch the ground, but IMO stopping just shy of lockout allows maximal stimulation of the lats and lower traps while minimizing stress on your joints.

[ArizonaEli]

Im going to somewhat disagree with the above post.

Full range of motion (ROM) dead-hang pull-ups are the hardest and the "best" but if you can only do a couple, well doing a couple of pull-ups and then stopping / being unable to do anything more isn't going to get you stronger. I'd say do as many dead-hangs as you can, and then transition to pull-ups from standing once you can no longer complete dead-hangs. It's the same with ROM - you want to be touching your chest to the bar with every pull-up / chin-up, but once you no longer can do that, it's OK to continue reps with less than full ROM.

I'm as big of a proper-form nazi as anyone else, but it's just common sense - nobody gets a 300lb bench by starting out at 300lbs on the bar and doing reps to increase their strength. They usually start with 160ish lbs and ****ty form, and work their way up over a lot of time and effort. Pull ups are the same way - do what you can, as often as you can, and as you get stronger do less and less partial ROM / non-dead-hangs, and more and more dead-hangs and full ROM pull-ups... after a while you will be doing sets of chins just to get warmed up for your real w/o.

[k9pit]

Im going to somewhat disagree with the above post.

Full range of motion (ROM) dead-hang pull-ups are the hardest and the "best" but if you can only do a couple, well doing a couple of pull-ups and then stopping / being unable to do anything more isn't going to get you stronger. I'd say do as many dead-hangs as you can, and then transition to pull-ups from standing once you can no longer complete dead-hangs. It's the same with ROM - you want to be touching your chest to the bar with every pull-up / chin-up, but once you no longer can do that, it's OK to continue reps with less than full ROM.

I'm as big of a proper-form nazi as anyone else, but it's just common sense - nobody gets a 300lb bench by starting out at 300lbs on the bar and doing reps to increase their strength. They usually start with 160ish lbs and ****ty form, and work their way up over a lot of time and effort. Pull ups are the same way - do what you can, as often as you can, and as you get stronger do less and less partial ROM / non-dead-hangs, and more and more dead-hangs and full ROM pull-ups... after a while you will be doing sets of chins just to get warmed up for your real w/o.

Dead hang overhand pullups can be rough on your shoulders overtime. Shoulders do a lot of work from the dead-hang position. If you aren't mindful every rep and fatigue sets in, things can go...not so well. Underhand chinups aren't as rough on the shoulders.

As far as lats I get a better stretch and squeeze from underhand chinups, with overhand pullups the lats get hit but most of the intensity is focused on the teres major. May be simply my form and/or body mechanics, fwiw.

But no OP, basically what you described was doing a bunch of singles to give your self a rest between every rep. You need to get your work capacity up. Overtime, it'll come. As far as how far to let yourself go down, is your goal to "build your lats", "build your back", or do more pullups?