How many times a week for pullups?

[r_graz]

Just curious how many times a week people include pullups.

I do a 5 day split:

Mon - Chest
Tues - Back
Weds - Legs
Thurs - off (sometimes abs and a little cardio)
Fri - Shoulders
Sat - Arms
Sun - off

Currently I include pullups, 3 or 4 sets to absolute failure, on Back day, usually the first exercise of the workout. Just bodyweight for now, I can usually get 7 decent dead-hang wide(ish) grip pullups on each of my first 2 sets, then it drops off fast till I'm only getting a couple at a time. I'll finish with some negatives till I'm completely tapped. The numbers were higher till one of the better trainers at my gym pointed out that I was cheating on my form...

I've only been lifting for about 5 months, am trying to bulk. Started at 137lbs. and 10% BF, right now at 147 and 10% BF. I would really like to improve my pullup numbers though (and of course have the lats to show for it ) Of course I'd like to work up to weighted pullups.

Does it make sense to work in pullups more than once a week, or is it too much?

Thanks...

[NoSlak]

I'm here for some feedback as well if you don't mind, I do pullups 3 times a week before every workout as a warm up, I do 3 sets to failure which right now is 8-6 and 4 or 5 unassisted. 1 year ago I was on the pullup machine with the weight at 13, w00t!

[powerlifter70]

I usually do them 3x a week. Done on both bench days and on deadlift days. I do as many sets as it takes to get to 100.

edit: if I am to wiped out on my deadlift day, I skip them

[bilnv]

I do pull-ups once a week, 2 working sets to failure with a forced rep or two. If I am going to failure with forced reps I like working that muscle one a week. If I don't go to failure then twice a week is good. Bottom line I think it all depends on how well you can recover from one workout to the next.

[InvidGurab]

I perform pull-ups once a week, after my back workout and right before my biceps routine.

[thegeckoj]

depends what your goals are...
i believe if you simply want to do more body weight pulls ups you can do them very often. when i was training specifically for that reason i would do them 3-5 times a week depending on how i felt. at my absolute best i was able to do 43 non stop.

of course now i am more into bodybuilding so i do them only once a week with weight hung from my waist.

so basically what i am saying is that if you are going for stamina and pure numbers train them multiple times per week with just your body weight, but if you are trying to put on size in your lats then i would do them only once or twice a week with weight.

[r_graz]

depends what your goals are...
so basically what i am saying is that if you are going for stamina and pure numbers train them multiple times per week with just your body weight, but if you are trying to put on size in your lats then i would do them only once or twice a week with weight.

That's kinda what I was looking for, thanks for the input. I'm not trying to win a pullup contest or anything, it's just another exercise I'm using to train particular muscles.

No way I could do a reasonable number with any added weight yet, I'm guessing I probably need to hit 12 good, dead-hang pullups per set before it makes sense to add weight...? And should I be dropping to a fully-stretched position between each rep, or is that bad for my shoulders?

[thegeckoj]

i drop all the way unless i am doing a wide grip pull up, then it puts a little too much stress on my shoulders, but if i am doing a close grip, neutral grip, or reverse grip i go ahead and go to a full dead hang or at least pretty close.

[SoMdHunter]

Only on back day for me, usually the 2nd or 3rd exercise. I do 30 pullups regardless of how many sets it takes me to get there. Shooting for 5 sets at 6 reps. Once I get it to 3 sets at 10 reps, I'll shoot for 45 pullups.

[Mark1T]

I do pullups once per week. Usually always start with them. I do as many sets as it takes to reach 50 total reps. Lately, that has been 4 sets.

[mike_sargent]

Here's another question about pullups. I've been doing them on leg day, because my back-and-bis day is already pretty full. By doing it this way, I'm trying to get in a little extra back work during the week.

I find that the first set is hard on the tendons in my forearm (at the elbow), but the later sets aren't as bad, so I think maybe a warm up would help. Is there a good exercise to warm up for pullups?

Mike

[AminoMan]

I usually try to get two pullup days in per week.

[Jim_Gym]

Pullups and chinups are the best thing to make you strong and grow your upper body in my opinion. I do weighted underhanded close grip or hammer grip chinups on back and biceps day which blows up my biceps, and in order to separate the exercises, I do weighted wide grip pullups mostly for my back as my first exercise later in the week on my shoulder & forearm day.

[45BIG]

I do pullups twice a week. One day for a total rep count of 50 and the other day a total rep count of 30. I do no more than 12 reps for any one set on the 50 day and no more than 8 on the 30 rep day before adding weight.

[rotlex]

Once a week on deadlift day. I do a 5x5, but I tack the pullups on the end, normally doing 4 total sets of 6-8 reps. I alternate grip just to keep it interesting, and generally, as soon as I can do 8 reps easily, I add more weight. (Usually 5 lbs at a time, but it takes me quite a while to build up again).