Pull-ups AMRAP

[rasmusDoh]

Hey

Been doing chin-ups on one of my upper-body days. I do a 4-day split with 2 upper body, 2 lower body day.

I wanna switch to pull-ups though, as i don't feel like i use my lats enough on the chins.
Wanna get some more mind-muscle connection, so i don't use my biceps quite as much.

I can do like 8 chin-ups, but only 4-5 (not sure) pull-ups.
I was gonna do 3xAMRAP, but what i'm not sure of is progression.
Of course i'm gonna try everytime to add reps, but it can be tough on this exercise (sometimes).

It'll mainly be for strength. My goal is to join the 1000 lbs club this year,
so it's mainly an assistance exercise for that.

So should i add some holds at top with slow negatives after my three AMRAP sets are done?
Other good ideas?


Thanks guys

[bsmit107]

Seems like a good idea. yea, chins really use your bicep, and switching to wide grip will really bring up your lats.

After you reach failure on your 3rd set, do a few negative reps. Either jump up or use a bench to get to the top of the move and really focus and lower yourself as slowly and controlled as possible. if you have elastic bands, you can use those as well to get a few extra reps, but that will only be allowing you to do the exercise with less body weight resistance. Try the negatives for a few weeks and Im sure you will significantly increase your reps.

Do the full range of motion too......all the way down to full extension and all the way up. you will be glad you did once you start getting stronger at it.

[rasmusDoh]

Sweet, thanks! Do i go to 'absolute failure' on the negatives. As in when i can't possibly do anymore of them?
My program calls for some yates rows and barbell curls afterwards, so dunno if that has an impact on that decision??

And yeah, the 4 or 5 pull-ups i can do or full ROM. I see soooo many people do like half ROM or less. Not nearly all the way down, and chin not even close to being over the bar. Kinda sad.

[bsmit107]

If you are focusing on the lats, then yes, take it to failure on the last set of negatives. You will probably get 2-3 negatives before you just drop, and that is fine!! If you're feeling crazy, you can even add weight and do the negatives, maybe just start with the negatives first.

It really shouldn't have too much affect on your curls, your forearms might be a little more worn than normal, but switching to wide grip is going to take a good bit of focus off of your bi's. As far as the Yates Rows go, you will be using the lats as well, but you will be using the top and middle of your back more. Just really focus on the squeeze at the top of the row (try to pinch your shoulders together) and that will get stronger too. Maybe alternate the order of exercises every couple of workouts.

[rasmusDoh]

Sounds good! Thanks man! Repped

[SuffolkPunch]

IME doing AMRAP all the time will work for a while and then you will hit a wall. You could deload when this happens but I think it's smarter to spend some time doing submiximal loads - they will still cause hypertrophy and you won't "fall off a cliff" it terms of performance.

[rasmusDoh]

So how would you program that, when i can only do 4 pull ups?