A lot has been said on the internet lately about YES, women CAN do pull-ups… and well for most of you who read this site, that’s hardly cause for a headline. As someone who’s not a huge fan of gender-fying everything and who also realizes that there’s all KINDS of people who struggle with pull ups, I’d like to present some ideas that are useful for nearly everyone.
Essentially, pull-ups are limited by a weight to strength ratio — which is why someone who is very strong on the ground–let’s say a linebacker (or more likely a 270lb former linebacker who still eats like he’s training with the team…) might have an insane deadlift, but might not be able to manage more than 1-2 pull ups if any. A petite 110lb untrained woman will have a similar struggle, simply because she has not yet developed the necessary strength to complete the move. The good news for both of these seemingly drastically different people is that they can both work to achieve pull ups if they’re willing to put in the time and effort (and in the case of the big guy, he might need to make some nutritional changes).
A great place for everyone to start is Convict Conditioning – the pull ups start from absolute zero. And from these humble beginnings (“vertical pulls” while standing on the ground, pulling yourself forward–in a doorway for example–at a gentle angle. The next step graduates to horizontal pulls which are similar to “bodyweight rows” or “Aussie pull ups”) the steps continue all the way to the coveted and elusive one arm pull up or chin up. As is the case in nearly everything there are little intermediate things to work on between these steps. If you find that you have a passion for practical grip strength CC2 has a great section on grip strength, and progresses to some very challenging stuff. Grip is important, without it, you’re still on the ground! 🙂
Hopefully that was helpful and not just an excuse to show you my freakish back. Something to keep in mind, especially when thinking about the two hypothetical people in the paragraphs above is when gaining or losing a rep. If I gain a rep, I will want to at least loosely determine if I “got lighter or stronger”, similarly if I lose a rep, did I get heavier or weaker? Right now I’m “a little heavy” (we’re talking like 3-5lbs and on purpose) so I don’t necessarily expect to set rep-based PRs right at this time. HOWEVER the second I can’t do my personal baseline of a set of 10, then I know changes need to be made–either to my training focus or in the kitchen.
And don’t forget, as I say in the end of the video, these types of things are not “instant gratification” moves. Pull ups are a journey and take time. I’ve been working on them with a degree of seriousness for about 8 years. Don’t be discouraged when the reps don’t just start piling up like they have for other exercises. This is a long term (but highly rewarding and useful) project.
If you really REALLY want to drill down then I can really recommend the Convict Conditioning Pull up DVD (the video can actually be viewed on demand!) and Manual for the pull up. The details and pointers are POWERFUL, plus it helps to just see it happen.
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