Increasing Pullup Numbers Without GTG

Jason Donaldson · 04-30-2007, 05:04 AM

Yeah I know there have been stacks of posts on this topic, but they all get back to GTG or variations.

I'm stuck on 10 dead hang pullups. I kip like a drunk orangutan (working on that) and I can't GTG during the day. I'm a Prosecutor and cranking out a few sets in court wouldn't go down too well. :biggrin:

I get to the gym once a day (B4 work in the morning) and am after a set/rep scheme that will help increase my numbers (strength endurance). I can also do some ring pullups in the evening at home

Thanks in advance

Russell Greene · 04-30-2007, 08:48 AM

Weighted pullups, l-pullups.

If you can't improve at something, make it harder. Get up to 6 reps at 80 lbs. or 12 strict L-pullups, and bodyweight for reps will feel like air.

Patrick Donnelly · 04-30-2007, 02:38 PM

You can get a door mounted pull-up bar at your house (and possibly use it at your office too) and work on it then. They cost about $15-25.

Brian Cornwell · 04-30-2007, 08:40 PM

When I first started investigating Crossfit, I had never done much in the way of honest pullups. Since then my pullup training has gone through several phases of evolution. You may find them familiar at some point. First, I just set a number and did PERFECT pullups, 3-4 times perweek jumping by 5 each time. So on monday I might do 50, then 55 on Wednesday, 60 on Friday, etc. I would start out in sets that were 3-4 reps shy of my max and gut it out in continuously decreasing sets. This worked for a while, but then I found that while my overall pullup capacity had gone up, my single set number had improved only nominally.
Then I started with another little home-grown half-baked plan. I would shoot for 7 sets of seven, until I could complete them all perfectly with about 2 minutes between sets, then I would move to 8 sets of 8 next workouts until I could complete that. I got up to 10 sets of 10 and was spending about 30 minutes standing beneath a pullup bar and thought there must be a better way.
Enter weighted pullups. I began by adding them 2 times per week, one day of 7 sets of 3 and one day of 5 sets of 5, along with a third day of volume-oriented bodyweight pullups. I made progress relatively quickly in this way, working from pulling triples with twenty pounds to sets of 5 with 50+ pounds, and my bodyweight pullups felt easier with the increased strength.
After doing this for several months, I feel that my progress has stalled enough to encourage me to enter a new stage of pullup training. I have been working on kipping along with L-pullups on rings, but still include weighted pullups once or twice per week because nothing feels cooler than having people stare at you like you're crazy for strapping weight plates to your loins and doing such a hard exercise...
My pullup routine looks something like. Monday- Kipping pullups, Wednesday, L-pullups on rings, Friday or Saturday Weighted Pullups.

I have gone from about 3 shaky and incomplete pullups to around 18 perfect full range, in around 5 months. This is certainly not the fastest way to increasing numbers, but rather building overall pullup power, something I saw as more important in general, unless your goal is simply more reps. Sorry for a long post, but this is how I have improved, not the most direct way, but picked up some things along the way that I wouldn't trade for a few more reps.

PS. training to failure on pullups will never get you to where you want to go. One or two sets to failure and the rest of your training day will go downhill, and it will uneccessarily increase the amount of time before it is advisable to do pullups again.

Nick Gagnon · 05-01-2007, 10:33 PM

I did something like this a while back, it increased my numbers from 12 to 25.

Simply perform 5-10 sets of the exercise everyday, stopping 2-3 reps shy of failure, while keeping the rests relatively short.

Your numbers can increase very quickly using a program like this since it is essentially practicing your pull-up technique, which can lead to immediate neurogical gains.

Reece Holliday · 05-02-2007, 01:57 PM

Density training worked really well (better than GTG)for me. You can search the board for description, though I believe that the original post is on dragondoor.com It is basically doing sets of PU's w/ 1 min rest intervals...

Hope this helps!!

Garrett Smith · 05-02-2007, 04:43 PM

I'm waiting to see what my progressions into being able to pull off a back lever will do to my pullup numbers...I'll let you know when I get it (I got a 2-second hold on a 1-leg tuck back lever today, I don't think it's far off).

Rafe Kelley · 05-03-2007, 12:49 AM

I had weird experience recently my max pull ups was pretty set at 15, I was injured(knee) so I had to stop my crossfit training but I was able to climb tree's allot did nothing more then a couple sets of maybe five pull ups a week for over a month, then out of the blue decided to try my max hit 20 with ease decided to stop there because to many pull ups tend to stress my shoulder but I think I had 3 reps in the tank. Even without the extra reps thats 25 percent increase in a little over a month with out training the skill, my bodyweight and composition were stable. I think climbing tree's is great training but that still strikes me as weird.

Thomas Covington · 05-03-2007, 04:36 AM

Please submit video of drunken oragutan kips! :lol:

Martin Schap · 05-03-2007, 11:03 AM

GTG is cool, but what I did was set a number (in my case 20) that was just a little above my max and then do a set that stopped just short of maxing out, then do a quick set of push-ups and then do a set of pull-ups that brought my total to 20 before a final set .
I did this morning and night in addition to the kipping pull-ups in the WOD and soon was able to consistently get sets of 20 dead hangs. As a side note, I did roughly 2.5 push-ups for every pull-up, so that if I did 16 pull-ups the first set i would be doing 40 push-ups, then 4 more pull-ups and 10 push-ups for a total of 20 and 50.

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04-30-2007, 05:04 AM	#1
Jason Donaldson Affiliate Profile: Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Perth Western Australia Posts: 184	Yeah I know there have been stacks of posts on this topic, but they all get back to GTG or variations. I'm stuck on 10 dead hang pullups. I kip like a drunk orangutan (working on that) and I can't GTG during the day. I'm a Prosecutor and cranking out a few sets in court wouldn't go down too well. :biggrin: I get to the gym once a day (B4 work in the morning) and am after a set/rep scheme that will help increase my numbers (strength endurance). I can also do some ring pullups in the evening at home Thanks in advance

04-30-2007, 08:48 AM	#2
Russell Greene CrossFit Staff Profile: Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Santa Cruz CA Posts: 264	Weighted pullups, l-pullups. If you can't improve at something, make it harder. Get up to 6 reps at 80 lbs. or 12 strict L-pullups, and bodyweight for reps will feel like air.

04-30-2007, 02:38 PM	#3
Patrick Donnelly Banned Profile: Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: College Park MD Posts: 1,162	You can get a door mounted pull-up bar at your house (and possibly use it at your office too) and work on it then. They cost about $15-25.

04-30-2007, 08:40 PM	#4
Brian Cornwell Member Profile: Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Cincinnati Ohio Posts: 79	When I first started investigating Crossfit, I had never done much in the way of honest pullups. Since then my pullup training has gone through several phases of evolution. You may find them familiar at some point. First, I just set a number and did PERFECT pullups, 3-4 times perweek jumping by 5 each time. So on monday I might do 50, then 55 on Wednesday, 60 on Friday, etc. I would start out in sets that were 3-4 reps shy of my max and gut it out in continuously decreasing sets. This worked for a while, but then I found that while my overall pullup capacity had gone up, my single set number had improved only nominally. Then I started with another little home-grown half-baked plan. I would shoot for 7 sets of seven, until I could complete them all perfectly with about 2 minutes between sets, then I would move to 8 sets of 8 next workouts until I could complete that. I got up to 10 sets of 10 and was spending about 30 minutes standing beneath a pullup bar and thought there must be a better way. Enter weighted pullups. I began by adding them 2 times per week, one day of 7 sets of 3 and one day of 5 sets of 5, along with a third day of volume-oriented bodyweight pullups. I made progress relatively quickly in this way, working from pulling triples with twenty pounds to sets of 5 with 50+ pounds, and my bodyweight pullups felt easier with the increased strength. After doing this for several months, I feel that my progress has stalled enough to encourage me to enter a new stage of pullup training. I have been working on kipping along with L-pullups on rings, but still include weighted pullups once or twice per week because nothing feels cooler than having people stare at you like you're crazy for strapping weight plates to your loins and doing such a hard exercise... My pullup routine looks something like. Monday- Kipping pullups, Wednesday, L-pullups on rings, Friday or Saturday Weighted Pullups. I have gone from about 3 shaky and incomplete pullups to around 18 perfect full range, in around 5 months. This is certainly not the fastest way to increasing numbers, but rather building overall pullup power, something I saw as more important in general, unless your goal is simply more reps. Sorry for a long post, but this is how I have improved, not the most direct way, but picked up some things along the way that I wouldn't trade for a few more reps. PS. training to failure on pullups will never get you to where you want to go. One or two sets to failure and the rest of your training day will go downhill, and it will uneccessarily increase the amount of time before it is advisable to do pullups again.

05-01-2007, 10:33 PM	#5
Nick Gagnon Member Profile: Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Chanhassen Minnesota Posts: 317	I did something like this a while back, it increased my numbers from 12 to 25. Simply perform 5-10 sets of the exercise everyday, stopping 2-3 reps shy of failure, while keeping the rests relatively short. Your numbers can increase very quickly using a program like this since it is essentially practicing your pull-up technique, which can lead to immediate neurogical gains.

05-02-2007, 01:57 PM	#6
Reece Holliday Member Profile: Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Vista Ca Posts: 34	Density training worked really well (better than GTG)for me. You can search the board for description, though I believe that the original post is on dragondoor.com It is basically doing sets of PU's w/ 1 min rest intervals... Hope this helps!!

05-02-2007, 04:43 PM	#7
Garrett Smith Member Profile: Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,264	I'm waiting to see what my progressions into being able to pull off a back lever will do to my pullup numbers...I'll let you know when I get it (I got a 2-second hold on a 1-leg tuck back lever today, I don't think it's far off).

05-03-2007, 12:49 AM	#8
Rafe Kelley Member Profile: Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Bellingham Washington Posts: 115	I had weird experience recently my max pull ups was pretty set at 15, I was injured(knee) so I had to stop my crossfit training but I was able to climb tree's allot did nothing more then a couple sets of maybe five pull ups a week for over a month, then out of the blue decided to try my max hit 20 with ease decided to stop there because to many pull ups tend to stress my shoulder but I think I had 3 reps in the tank. Even without the extra reps thats 25 percent increase in a little over a month with out training the skill, my bodyweight and composition were stable. I think climbing tree's is great training but that still strikes me as weird.

05-03-2007, 04:36 AM	#9
Thomas Covington Member Profile: Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Charlotte NC Posts: 594	Please submit video of drunken oragutan kips! :lol:

05-03-2007, 11:03 AM	#10
Martin Schap Member Profile: Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Lafayette IN Posts: 523	GTG is cool, but what I did was set a number (in my case 20) that was just a little above my max and then do a set that stopped just short of maxing out, then do a quick set of push-ups and then do a set of pull-ups that brought my total to 20 before a final set . I did this morning and night in addition to the kipping pull-ups in the WOD and soon was able to consistently get sets of 20 dead hangs. As a side note, I did roughly 2.5 push-ups for every pull-up, so that if I did 16 pull-ups the first set i would be doing 40 push-ups, then 4 more pull-ups and 10 push-ups for a total of 20 and 50.