Pull-up problem.

[Press1]

My recruiter watches me do pull-ups, and tells me I can do five. Some other guys watch me do pull-ups (one of them even being another Marine) and tell me most of them didn't count.

I'm afraid that when I get to boot camp, that my pull-ups won't be good enough, and I'll be thrown in the PCP. It's happened to a guy in my pool of DEP'ers where people were counting that he could do roughly five pull-ups, but when he got to boot camp, they said he didn't do enough and was put in the PCP. From what I observed though, it seemed like he actually did his pull-ups worse than me when he was in the DEP (he basically went down half-way after pulling up, which was his problem).

Who should I listen to? My recruiter, or the group of guys (including one sorta-new Marine)?

Thanks in advance.

[wilsontc11]

Listen to yourself and your recruiter...

If you're worried about how many "count", do this.

1. Start at a complete dead hang, let yourself hang there for half a second or two.

2. Pull up, get your adams apple above the bar (Only your chin has to clear the bar, but noone can deny you if your adams apple is over. thats what my DIs told us)

3. Go down until your arms lock out completely.

4. Rinse and Repeat

and make sure on your last one that you don't just drop off of the bar, lock your arms out when you go down, try and do 1 more, and if you can't then get off

[IHaveEGA843]

If you can afford it *its only 20 bucks* or one of your parents would buy you one get a in house pull up bar.

With my height when I do mine I actually have to hang and bend my knees to start off in the dead man hang position. As I pull myself I bring my legs forward, pull my chin over the bar and drop back. I work off my momentum so when I drop down I catch my swing back up. Do a negative set of 5 or how many you can do. 5-4-3-2-1, 4-3-2-1, 3-2-1, 2-1, 1. If you can do that with 30 sec breaks inbetween and finish them out then youre doing 20 pull ups. Just build up and youll be able to knock them out right.

I have enough upper body strength to actually throw my head well over the bar at the RS. The pull up bar at my house helped me with that especially with me not having the advantage of extending my whole body.

[Taviah]

Ha, I can touch the ground with my knees on my door frame pull up bar, gotta be careful not to.

Just be sure that you can do enough to meet regs I am still trying to get back to doing 10 before boot camp.

[Buhler]

Ha, I can touch the ground with my knees on my door frame pull up bar, gotta be careful not to.

Just be sure that you can do enough to meet regs I am still trying to get back to doing 10 before boot camp.

I have the same problem lol, my doors are too short.

If you're worried about your pullups, do what someone else suggested somewhere on this site, get a doorframe pullup bar and every time you walk through that door just max them out. And to make sure you're doing them correctly, just do exactly what this guy said:

1. Start at a complete dead hang, let yourself hang there for half a second or two.

2. Pull up, get your adams apple above the bar (Only your chin has to clear the bar, but noone can deny you if your adams apple is over. thats what my DIs told us)

3. Go down until your arms lock out completely.

4. Rinse and Repeat

[IHaveEGA843]

Also, LAT PULL DOWN MACHINE HELPS A BUNCH!!!!! It builds those back and bicep muscles up to help support the motions when you're completing those pullups. I do 3 sets of 20. Straight burn out but at home I just throw the bar up on the door and go until I cant anymore then shake my arms out and go back at it until I can feel a injury coming on *meaning I feel a muscle overworking itself*. Keep at it and youll notice the change especially if you do the pulldown machine. Back cramps is a good sign of you burning those muscles up.

[calebh180]

I would be really suprised if anybody in the DEP didnt have their own pullup bar

[Taviah]

Anybody that doesn't have a pull up bar in some form should be smacked.

[calebh180]

Ive actually got 2 in my house, an Iron Gym on my door frame and a pullup tower in my garage. Im kinda addicted to pullups lol, but i started out at 2 or 3 like everbody else

[lake9]

Put it in a door frame you will use allot. Do a max set every time you go in or out.
For me i go in and out of my room about 15-20 times a day.

so 20x14 is almost 280 pull ups a day.
some times i'm lazy and skip or my arms are so weak from doing so many so ill never hit that everyday. but i defiantly do around 100/150 a day,

[calebh180]

Put it in a door frame you will use allot. Do a max set every time you go in or out.
For me i go in and out of my room about 15-20 times a day.

so 20x14 is almost 280 pull ups a day.
some times i'm lazy and skip or my arms are so weak from doing so many so ill never hit that everyday. but i defiantly do around 100/150 a day,

I do the same thing (except I do 10 not max) some days but every day is not too good for ya. I do that about every other day

[PooleeLeCates]

I started at 0 when I DEP'd in, I'm up to 10 on a bad day. When you practice at home do the hardest pullups you can; slowly up, chest to the bar, slowly down, repeat. If you practice doing them slowly and thoroughly then you'll be able to crack out more when it counts.

Also, if your goal is 5, do 5. If you have to stop after 3, get back on the bar and do the rest. Always always always to exhaustion.

[calebh180]

The Armstrong Pullup program is badass, I just started it yesterday. Day 2 is the pyramid day and that one of my favorite pullup workouts, but the program says 1..2..3 and so on untill you miss a set then max out one more time. I take it to the next level and go back down unstead of maxing out one last time. Example: I did 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 then i went down 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 for a total of 121 pullups (not counting the others I did during the rest of my workout today)

[Leather2013]

Just practice, maybe find a local gym or like fellow Poolees have said buy a bar from Wallmart etc.

[shadox]

Death by pull-ups is a great workout to improve, I went form doing 8 to 17-18 in a month.

Do 1 pull-up, drop to the ground and do 5 push-ups
Do 2 pull-ups, drop and do 5 again
Do 3 pull-ups, etc.

Lets say you cant do all 4 the next set, start over at 1 again.

Do this until you can not do 1 pull-up, wait 15 minutes and then do a max set if you get over 10, do it all over again. Do this twice a week and you'll be awesome at pull-ups!

Also try switching your grip, your back muscles are larger and more developed than your biceps.