Pull up question.

[Matthew Benard]

Hello,
Im currently a poolee and my ship date is July 26 to Parris Island MCRD. Im 26 yearsold and my question is whats the best way to get better at pull ups. Ive always been active in my teens and early twentys as I played baseball in high school and college. I always worked out but never did pull ups. Im currently 6'0" 193 lbs and can only get three to four good pull ups with my palms facing me. I really dont wont to go to Recruit Training only doing three to four my goal is atleast eight or so. Is there any techniques or weightlifting routines that could help me. My MOS is 0331 and I am going Reserves as I couldnt go active because Im married and have two children. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Matthew Benard

[BR34]

The best way to get more is to do more. Practice, practice, practice.

Also, try palms facing away. Your back may be stronger than your arms.

[duarte]

full set, push ups, full set, push ups, not necessarily in that order

[Geagle05]

Hello,
Im currently a poolee and my ship date is July 26 to Parris Island MCRD. Im 26 yearsold and my question is whats the best way to get better at pull ups. Ive always been active in my teens and early twentys as I played baseball in high school and college. I always worked out but never did pull ups. Im currently 6'0" 193 lbs and can only get three to four good pull ups with my palms facing me. I really dont wont to go to Recruit Training only doing three to four my goal is atleast eight or so. Is there any techniques or weightlifting routines that could help me. My MOS is 0331 and I am going Reserves as I couldnt go active because Im married and have two children. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Matthew Benard

I always tell people that the best way to do pull-ups is to actually do pull-ups. I've never been one that got into fancy weight routines or programs to get good at pull-ups. Not saying they don't work, but that's just not my style. Much of getting good at pull-ups--just like any other exercise--is to actually do the exercise over and over again until your body is accustomed to the movement.

So here's what I would do: First make sure your technique is solid. Have your recruiter or another Marine/poolee look over your technique (locked out arms, chin over the bar). No point in getting up to your goal only to have none of them counted.

Second, I'd buy one of those door gym pull-up bars, or find a bar that you can easily access. From there, every time you walk by that bar, do a set. Since right now you're at 4, then maybe do sets of 2. EVERYTIME, you go by that bar do sets of 2. Then next week, try 3. Etc. You will slowly build yourself up to pumping out an insane amount of pull-ups without over stressing your body due to the fact that you are not going to failure.

Here's a personal example. I've got short arms and the "pull-up build" so I've always been decent at the exercise. However, I had shoulder surgery and had to start at zero. Obviously, I waited till I was healed before I got back into the routine. At first one pull-up was difficult. I did this routine, making sure I put in a little bit of effort each day. 5 months after surgery, and I was doing 16 pull-ups. Now I know a lot of it is muscle memory, but I truly believe that this "program" is what allowed me to get back into the groove in a safe fashion and in a relatively short period of time.

Like I said there's plenty of ways to get your numbers up. This is a way I prefer and try to tell everyone that needs help. If you want to read more into this philosophy try googling "Pavlak's ladder/routine." BTW, I am not a fan of weighted pull-ups simply for the fact that they can be rough on your shoulders if you over do it. I like doing pull-ups all the time, so this method isn't very beneficial.

Best of luck,

Geagle05

[Matthew Benard]

I really appreciate the feedback. One thing I forgot to ask is last time I was at my recruiters office he had a rubber band there that I took with me. I have been doing some asisted pullups. Are those ok to do or should I just stick without using the band.

Thanks
Matthew Benard

[CplGiraffe]

If you want to weight lift... do a few max sets, and see what muscle hurts. Wait 2 days, then go to the gym and work on that muscle. The next week try it again and the muscle that hurts will probably be a different one. This is if you don't have a pull up bar handy but once a week.

[SlingerDun]

lose weight

[Matthew Benard]

I probally should lose bout 10lbs im 194 i now i think 184 would help. What amazes me is that that I can bench press almost 300lbs but can only do 4 pullups. I just dont see how thats possibly. But thanks again for all your input.

[SpartanMullet]

Try this website. It's what I am using to get to 20 pullups for OCS... http://www.texasmarineofficer.com/armstrong.html

[TinDragon]

Reverse pyramids work really well for me. That's where you'll start at 5, do 10 pushups, do 4, do 10 pushups, etc down to 1 and then back up to 5 pullups. You do as many of those as you can unassisted, then get someone to help you or use a band to finish it up. Once you get to the point where you can start and end at 5 with no help, bump it to 6. (Of course, you can start at like 3 and gauge where you are from there.) Once you can do 6, bump it to 7. Once you can do 7 no problem... well, you'll probably be close to maxing your pullups at that point.

The only other thing you can really do is to just do max sets as much as possible. Pass a bar, do as many as you can. Pass it again, do as many as you can.

If you try the palms outward method, try a wide grip as well. Wide grip + palms outward is the preferred method of most Marines I know of who max their pullups.

[thezero]

Just do more pull ups. I have gone from 6 to 21 (DEP then pre boot camp) from 18 (end of boot) to 12 (after mct) back up to 20+. just do pull ups. You never pass a pull up bar with out doing a max set. A easy way to build up that doesn't require to much time is 50 pull ups/100 push ups a day (minimum). Then the idea of having an iron gym pull up bar isn't bad, put that bad boy some where that you walk by and do max set every time you walk past it. In pensacola we had one set up in the head, 10 pullup entry/exit fee. 15 if you had to sh*t.