Assisted vs Non-Assisted

[MarinesFTW]

Hello Marines, Poolees, and fellow wannabe's! I have been reading alot of post of pull ups how to get better at them faster. During my Advanced Conditioning class at school we go to the weight room or fitness center to work out. In our fitness center we have a assisted pull up machine and it make me think. There is that class old debate of going full blown with high weight low reps and then the low weight high reps. Both are good in there own way but with pull ups I just cant decide which would be better? I started thinking using a assisted pull up machine and setting the weight where i do a max set of 20 pull ups if that would be more effective then doing max set of pull ups on a bar, or doing 30+ pull ups on the machine. Once again its a hard question i decided im going to do the 20 pull ups and keep taking weight away each week until i can do them all with out needing the machine. So i decided to come here and see what all of the Marines, Poolees and fellow wannabe's thought of it and would love to see some debating of both sides. Ill try to keep you guys updated with my progress. I use to be doing 10 but after things happening i quit them for 2 weeks and im down to 4 and im working my way back up. Well, thats all i got lets hear some other ideas from people!

Thanks,
Daniel Vogt

[kash]

When I first starting doing pull-ups I think was around 3-4. I use the assisted machine at school for 2 weeks to work on the muscles/get them in shape and thats it. I prefer non-assisted.

[ThundaFromUnda]

I prefer non assisted. What I find that has really improved my pull ups is doing Pyramids.

I normally do 2-6 and this is what it is for those who don't know.

2 Pull Ups
10 or 20 Push ups
3 Pull Ups
10 or 20 Push ups
4 Pull Ups
10 or 20 Push ups
5 Pull Ups
10 or 20 Push ups
6 Pull Ups
10 or 20 Push ups

From there, I head back down in reverse. The amount of push ups you want to do depends on how strong you're feeling. When I first enlisted in the DEP back in August I was barely managing 2 pull ups. Now I can pump out 7-9.

On topic however, assisted has never shown the amount of improvement that doing pyramids has.

[NoRemorse]

Depends on what you're shooting for. There was an assisted pull-up machine in my squadbay during Boot. Mix them up but stick to doing unassisted bodyweight pullups throughout the day.

[BackhausD]

What's an assisted pull up machine? Never heard of one.
Just a bar and pull your own God damn self up.

[mbrazil]

Depends on what you're shooting for. There was an assisted pull-up machine in my squadbay during Boot. Mix them up but stick to doing unassisted bodyweight pullups throughout the day.

I was going to say "you arent going to be doing assisted pull ups in boot camp"...but maybe I was wrong lol

I still think you should go non-assisted. Just keep at it :thumbup:

[richrs01]

I was also wondering the same thing, but one of the a-holes broke the part you put the weight on.

I would test it out if I were you, except instead of only going to 20pullups take it to 22 or 25 to further wear out your arms per set. Of course by only doing the assisted pullups your number of non-assisted will probably go down due to your muscles getting weaker but able to endure strain longer, but if you drop the weight off quickly your muscles should adapt back to having the strength from before and the endurance with it.

Best of luck.

[NoRemorse]

What's an assisted pull up machine? Never heard of one.
Just a bar and pull your own God damn self up.

I like that motivation right there. At the back of our squadbay was a gravitron. It's built for assisted pull-ups. I'm moderately certain the platform can go high enough for dips... But you have a rack and a foot locker, why would you need anything else for dips ;)

There's also a bar for support that runs across the middle on the bottom of each rack. If you're on the bottom bunk than you can reach up for this bar and bang out some Austrialian pullups for fun.

[Qwarkeh]

What we've been doing a lot here is the pyramid pull up routine, which is basically what ThundaFromUnda explained. We do as many as we can without assistance first, but after that we get a buddy to help us up. The mentality behind this one is so that your body gets used to doing more than what it can on it's own.

[MarinesFTW]

Sorry guys i forgot to say i still do pull ups without the machine but i do them every other day at my house to see where im at... once and a while i pump out 5 now wish i never stopped doing them..

[dhenderson88]

When I was a poolee I went from doing 2-3 to doing 8 in about a month or so using a giant rubber band type thingy. I don't know how much weight it took off, but it felt like my arms where getting much more of a work out.

[UsmcMotorT]

Just do 5-10 set of Max pull ups with a min or two fo rest between sets (or do crunches instead of resting). Do that M-F for a couple of weeks and i gaurantee you you'll increase your pull ups by at least 5.

With this method I can increase my pullups by 10-15 in two weeks. I'll usually do at least 25 pullups for the first couple sets then after that its like 1-15 per set due to fatigue.

I say screw the pyramid method. Just max out each time. It's the only real way to increase pullups unless you can only do like 3.

If you're only able to do 5 or less I would suggest kipping and swinging your way up to the bar. So instead of doing 5 good pullups you maybe able to do 8-12. Do this for 2-4 weeks then you should be able to do 10 good pullups. Then from there you can max out like crazy.

Good luck :D

[ThundaFromUnda]

Just do 5-10 set of Max pull ups with a min or two fo rest between sets (or do crunches instead of resting). Do that M-F for a couple of weeks and i gaurantee you you'll increase your pull ups by at least 5.

With this method I can increase my pullups by 10-15 in two weeks. I'll usually do at least 25 pullups for the first couple sets then after that its like 1-15 per set due to fatigue.

I say screw the pyramid method. Just max out each time. It's the only real way to increase pullups unless you can only do like 3.

If you're only able to do 5 or less I would suggest kipping and swinging your way up to the bar. So instead of doing 5 good pullups you maybe able to do 8-12. Do this for 2-4 weeks then you should be able to do 10 good pullups. Then from there you can max out like crazy.

Good luck :D

The crunches, while needed, doesn't really help increase your strength to help with your pull ups and why suggest that they kip or swing up to the bar? I mean, no disrespect intended, but good pull ups are the only pull ups they accept in boot camp, so why suggest getting into the habit of doing bad ones just to get a couple more?

As you get stronger though, doing a max set helps out a lot before pyramids. And afterwards as well.

[UsmcMotorT]

The crunches, while needed, doesn't really help increase your strength to help with your pull ups and why suggest that they kip or swing up to the bar? I mean, no disrespect intended, but good pull ups are the only pull ups they accept in boot camp, so why suggest getting into the habit of doing bad ones just to get a couple more?

As you get stronger though, doing a max set helps out a lot before pyramids. And afterwards as well.


Crunches doesnt do anything for your pullups but instead of resting you can do them to keep your heart rate up. When I'm doing my routine I only do pullups and rest. Doing pushups will just get me more fatigued. Plus if your main focus is to do pull ups then I'd suggest doing 3-5 max set of pushups in the morning and your pullups in the afternoon.

If you can only do one good pull up there is really nothing else you can do to get more. Kipping will get you up there and it also "assists" you over the bar. I would rather kip then use a pullup bar with an assist because you're using your own weight (when you hang you use your own weight instead of resting on the assist bar). Of course during the PFT you can not kip or swing. But this is just another method of increasing your pullups in addition to the assisted pull up machine.

Another method I like to share with those wanting to increase their pullups are to do negatives. Get your chin over the bar (any way you can) and slowly go down; kinda like the flex arm hang. Do that 5-10 sets. I had a friend increase their pullups by 3 after a week or so.

Everyone is different. Just try whatever suits you best. I am just not a fan of threadmils and pullup bar assists.

[MarinesFTW]

Crunches doesnt do anything for your pullups but instead of resting you can do them to keep your heart rate up. When I'm doing my routine I only do pullups and rest. Doing pushups will just get me more fatigued. Plus if your main focus is to do pull ups then I'd suggest doing 3-5 max set of pushups in the morning and your pullups in the afternoon.

If you can only do one good pull up there is really nothing else you can do to get more. Kipping will get you up there and it also "assists" you over the bar. I would rather kip then use a pullup bar with an assist because you're using your own weight (when you hang you use your own weight instead of resting on the assist bar). Of course during the PFT you can not kip or swing. But this is just another method of increasing your pullups in addition to the assisted pull up machine.

Another method I like to share with those wanting to increase their pullups are to do negatives. Get your chin over the bar (any way you can) and slowly go down; kinda like the flex arm hang. Do that 5-10 sets. I had a friend increase their pullups by 3 after a week or so.

Everyone is different. Just try whatever suits you best. I am just not a fan of threadmils and pullup bar assists.

Yah when i first started to increase pullups i couldn't do one so i started doing negatives and i was able to quickly get up to 3 with a week and a half and from there i just did pull ups every time i walked by my bar. Then with wrestling season starting i started to do less and they went down and i eventually stopped doing them period during my work outs for a few weeks and went to a poolee function expecting a good 7-8 and ending up doing 5 and it being hard as hell to get that last one.... i felt like i just completely wasted all that other hard work and was really upset with myself and now i decided to start again and not stop because i dont want to have to start all over again.

[CBRN5711Tech]

Okay, try doing the Armstrong Pull Up program. If you can do 12-15 it will bring you up to 20 in four weeks. If you can't do that much it will probably bring you up to at least ten in the same amount of time. It is an easy ten minute workout, five days a week. All it takes is the dedication to get on the bar for ten minutes, five days a week.

[wolf0259]

I can't say I'm as experienced as some of the other voices here, but I've found that just getting up on the bar as much as possible helps. I started off at 4 a few months ago and for a while was plateaued at 7 until I did a few sets of pullups with a weight hanging. Few days later I hit the bar again and was up to 8.

I tried doing the Armstrong method, but I didn't have access to a bar enough to keep up with it. The weight assist machines haven't done me much good either.

[Gnetics]

Since the kids where looking at me funny at the park for doing pull ups on there monkey bars lol...I ended up buying an Iron gym Door Pullup bracket..I leave it on my door next to the restroom so everytime I pass by I do my max of Pull ups..underhand, then wide grip and then a couple negatives. Has helped me go from zero to around 4 underhand and 2 wide grip. :yes: Now to get that running time down...:devious: