Gubernatrix max chin-up attempt (video clip)

I attribute breaking through that frustrating plateau to two things:

1. Improving my max pulling strength through deadlifts and other pulling exercises.
2. Practising frequently (several times a week) and doing 3 or more smaller sets, not going to failure.

There’s no one right way to train chin-ups or pull-ups, but I can share what worked for me.

Pulling strength

I think general pulling strength is very useful. Most of you reading this will be all too aware that few people in the gym bother to deadlift, whereas you cannot move for people benching or shoulder pressing. In fact, attempting chin-ups or pull-ups might be the heaviest pulling exercise people ever do in the gym, which makes it them difficult to improve. However, if you are already deadlifting upwards of 150% of your own bodyweight, your ability to do bodyweight chins should improve greatly.

I’ve also been training other pulling movements in recent months, such as cleans (explosive full body movement), rack pulls (very heavy loads), inverted rows and indoor rowing (pulling endurance and power). I am sure that all of these have gone into the mix, although it is impossible to judge to what extent an individual exercise has contributed. The bottom line is, I have been doing far more pulling exercises than pushing exercises.

Training methods

When I actually train chin-ups or pull-ups, I don’t often train to failure. Instead I concentrate on volume of reps. For example, going for 8 reps in the first set, then 6 in the second, then 4, then 2. So I’ve done 20 reps in that session. Another method is to go for an achievable number in the first set, and then try to do the same for the second and third sets. So I may start with 8 in the first set, which is hard but achieveable, and try to do it again. I probably won’t manage it, but I’ll get perhaps a 6 and a 5.

Keeping an eye on your rest periods between sets is also a good idea. If the ultimate aim is for a high rep set, such as 20 chin-ups, you want to keep your rest periods short – although not so short that you can’t recover because you do need to get that volume in.

I also don’t train chin-ups or pull-ups every day. I’ll do them perhaps 3 or 4 times a week, usually at the end of a training session. My max attempt above was done after a heavy squat session. This has pros and cons; yes, you are definitely fatigued from the heavy lifting session. On the other hand, you are well warmed up and primed to lift efficiently. Bodyweight chins feel comparatively light after powerlifting, so you can trick your mind into thinking they are easy!

I have recently started doing weighted chins, although it is too early to know what effect this will have on my chinning ability. If it helps me on my way to 20 in a row, I will let you know!

Form

Form and technique are not big issues with chin-ups and pull-ups, as they are a pretty simple exercise. However, if you are struggling then looking at technique issues might just give you the edge you need. I recommend the following:

• Experiment with hand width to find your strongest pulling position. Shoulder-width apart is the default, but try narrower and wider to see if it makes a difference.
• Try to pull with your back as well as your arms. Make the connection with your mind, try to visualise your lats pulling you up.
• Train both chin-ups and pull-ups (overhand and underhand grips) in order to improve. Also, try doing them on awkward objects like a beam, rings or the branch of a tree.
• Don’t compromise on form. If you are aiming for deadhang chin-ups or pull-ups, make sure you straighten your arms after every rep. If you start cheating on reps, it is more difficult to come back from that and find good form again.

I have covered other methods of training pull-ups in How to do pull-ups. You don’t have to use every method under the sun, in fact this may be counter-productive. Pick a method that seems to fit with the way you train and your own strengths and weaknesses. Progress is rarely linear and we all have those frustrating plateaus, but there’s no substitute for just plugging away and working hard.

Do you have any useful tips for chins and pull-ups?

However, once you learn how to get the rings under control, you will want to aim for some of the more technically challenging gymnastic moves as well. You will get fantastic upper body strength, a core of steel and you’ll look very impressive at the gym to boot.

Have a look at my ring training video for demos of the easier ring exercises you can do to get started and read the guide below.

Dips

Ring dips are surprisingly harder than bar dips. The key to remaining stable in the dips is to keep the rings as close to your body as possible. When you dip down, aim to get your hands into your armpits. You get a much better range of motion with ring dips than you do with bars in the gym because they are much closer to your body.

Mastering ring dips is an essential precursor to learning the muscle-up. If you have trouble doing full ring dips for reps at first, practise negative ring dips. Use your feet to get yourself up into the top position and slowly dip down to the bottom position with no assistance. Once in the bottom position, use your feet to assist you to the top again.

Pull-ups

For pull-ups, the rings will naturally give you a neutral grip (palms facing inwards), which is very wrist friendly.

Pull-ups are also part of the progression to learn muscle-ups, as you need the strength to be able to do, say, 10-15 pull-ups before starting to learn the muscle-up. With the rings you can start to get used to the false grip, which is necessary for muscle-up technique, and do false grip pull-ups to practise.

Watch a video seminar on how to do chin-ups with a false grip from Crossfit London

Inverted row and vertical row

There’s more than one way to row using the rings. The more normal method is to have your feet on the floor with legs stretched out in front of you, and pull your chest up to the rings using a rowing motion (see my video if you are not familiar with this move).

However, you can make it more difficult by hanging upside down and pulling your whole body up.

It’s tricky because you get a bit of swing and it’s hard to stay balanced in the position, let alone pull your bodyweight up. But worth the effort!

Push-ups

Like the dip, it’s easy to get a better range of motion in the push-up when using the rings, bringing your hands all the way into your armpits. The first time you do this, you will feel it the next day, even if you have been doing normal push-ups on the floor for years!

Because you have to work to keep the rings stable, decline push-ups (head higher than feet) are much harder than they would be if you were using something solid. Incline push-ups (feet higher than head) are even more challenging with the rings.

Equipment

It’s easier than you think to get hold of some rings, or ring-like objects. Here are a few options:

• Buy readymade rings specifically for this type of exercise.
• You can make your own using some metal and straps. My rings consist of a bit of metal pipe threaded with a roof rack strap. I’m lucky enough to have a pipe with a curve in it, but straight pipe would also work.
• You can put up handles hanging from chains, as explained in this article by The Mighty Kat.
• And finally, you can even use a couple of judo belts tied together. I’ve tried it, they do work!

More exercises

Crossfit London’s Ring Training guide.

Some useful ring videos from Petranek Fitness:

• Front lever/back lever
• Ring flyes
• Ring bridge
• Skin the cat

Impressive stuff in this video clip ranging from relatively simple to quite advanced (handstand push-ups, one arm row, L-sit muscle-up)

Extreme rings from Muscle Beach!

Men are usually slightly better equipped for pull-ups as they naturally have more muscle mass and upper body strength but most of them find pull-ups one of the toughest exercises as well. Although women might start off relatively weaker than men, there’s no reason why it has to stay that way.

Watch me knocking out multiple pull-ups on rings. All I did was work hard at these over a period of time, using the techniques below.

For the purposes of this post, ‘pull-up’ refers both to the pronated (overhand) and the supinated (underhand) pull, as all the advice works for both types. However, many people differentiate between the two by referring to the underhand pull as a chin-up.

There are a few different approaches to achieving a pull-up which all seem to work. You can use one, some or all of them in combination.

1. Using negative reps

This involves starting at the top position (using a chair or something to get you up there) and slowly lowering yourself to the bottom position. So you are using the eccentric portion of the lift to train your arms and back to bear your weight under control.

2. Doing assisted pull-ups

You can use the pull-up machine at the gym for this, but a good low-tech method is to do an inverted row, which is like a pull-up but with your feet on the ground. I used to do these a lot as part of British Military Fitness classes, where we would do high reps (say, 50 reps in sets of 10), which gives you a good base to work on.

Here’s a clip of someone doing inverted rows. You can elevate your feet on a ball or step to make the exercise harder. It will help build up the muscles in the back that you need for unassisted pull-ups.

You can also get a similar effect from doing lat pulldowns, although I think psychologically it is better to get used to pulling yourself up rather than pulling a bar down towards you. Don’t ask me why, but it feels different.

3. Increase strength prior to attempting pull-up

This is what happened to me, without planning it. I was able to do a pull-up the first time I tried because I was already strong from other types of resistance training such as power lifting.

4. Grease the groove method

This has been promulgataed by strength training guru Pavel Tsatouline and involves doing fewer reps in one set but doing sets more often. The rule of thumb is to do 50% of your max reps every time you go near a pull-up bar. If you have one at home, this can be several times in a day. This method is most useful for people who can already do a few pull-ups but want to increase their reps. I have used this method many times to get past sticking points.

All of the above methods work, but ultimately there’s no easy way. You just have to be patient and work at it steadily. It’s worth it though, because it is a great strength training exercise for arms and back, it is very functional and its one of the most impressive things you can do in the gym!

Read more:

• Crossfit London - the A to Z of pull-up training
  
• Stumptuous – Mistressing the pull-up
  
• Dragon Door – Pull-ups: A matter of function

According to the website, the purpose of the Tactical Strength Challenge is to test absolute strength (deadlift), bodyweight-relative strength (pull-ups), and cardiovascular endurance (kettlebell snatches). The three events test a trade-off between these abilities. Heavier participants have an advantage in the deadlift, lighter participants have an advantage in pull-ups. The kettlebell snatch tests all participants more or less equally.

What caught my attention was the fact that this year’s worldwide winner in the women’s division was Angela Craig from the UK. Her stats were extremely impressive:

Bodyweight: 138.6 pounds

Deadlift: 264 pounds

Pull-ups: 14

16kg kettlebell snatches in 5 minutes: 132

I am quite tempted to enter next year. Looking at the results for the divison, I reckon it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility for me to be somewhere in the middle of the pack, if I trained consistently for it.

The winner, Angela Craig did well because she seems to be a good all-rounder. Whereas the woman who came second in the deadlift event didn’t manage any pull-ups at all.

Actually, the pull-up totals are interesting. Quite a few competitiors get 0 pull-ups, but the next lowest total is 6 pull-ups. And out of those who managed any pull-ups at all, almost half got 10 or above. Perhaps this shows that once you’ve cracked pull-ups, it is possible to get some really impressive totals.

This challenge would also be good to do as a gym fitness test. Unfortunately my gym does not have kettlebells so I would have to substitute a dumbbell (which would make it a bit easier). Perhaps I can persuade the gym to invest in some kettlebells!