Pullups
Pullups are not so hard to achieve, IF you train for them Properly
There are TWO reasons people struggle will pullups
-they dont have enough muscle
-they are not strong (because they have no muscle)
This seems obvious, but Im always amazed at how people overcomplicated pullups into a sort of special exercise or skill.
If you lack back muscle and back strength, why would you expect to be able to do them? Why would you be good at something you don't do?
The #1 Mistake People make trying to do pullups
They overemphasize the pullups themselves, when in practice they need to focus on building MUSCLE first.
Pullups, if you can't do them at all, you need to recognize that you plainly DO NOT have the muscle or the neurological coordination.
When you cannot do movement at all, that is a two fold muscle and nervous system issue. You don't know how to do the pattern, and you also dont have the muscle that supports doing them pattern in the first place.
The conventional solution for this is to work the hell out of pullups. BUT, trying to learn a new motor pattern with a lack of requisite muscle, you end up doing ugly reps and developing muscle imbalances and compensations. Meaning what?
Meaning when you lack muscle, you can be doing an exercise, and still be doing it WRONG.
I see this often with pullups and chinups. People never actually use their lats. They pullups themselves up with their arms, reach with their chin, shrug their shoulders, and the movement looks ugly. But because they got told "get your chin over the bar" they think they are doing them right.
They are not.
This does not mean you should not practice pullups at all. Rather, you focus on building the muscles that enable you to do them in the first place. There are two major back muscles
-Latissimus
-Rhomboids-the muscles in between the shoulder blades that essentially compromise your entire middle to upper back
Train those Muscles, and You'll eventually be able to do pullups
The most effective exercise to train the totality of your back muscles is NOT pullups, its ROWS. Horizontal rowing, which engages both muscles.
Lots and lots of rowing.
Seated rows, bent over rows, 1-arm DB Rows, Cable rows, machine rows.
Its damned near impossible to overtrain rowing. I've had clients do upwards of 40+ working sets in a week of rows, and all that happens is that their back gets bigger and stronger faster.
The Number #2 Mistake People Make
You're too overly fat. You weigh too much. You're too heavy. Period.
If your overweight for your height, you will suck at pullups. For anything that is bodyweight training, excess weight is always going to make it harder. Losing bodyweight makes pullups MUCH easier.
Going from 200 to 190, thats 5% of your bodyweight. Go down to 180, and now you're down 10%.
Anytime you lose more 5% off your bodyweight, you'll notice the difference in bodyweight strength. I notice a difference weighing 200 versus weighing 195, I can feel it. When I did 34 pullups in one set, I weighed 188.
Weight matters.
If you're not overweight, then this point does not apply to you. If you are though, you need to unfat yourself.
I'vet met plenty of "fat" strong guys who bragged about their bench press, squat, deadlift, but they couldn't do pullups, and they made the excuse they were too heavy.
No, you're fat, and your strength comes from having a large frame, and you're making excuses for being fat.
One of my good friends is Martins Licis. He's one of the Top 5 Strongmen in the world. He can deadlift 900+ lbs, squat 700, and strict press 315.
He weighs 340 lbs. He can do pullups, and he's gained 100lbs over the last 6 years, and he's ALWAYS maintained the ability to do pullups.
So whatever your excuses are, fuck them.Lose the fat.
A Workout For You All
Here's a workout to do to start building your back strength and eventually progress to pullups and chinups
If you go a reasonably equipped commercial gym, simply do the following routine 2-3 times weekly. Stop each set short of positive failure, except for the last set. Rest no more than 60 seconds between sets
5 sets of 8-10 reps of seated rows with a neutral grip.
5 side of bent-over rows, also with a neutral grips, 8-10 reps each set. You can do bent over DB rows, Cable rows, machine rows, barbell rows. Literally ANY kind of bent over row can work
5 Sets of wide grip pulldowns, 8-12 reps a set
Do that 2-3 times weekly. After 8 weeks, alternate the pulldowns for assisted pullups or chinups each week. Do that for another 8 weeks. Within 4 months, you should be able to do chinups and pullups easily, provided your bodyfat/bodyweight is reasonable.
To be clear, this is obviously not a full program. Its a high frequency tactical routine that you can add into a program or make an adjustment to your current program if pullups/chinups are something you struggle with.
If you want a Back specialization program, get my V-Taper program that specifically targets total back development.