I am kinda new to pull-ups and i am having a problem. So right now I can do 8 pull-ups in a row but if I try to do another set after some rest, I can only get 4 to 5 reps. Is there something I can change with my pull-up training?
I find controlled negatives help a lot with pull-ups. Start at the top of the bar, and slowly lower yourself down. Basically a pull up in reverse. You can aim for a specific number of seconds before you are fully extended.
You can do assisted pull-ups to increase your number of reps. If you have a gym membership, many have an assisted pullup machine. They also sell straps and bungee cords that can be used on regular pullup bar
That’s normal. Rest longer, keep going. Do 8 then 5 then 3 then 1. You’ll see progress fairly quickly and soon you’ll get to 9 then 10 etc. When I first started about a year ago, I could barely manage 5 pull ups, and maybe 10 pushups. Now I can bang out multiple sets of 10 pull-ups, and a set of ~100 push ups. Also worth noting that some people, depending on body type, have a harder time with pull ups. I think arm length possibly becomes a factor. Not a scientist. Every pull up is progress (:
How long are you resting between sets? The simple answer could very well be that you just need to rest longer between sets. As Dr. Mike Israetel explains in this video, there’s no magic number for how long you need to rest. https://youtu.be/0FZf6nv_aGg
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8 pullups is great. To get to high rep counts you need more overall weekly volume. One thing you can do is don’t think just about how many you can do in 1 session, but instead per day or week. For example, when I was specializing to get to 20 in a row, my preparation would simply be 5-6 sets of 10+ reps, but the progressive overload is that the total for the day’s work started at 60, then I would add 5 reps to the total quota for the next week’s working sets. That achieves the “progressive overload” requirement to stimulate growth. It is MUCH easier to add 5 reps at some point in the day than to add 5 reps right after the end of the last set. The progression is stronger if you cluster your work together, but if you can’t progress in clusters, then you space it out until you can progress. Eventually around 85 reps per day, the 20 in a row became feasible. So by this point most of my sets were 14-17 reps.
This is similar to how you progress in body building or strength training, at an advanced level you can’t progress every workout, so you may add an extra work day elsewhere in the week. Or you just add an extra set to one of those days, the spacing gives you more window for progressive overload and thus progress over 2 weeks or cycles instead of every week. The growth isn’t as rapid when spaced, but growth will still happen.
Also if you aren’t lean, get lean. Pullup reps scale very strongly with weight loss, so if you’re packing excess bodyfat, your reps will be pretty significantly depressed.
How much do you rest between sets?
I mainly aim for about 6 (weighted) pullups and then do a rest of about 4-5minutes. At your repetitions range I’d probably do a ~4minute rest per set.
I like Pampers, but that’s just me. Your mileage may very.
Seriously though, 8 is a pretty good number, I’ve been working out for years and can only get 1 to 2 at a time.
Like others have said you probably need to rest longer. Another option is to use an assist like a band and build volume that way.
Yes, have you tried this technique?
