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Anonymous
So /fit/, I desire greatly to do pull ups, but I am currently not strong enough to complete even one. Any recommendations? I know bodyweight exercise is the best for lean muscle, which is what I want, and to be frank, I am determined. I lost about 90 pounds about a year ago and I am now determined to stop just being skinny and start being fit.

It is worth noting I have tried some forced negative style pullups, and also done... I do not know the name for it... but pull ups where I basically was on monkey bars at the park and put my legs on one of the ladder's bars to ease it, in a reverse push up position.

Anyway, any tips? I prefer to operate solo.

Pic unrelated.
>> Anonymous
Do them whenever you can. Lots of practice will get you there. Once you can do the first the rest will follow.
>> Anonymous
how the fuck can you not even do a pullup.

you said you lost 90 lbs... were you like 400 lbs before, and now your 310? cause even the scrawniest guy should be able to do one pullup. the I only reason I can see a person not being able to do one is if they are too heavy to lift.
>> Anonymous
>>397227

Try again, brave troll.
>> Anonymous
>>397227
0/10
>> Anonymous
>I know bodyweight exercise is the best for lean muscle
is it? i thought lifting weights was better than bodyweight exercises

anyway, doing pullups where your legs are partially on the ground is probably fine. negative pullups (let downs?) made my arms hurt so bad when i tried them :/
>> Anonymous
>>397272

>>I know bodyweight exercise is the best for lean muscle
>is it? i thought lifting weights was better than bodyweight exercises

Everything I have heard seems to point towards this. This is /fit/, so if anyone here can confirm/deny this, I'd be more than willing to hear them out.

But yeah.

>anyway, doing pullups where your legs are partially on the ground is probably fine. negative pullups (let downs?) made my arms hurt so bad when i tried them :/

Let downs. Yes, that appears to be the proper term. Thanks for that. From what I dug up with this term, it appears they are quite good for you. Many thanks for just that! Ha!
>> Anonymous
>>397307
>>I know bodyweight exercise is the best for lean muscle
>is it? i thought lifting weights was better than bodyweight exercises

Everything I have heard seems to point towards this. This is /fit/, so if anyone here can confirm/deny this, I'd be more than willing to hear them out.

Doesn't matter, the difference with weights is that it's easier to constantly increase the resistance, it's a lot harder to do that with body weight stuff. As long as you can keep the intensity up, it doesn't fucking matter.

OP. Get a resistance band, through it around the bar, put your feet in the handles, do the pull ups then.
>> Anonymous
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BODY WEIGHT EXERCISES AND WEIGHTS

the only limitation of body weight exercises is the variety but once you've got that figured out, you can get the body and strength you could get from weights.

Now that doesn't mean you can do body weight exercises and become a powerfliter. But if your goal is just to get stronger and put some muscle on, you can definatley modify BW exercises to hit the lower reps.

Pick up a copy of Never Gymless by ross enamait and you will never need a gym again. Unless you want to use weights, that is.
>> Anonymous
>>397307
No, no truth to it. Bodyweight exercises are all compound, which is good for overall fitness and thus greater overall strength. But really, they're not the best plan for a person who wants to develop strength without bulk, just because it's a lot easier to increase resistance by adding more weights than by coming up with slightly more difficult pushup variations.
>> Anonymous
>>397351
not so much dude. you'd be suprised how much more resistance you can add to a pushup with household items. Get some cinder blocks and you can change the range of motion.

Get a weighted vest.

Elevate your feet.

change arm distance.

Use a band across your back and under your arms

It's just as possible to upgrade resistence in BW exercises as it is with weights.
>> Anonymous
>>397358
so how is doing pushups with a weighted west or a elastic band a body weight exercise? Don't get me wrong here, I love me some pullups, muscle ups, handstand variations and all off that, but for legs I truly find body weight exercises to be inferior. You can do pistols, you can do them explosivly, but at some point you are going to need to increase the resistance, since weight training for the lower body has sucha complex techniqual side to it I see no reason not to just start of with weights straight away.
>> Anonymous
>>397384
one thing i want to make clear is this: any disucssion we have about training methods has nothing to do with athletic or professional goals. They clearly have something set aside and specified for their goals that we can't even touch.

Talking about what some average joe wants to do to workout their muscle is what we are talking about here. I even mentioned that several times that its not for people with specific goals. HOWEVER! it can be a part of a professional athletes regiment but not the sole aspect.

anyway...about unstable surfaces: there are several studies showing that the reflexes and muscle recruitment for balancing one's body is capable of creating strength and muscle. Obviously i'm not talking about some yoga/pilates "hold your leg in the air while standing on one foot" BS.

I think you're missing what i'm saying here and are trying to turn this into a WEIGHTS ARE BETTER THAN BW EXERCISES.

For the average person, BW exercises will be just as good as weight training, end of story. If you want more specific goals then yes, start looking into weights. But building muscle and strength can be used with BW exercises and slight variations.
>> Anonymous
>>397381
except that without extra weight, it is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to do squats greater than your body weight

e.g., i weigh 160 and I just squatted 190 yesterday (i started doing squats about 2 months ago)

explain to me how it is possible for me to squat 190 without any weights beyond my own bodyweight?
>> Anonymous
>>397383
irrelevant
jumping pistols are bodyweight, sure

but doing jumping pistols WITH A BARBELL AND ADDITIONAL WEIGHTS is superior, and that is my point--using weights is ALWAYS superior because any exercise you can do bodyweight you can do with freeweights and make it MORE DIFFICULT and therefore BETTER
>> Anonymous
>>397393
wow you must be a genius at physics to calculate the amount of resistence you use. Sorry, but the numbers on the plate aren't the only way to test strength.

BTW, i really suggest you all check out rosstraining.com. He is a former boxer now turned coach with a B.S. and maters in exercise science and he is a strong advocate of using both weights and BW exercises and a myriad of other training methods.

He pretty much goes to show you that you don't necesarily have to put up big weights to get strong. Many athletes use an assortment of training that doens't always necesarily focus solely on traditional weight training.
>> Anonymous
>>397392
so first BW is great for a person looking for strength. Now they are just as good as weights as long as we are talking about an "avarage joe." You are still not linking to studies or even mentioning their names to back up your unstablee surface argument, all in all you are doing a pretty bad job at backing up your rather bombastic arguments presented earlier in the thread.
>> Anonymous
>>397401
yeah, they are good for strength. The average person wanting to get strong can use them. Athletes use them as well. They aren't good for athletes exclusively or if are going for the highest possible squat/deadlift.

Also, it depends on the athlete and the sport. There are many athletes that use primarily body weight exercises (gymnasts, fighters) and the variations they use are great for their sport. An athlete that needs high levels of explosivity cannot benefit from them as much as oly lifts. But keep in mind, that plyometrics are essentially body weight exercises and require little equipment and they are one of the most highly used methods of explosive training ever designed.

Don't think thatj ust because a professional athlete doesn't use them exclusively, they are not good for strenght because guess what buddy: the weights you are putting up doesn't put you anywhere near a pro athlete. Your reasoning is flawed: if X person uses Y method, and if I use Y method, then I am on the same level as X person.

BTW, what do i have to prove? This isn't something im pulling out of my ass or that no one would agree with me on. I'm sorry if you don't like the idea that putting up big weights isn't the only way to get strong but that's a fact. There are facts and figures out there but i'm not going to do a job you should be doing regardless simply because you are in denial.
>> Anonymous
COULD YOU GUYS PLEASE GIVE MORE ANSWERS TO OP'S QUESTION ON HOW TO INCREASE YOUR PULLUP COUNT INSTEAD OF FAGGOTING ABOUT WHAT'S BEST BETWEEN WEIGHTS AND BODYWEIGHT?!

THANK YOU.
>> Anonymous
OP: grease the grove tactics, get a pullupbar to mount in a dorway, do the negative thing every time you pass it. Add some fat mans pullups for reps every other day and you should be good to go
>> Anonymous
OP: here are some tips

try using a narrower grip for now

jump and pukll yourself up. Yes, its cheating but for now it at least allowsy ou to get used to pulling yourself up without having to start from dead weight

the band recmondation was also a good one.

try isometrics. grab something above you that you can reach without having to pull yourself up to. Pull down, like your mimicing a pullup and hold in different ranges/poitions for 15 seconds. Look up more for isometrics, they are great way to work through hard spots or exercises.
>> Anonymous
>>397415
just work the muscles involved in the pull up with other exercises until you're strong enough to pull up your body weight (upright row, bent over row, supinated curls, etc)

also you can try putting a chair/table under you while you do them so you can support yourself with your legs a little, and eventually wean yourself off the support
>> Anonymous
you sound like a quitter faggot OP. i couldnt do 1 either but i put a pullup bar on my doorframe and i just did 1 negative pullup everytime i walked in my room.. youre a lazy bitch to me so fuck you for wasting my time typing this bitch ass motherfucker
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
GET ONE OF THESE
>> Anonymous
>>397358
Yeah, up to a point. But my point is that it takes a lot less ingenuity to throw another 5 lbs. on the barbell.
>> Anonymous
i could do them when i was like 7...

god you're a faggot
>> Anonymous
>>397442
I love mine, perfect for apartments and way more grips than regular bars.
>> Anonymous
OP here. Thanks for the input.

Also, I lol'd at all the trolls. However you lacked enough.... umph to make me want to do a reply. So whatever.