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- Wish You Could Do Pull-Ups? Here’s How…
Wish You Could Do Pull-Ups? Here’s How…
Clients often tell me “I’d love to be able to do a pull up”
If a want to get your first pull-up? Or even get to double figures? This protocol will help you get there.
Even if you feel a million miles away from doing 1 pull-up right now, worry not, my friend.
If it’s something you’d love to do then you absolutely CAN.
Pull-ups are one of our most commonly celebrated milestones in my inner circle.
I see guys in the 30s, 40s, and even 50s achieving them all the time. Even when they couldn’t do any when they started.
So whether you can do 0, 3, or 10 right now?
These steps will speed up your pull-up mastery.
Oh, and before we get into that, here’s another great reason to work on your pull-ups…
A Strong Looking Back
^^ That’s Gerry.
He never stops talking about how good his back is looking.
When he first started with us on the 28-day Rebirth program, he couldn’t do ONE pull-up.
Now he does a whopping 18 (at 40 years old).
Here’s how he did it…
Equipment needed:
- Pull-up bar
- Self
That’s it!
Now here’s the steps…
- Step 1: Lose weight – Too much timber is your pull-up dream’s worst enemy, but whilst you work on that you can still work through the following steps…
- Step 2: Active hangs (video in PS section below) 3x/week for 3 sets of 10 seconds.
- Step 3: Increase time by 10 seconds each week until you can hang for 3 x 60 seconds (don’t always expect linear increases, take as long as it takes).
- Step 4: Once 3 x 60 sec is achieved, add in flex hangs (video in PS section below) before your active hangs for 3 x 5 seconds – when complete, resist gravity and lower down from the bar as slow as possible (this is called a negative rep and will make you stronger).
- Step 5: Increase flex hangs by 5 seconds each week until you can do 3 x 15 seconds.
- Step 6: Attempt 1 pull-up each time you walk past your bar (or at least twice/day).
- Step 7: Once your first pull-up comes, do 1 pull-up 3x/day for 2 weeks.
- Step 8: After 2 weeks test you max effort (how many your can do in 1 set).
- Step 9: Practice pull-ups 2x/day at 50% effort sets – so if you can do 4 pull-ups, 50% is 2 – for 2 weeks, then test again.
- Step 10: Repeat the process with 50% of your new max effort.
This all sounds simple and straightforward on paper, but remember, you’re not a robot and progress isn’t linear.
You might not be able to add 5 or 10 seconds to your hangs every single week. Some days you’ll do less pull-ups than the day before. Some days you’ll miss your hang or pull-up practice because life.
And that’s ok. You’re not a robot. You’re human.
Just stick with the process and take as long is as takes.
You WILL get there with consistency.
And your future self will be proud as punch!
Get after it.
– Dean
PS – Here’s some tutorials to help you with this:
Active Hang:
Flex Hang:
Pull-Up:
Chin-Ups:
PPS – If you need some help putting this into a structured program that not only helps you beat the dad-bod and gain strength, but also get more of an athletic look to your body?
Put your email address into any of the opt-in boxes on this page and you’ll get a free copy of my busy dad’s body transformation package.
About the Author Dean McMenamin
Dean McMenamin is an Army veteran, father, dog-lover and body transformation coach to every day men all over the UK & Ireland. He's also a big eater of ice-cream.