The Pull Up Challenge, 2011

Rik-Blades · Post by **Rik-Blades** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:27 am

Tested today, popped a ibuprofen and did 10 (10 was a grind) @ 215 BW

Guess my goal is 11

Higgy · Post by **Higgy** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 10:31 am

I feel hurt you left me out! LOL

Put me in for 10 shoulder width with a goal of 12.

Jungledoc wrote:With a few additions, corrections and changes:

Proper Knob--PR 14 narrow "semi neutral". Goal=15
robertscott--he's in, but hasn't reported a PR or goal
wilburburns--in, but no PR or goal yet
Jebus--will do weighted pulls, but no PR reported yet
jml--New test, PR12. Goal 13
slashnul--PR 10 pullups. Goal=11
Travis--New test, PR 12. Goal 13.
pdellorto--PR 16 chinups (I believe). Goal=17+. That is now official.
robt-aus--PR 7 pullups, close grip. Goal=8
Ryan A--PR 8, going for 10.
KPj--PR 18. Or is it 20? What is it, really?
stuward--PR 10. Goal is to be able to do 10 daily for 5 days.
bam--7 wide grip pullups. Goal 8
jungledoc--PR 12 chinups. Goal 13. Maybe 14.
Velcropop--6 neutral grip. Goal 8.
Rikblades--to retest soon
Kab3261--5 close-grip chins. Goal 7.
Nkkip--Counts 15. We'll trust his counting this time!
Hoister--PR BW+50x25. Goal 27 reps!
Jebus--PR 1. Goal 2. Simple, huh?
NightFall--Just got BW+75x3. Goal 6.
Stephen Johnson--I think he's saying that his recent best is 10, so I assume goal is 11?

Anyone can still join!

slashnul · Post by **slashnul** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 1:52 pm

I'd like to refine my goals. My PR is 10, but 13 with kipping. Id like a 30% increase in a months time.
13 pronated medium-width deadhang pullups

Grifftan · Post by **Grifftan** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 4:48 am

hope its not too late to join in!!!

BW 193lbs

pronated - shoulder width - 8 - goal is 10

supinated - 11 - goal is 15

Post by **Jungledoc** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 7:42 am

The newest changes:

Proper Knob--PR 14 narrow "semi neutral". Goal=15
robertscott--he's in, but hasn't reported a PR or goal
wilburburns--in, but no PR or goal yet
Jebus--will do weighted pulls, but no PR reported yet
jml--New test, PR12. Goal 13
slashnul--PR 10 pullups. Goal=11
Travis--New test, PR 12. Goal 13.
pdellorto--PR 16 chinups (I believe). Goal=17+. That is now official.
robt-aus--PR 7 pullups, close grip. Goal=8
Ryan A--PR 8, going for 10.
KPj--PR 18. A 10% increase rounds up to 20!
stuward--PR 10. Goal is to be able to do 10 daily for 5 days.
bam--7 wide grip pullups. Goal 8
jungledoc--PR 12 chinups. Goal 13. Maybe 14.
Velcropop--6 neutral grip. Goal 8.
Rikblades--to retest soon
Kab3261--5 close-grip chins. Goal 7.
Nkkip--Counts 15. We'll trust his counting this time!
Hoister--PR BW+50x25. Goal 27 reps!
Jebus--PR 1. Goal 2. Simple, huh?
NightFall--Just got BW+75x3. Goal 6.
Stephen Johnson--I think he's saying that his recent best is 10, so I assume goal is 11?
Higgy--10 going for 12
Griftan PR 8 pronated, 11 supinated. Goals of 10 and 15, respectively.

Today I did doubles, and ended up going to 20 sets. So Tuesday I did 20 reps, today 40. My lats and even my traps are feeling tired, but not really sore. Next workout I'm planning to to triples to about 50 total. Or at least I'll see how it goes. Next week ladders.

Anyone can still jump in!

robertscott · Post by **robertscott** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:05 am

although I said I was going for 20, I think really 14 is more likely

My elbow injury means no pressing for a couple of weeks so this couldn't have come at a better time

KPj · Post by **KPj** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:24 am

robertscott wrote:although I said I was going for 20, I think really 14 is more likely

My elbow injury means no pressing for a couple of weeks so this couldn't have come at a better time

I got off to a great start too lol... Hurt right shoulder in an arm wrestle on Sat night and got some nice elbow pain to deal with, too, on the other arm. I think from training upper body 5x last week and finishing on a "mess around" day where I was doing JM presses and the likes. So I had about 40 mins last night to train, had a painfull left knee, left hip, left elbow, and right shoulder. Felt fantastic. I was dissappointed I never had back pain, too! However I just done loads of rolling, stretching, moving, etc and left the gym pain free. Today the hip is painfull again which was expected, the right shoulder just feels "tight" now, but elbow feels good, so I'll be fine for this.

Get a tennis ball into the shoulder on the side with the elbow pain as much as possible - you'll be surprised!

BTW just to clarify my last PR was 18. I did attempt the other 2 but they were short, so it's deffinitly 18.

KPj

robertscott · Post by **robertscott** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:28 am

KPj wrote:[Get a tennis ball into the shoulder on the side with the elbow pain as much as possible - you'll be surprised!

you're my hero Kenny, I'll try that tonight

Stephen Johnson · Post by **Stephen Johnson** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:59 am

Jungledoc wrote:Stephen Johnson--I think he's saying that his recent best is 10, so I assume goal is 11?

I've decided to switch from pull ups with a shoulder width supinated grip to a shoulder width pronated grip. My best ever with a pronated grip is 8, which I'll try to match or (hopefully) break.

Just assuming the dead hang position with a supinated grip hurts my elbow, but there's almost no pain with a pronated grip. I did 5 or 6 single pronated reps last night at the gym, and my elbow is OK today. Still, I'll take a week off before starting to train in earnest - lifting beer mugs during the SuperBowl tomorrow is hard work!

Post by **stuward** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:31 am

Stephen, have you tried a parallel grip? I know not all gyms have that type of bar but it's easier on the elbows. One gym I go to has this type of bar.

Lots of options here.

Stephen Johnson · Post by **Stephen Johnson** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:07 pm

stuward wrote:Stephen, have you tried a parallel grip? .

Yeah - the Cybex Assisted Pull-Up/Dip station has a neutral (parallel) grip, and one of the cable crossover machines has one, too. I tried the neutral grip, but found the pronanted grip to be less irritating.

I screwed up my right elbow shovelling snow last week. It's a lot better now, but I'm paranoid about doing anything that might cause a relapse. These soft tissue injuries take forever to heal once you pass 50.

I have a tendency to initiate pull-ups with my arms anyway, so the pronated grip will keep me honest.

Thanks for your concern, and good luck in reaching your goal.

Post by **Jungledoc** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 4:56 pm

I made a pair of grips out of nylon webbing and a short piece of PVC pipe. You can just slip them over various parts of the pullup bar to give you neutral grips (or any variation in between). I suppose you could work something out with a caribiner to use where you couldn't slip something over the end of the bar.

KPj · Post by **KPj** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:44 am

Lot's of elbow pain going on with this challenge!

My elbow felt good on Friday, so started doing weighted pull ups. I worked up to 35KG, and it started to hurt again. So, I decided to do some bodyweight pull ups and tried the "ladders" mentioned before. Kept the rest at 30 seconds max, a lot was just 15, and got 6 "ladders" (1,2,3,4,5). These are actually quite enjoyable. You get loads of good explosive perfect reps. That was 90 reps in 15 mins I got just from the ladders. The 6th was a real struggle but all chest to bars with the reps. Think I would of failed on the 7th ladder, but never tried due to pain. My elbow was killing me by the end.

Best part is, I spied the massage women in my gym at reception afterwards. So I walked up holding my elbow and casually asked how she was... Trying to look as vulnerable as possible... She asked what was wrong with the elbow, then gave me about 15-20 mins of soft tissue work, and a few lectures. It felt amazing, got rid of the pain, and it's not hurt since

I've decided she must be some kind of angel. Really "sweet" women who clearly loves what she does.

KPj

Stephen Johnson · Post by **Stephen Johnson** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:58 pm

I did 2 sets of 10 supine (inverted) rows supersetted with 2 sets of push-ups at the gym tonight. I alternated between pronated and supinated grips for the rows, and my elbow came out OK for now. Hopefully, there won't be any stiffness tomorrow morning.

I also did two sets of 10 close-grip dips with good form (for me) - I wish I could chin as well as I can dip.

Post by **stuward** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:14 am

I've been taking the approach of frequent exposures at less than max so I include them in my warmup. I used to do 5 reps/warmup and I stayed there for some time. A couple of months ago I started at 6, then 7, then your challenge started. I've been doing 8 for the last few workouts. It may be a while before I can go to 9 on a regular basis. Once a week, I do pull downs with challenging weight and different grips. I'll do a max attempt at the end of the month anyway and hope to break 10.