Pullups are generally one of the most difficult exercises to master. In fact, most individuals have yet to even achieve their first pull up. And for those who have, they’ll then often struggle to increase reps on pullups. Although you’ve probably already tried a few things to help increase pullup strength or achieve your first ever pullup, the truth is that most people simply use the wrong approaches when it comes to how to improve pullups. In this video though, I’ll show you what research indicates are the most effective steps and routines to achieving your first pullup and then how to increase pullups into the double digits in the fastest way possible.

The first thing you need to do to increase reps on pullups is focus on strengthening the prime movers involved. The first exercise will be the scapular pullups, which targets the lower traps. For this, simply hang from a bar, relax your shoulders down and away from your ears, and then pull your body up without allowing your elbows to bend with a slight pause at the top. Next will be the kneeling lat pulldown, which primarily strengthens the lats and the core, as well as the biceps. Theoretically, this exercise provides the best strength transference to your pullup given the similarly of both movements in terms of muscle activation patterns and is therefore essential that we include it here.

Next, we’re going to use the inverted row to further increase pullup strength by strengthening the pulling strength of your lats, core, and arms but to also emphasize the midtraps a little more. For this, simply hang from a bar with your legs extended on the ground and pull up until your chest just about reaches the bar. Then, you’ll want to progress this overtime by simply lowering the bar and/or elevating your feet to get your body more horizontal.

To really improve pullups, we want to get some actual pullup training in to neurologically get better at the movement itself. If you’re unable to do a pullup or just can’t do very many, you’ll have to first use alternative exercises to accomplish this. And the first exercise we’ll use for this purpose is the banded pullup, which I’d highly recommend incorporating since it’s the closest exercise to the pullup itself. The second exercise will be the negative pullups. These help with strengthening the eccentric portion of the pullup and to also just get you more comfortable with feeling what it’s like to control your bodyweight against gravity. You’ll want to try to work up to a 30 second descent, which will translate to huge strength gains in your actual pullups.

To sum it all up for you, here’s the overall action plan designed to take you to your first pullup, then to your first 1012 pullups, and then to your first weighted pullup and beyond:

Step 1: Getting to 1012 PullUps Straight

Perform & Progress The Following 2x/week:

Scapular PullUps: 3 sets of 1015 reps
Banded PullUps: 3 sets of 612 reps
Kneeling Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets of 1015 reps
Inverted Row: 3 sets of 812 reps (LOWER ANGLE OVERTIME)
PullUp Negatives: 23 sets (WORK UP TO 30S DESCENT)

*Add 2 “max pullup” sets to the beginning of these workouts and also to 12 of your other weights workouts during the week

Step 2: Progression

Perform weighted pullups 2x/week (on one day, use a pullup variation) for 34 sets of 610 reps.
Start with 2.55lbs additional weight, then continue adding 2.55lbs more once you can successfully complete 34 sets of 10 reps with previous weight.
Take a pullups “deload” or “easy” week after every 4 weeks.

Hopefully you can see that by applying the right science and the proper steps into your weekly routine, you’ll be able to experience significantly faster results when it comes to how to increase pullups. And for a stepbystep sciencebased program that builds these protocols and exercises into your weekly plan for you and shows how to properly progress them overtime such that you can break through plateaus and pack on size and strength in the most effective way possible, then take the analysis quiz below to discover which approach is best for your body:
https://builtwithscience.com/bwsfree...

Filmed by: Bruno Martin Del Campo

MUSIC:
Music by Ryan Little Keep Quiet https://thmatc.co/?l=1A891A6B

Subscribe to my channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/jeremyethier/...