If there’s one body weight exercise that is the staple for upper body strength, it’s the pull up. Many otherwise strong and fit looking men and women struggle just to do a few solid reps.
If you’re struggling to get your numbers up, then this article is for you. I have the simplest and most effective methods for increasing pull ups that have worked for myself and for many others. It isn’t fancy. It isn’t complicated. But, it works. And that’s all that matters.
If you can’t do a single pull up, I recommend starting out using Pull up resistance bands, and spending some time focusing on getting stronger before you start trying to boost your numbers.
What won’t work
I always like to start off with the common mistakes people make when trying to achieve a goal. In this case, the biggest mistake I see (and have made myself) is trying to do way too much volume.
Following someone else’s 200 pull ups per day method isn’t going to work for you if you can only get a few solid reps. Even if you can do 10 right now. It just isn’t necessary to kill yourself with hundreds of reps!
Check out these two simple methods, then read on to see how you can use them together to boost your pull up numbers dramatically.
Greasing the Groove
“Greasing the Groove” is a term coined by Pavel Tsatsouline, the legendary Russian Trainer. It means performing a movement often, without going to failure or using heavy resistance. The purpose is to reinforce the movement pattern.
The human body is an amazing machine. It is always seeking efficiency: The ability to perform tasks using the least amount of energy. If we repeat something often, we reinforce the neuromuscular efficiency of that movement.
Repetition teaches the nervous system to more efficiently recruit muscle fibers to perform the movement.
**If you don’t have access to a gym, get a Doorway Pull up Bar and do them from home!
How to “Grease the Groove.”
To use this method, simply perform a set of one or two pull ups periodically throughout the day, keeping a count of how many total reps you’re doing. Start with a low number like 10 or 20 each day and slowly increase that number over time.
Using this method, you shouldn’t be going for max reps or pushing the envelope at all. You simply perform a couple reps, and then go on about your business.
The Once a Day Max Rep Set
A few years ago, while preparing for a military training, I had a goal of being able to do 20 pull ups. At the time I was able to get 8-10.
I researched several methods and took advice from a lot of people. I tried using pyramids and my numbers actually suffered. Every approach I used involved high volume. I was doing hundreds of pull ups, but I still couldn’t get more than 10 in one set.
Then I ran into a trainer who really changed my perspective on the whole problem. He told me to just do one set every day of as many reps as possible, then leave it alone. Fast forward about 6 weeks from that day, and vuola! I got 21 pull ups!
How to use the once a day max rep method
This is probably the easiest method possible. And while I know people love fancy programs and schemes, all that matters at the end of the day is what works. And this works.
Simply perform one set of max reps of pull ups each day. It’s tempting to want to do more, but don’t. We have it ingrained in us that more is better. But this is a myth in a lot of ways, and training smarter is a real thing.
You can expect that your numbers will go up and down periodically. Don’t be discouraged, as there will be an upward trend if you just continue the process.
Combine the methods
Now that you understand these methods, let me give you a template I’ve used to get really big improvements in pull ups. You can simply alternate between the two methods, taking one day per week off completely.
If you work out, just perform your pull ups at the beginning of the workout and then go about your training as you usually do.
Conclusion
Most people want to be able to do more pull ups. It’s always impressive to watch someone jump up and bang out 20 solid reps on the bar. And that can be you!
To recap, we discussed:
Greasing the Groove: repeating a movement often to reinforce movement patterns. This means not going to failure, but doing a few reps repeatedly throughout the day.
Neuromuscular efficiency: The nervous system learns to perform a movement more efficiently, recruiting more muscle fibers faster, using the least amount of energy.
Once a Day method: Performing one set of max reps each day.
Follow these methods for 6 weeks, and let me know how much your numbers improved!
Until next time, thanks for being here, and I hope this article helps you get a little bit closer to that best version of you.
*Note: This article contains affiliate links. Any item purchases comes at no additional cost to you, and is considered a quality product by us.
Mike (Supastrong)
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
Recovery Training should be performed the day after a high intensity session. Learning How to recover faster can be a game changer.
Prioritizing recovery will speed up your gains and reduce injuries.
Purposefully using recovery training can improve your strength, endurance and resilience to stress.
“No Pain, No gain…”
“The harder you train, the more you gain…”
This is the common logic used by most of us who are passionate about our training. But the logic is wrong, and it’s costing you. Best case it will simply cost you progress in your training. Worst case, it’ll take an injury or two, or three, to make you realize the importance of properly programming recovery into your training.
I used the train-all-out-every-day method for a long time. I was stuck in a cycle of driving myself into the ground. I always wondered why I wasn’t much better with all the effort I put in. Recovery was the missing link.
What is Recovery Training?
Recovery Training is a specific type of training you can implement to speed up recovery from more intense sessions. Recovery training will allow your body to adapt to training faster, i.e., you can get bigger, stronger, better.. in less time, with less risk for injury.
Why You Need It
Training with high intensity more than once or twice a week should be reserved for elite level athletes. Even they keep it to no more than 3 high intensity sessions per week. This is because the body simply cannot recover from (and adapt to) that much intensity. Training too hard, too often will lead to negative results 100% of the time. Get it out of your head that progress = max effort every time you train. Research clearly tells us that this is false. Check out my article on the dangers of too much High Intensity Training Here: Is HIIT sabotaging your fitness?
How to Implement Recovery Training to Recover Faster
A Recovery Session can be broken down into 5 parts. The total length of the session shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes or so.
1. Breathing
Assume a quadruped position (on all fours) on the floor, or just lay flat on your back. Take in 5 deep breaths through the nose, and out through the mouth. This isn’t meditation. You’re simply preparing the mind and body for the upcoming session. Take note of any soreness or fatigue you feel in the body.
2. Foam Rolling and Light Stretching
Perform about 5 minutes of light, dynamic stretching and foam rolling. This isn’t the time to do static stretching (holding for prolonged periods). Check out the video below by TrainHeroic (an amazing app if you’re looking for training programs and great coaches). The “Agile 8” is a great warmup.
Video by TrainHeroic. Check their App out for awesome programming
3. 30 Minutes of Light Cardiovascular Training
This is best accomplished with a heart rate monitor. You should aim to keep the heart rate between 120-135 beats per minute. You can use any method you want… treadmill, elliptical, swimming, light shadow boxing or drills, or a mixture of implements. I like to spend 10 minutes on 3 different activities.
4. 1-2 Strength Movements
Perform 1-2 strength movements, preferably full body compound movements like the Deadlift or Olympic lifts. Perform 3 sets of 3-5 reps at no more than 85-90% of your max. Aim a little low if you’re in doubt. We want to stimulate recovery in the body and nervous system, not incur more stress to recover from.
5. Cool Down, Stretching, Breathing
Spend the last 10 minutes or so with a cool down. Perform 5 minutes of very light cardio, and really try to drive the heart rate as low as possible. Spend another 5 minutes or so doing some longer, static stretching. Continue to focus on being relaxed. End the session the same way you started. Take some deep, relaxing breaths. Drive the heart rate as low as you can. You should walk out of the gym feeling good.
The Benefits of The Recovery Session
This light training will allow your body to remove waste products built up from previous, higher intensity workouts. It will push blood flow into the joints, ligaments and tendons, which can be slower to recover. Blood flow will also be pushed into damaged muscle tissue, speeding up recovery.
Most importantly, the low intensity cardiovascular work trains the heart to pump more blood per beat (cardiac output). The low intensity work is essential for a strong foundation of aerobic fitness. A strong aerobic base allows the body to recover faster… You see where this is going?
By prioritizing recovery, your high intensity sessions, once or twice a week, can become even more intense and productive, and your progress will certainly become more rapid. You’ll be less likely to get injured, more resilient, and healthier overall. Learning how to recover faster has dramatically improved my overall fitness and conditioning, and I know it will do the same for you. Let me know what you think!
“Train smart at all times and do your best to avoid injury. Training Smart is more important than training hard.”
-Georges St. Pierre
No matter how great you think your conditioning is, the water can be extremely humbling. It is unforgiving, but offers big rewards to those who smartly choose to incorporate some pool workouts into their training. This is as true for combat and tactical athletes as for any other sport requiring a high level of aerobic fitness.
As a Combat or Tactical Athlete, you no doubt put yourself through some brutal training. The high intensity training you perform puts a lot of stress on the joints, as well as on the nervous system which is constantly trying to recover from these sessions.
Swimming offers 4 invaluable benefits that will be highly complimentary to your training and performance, all while being low impact on the joints. I’ll also list a few workouts you can incorporate right away to get started.
Improve Strength-Endurance
One of the most beneficial attributes for a combat athlete (or most athletes), is strength-endurance. It’s great to be strong and powerful, but if you cannot continue to express your strength beyond the first round, then it is essentially useless. Swimming offers a constant resistance, as you must continue moving against the resistance of the water or you will go under. Build up to Swimming 1000 meters at a nice slow pace, then work on doing it faster or add distance.
Promote Recovery
Performing low to moderate intensity training can help push the body into a parasympathetic recovery state. Instead of hammering away at your body when you’re already in a recovery-debt, try doing some long, slow distance (LSD) training in the pool. This can be done as one long session (30-45 mins), or in intervals. low intensity cardiovascular training helps the body get rid of waste products created during high intensity training, and pushes blood flow into the joints and muscles.The result is faster recovery between sessions.
Cardio-Respiratory Control
If you’ve never worked out in the water before, the first challenge you’ll encounter is keeping control of your breathing and fatigue level. You cannot breathe under the water, and so cannot take a breath whenever you need to. You need to establish a rhythm and learn to be comfortable with limited breaths. This can have a dramatic effect on your ability, as you may quickly reach exhaustion and panic as you feel you are reaching exhaustion and cannot breathe. Obviously, controlling your breathing and energy output are critical skills for any athlete, none more so than a fighter. Lose your breathing in the ring, and you are in big trouble. Learn to slow down and stay in control, breathe, move, relax… Drive your heart rate down.. You can control your fatigue while still moving. This is known as “Dynamic Energy Control,” and is a mandatory skill for an athlete to possess.
Focus Under Fatigue/Mental Toughness
Swimming will force you to constantly be focused as you must continue to breathe and move under constant exertion. This can be immensely beneficial to an athlete, as you will enhance the ability to control your breathing and energy output without panicking. Training sprints in the pool can enhance this quality even further. You WILL want to stop moving as you accumulate fatigue and your lungs are begging for more air. Being able to overcome this can have a dramatic effect on your lung capacity and your mental toughness under fatigue.
Some Workout Examples/lessons on how to swim
LSD (long-slow-distance) swim – Swim at a low intensity constantly for 20-30 minutes.
LSD swim – Swim 1000 meters at a low intensity, gradually build up to and beyond 1000 meters.
Sprints – Try Swimming some 100 meter sprints, with rest between sprints equal to the duration it took to complete the 100m. (1:1 work/rest). Gradually add more volume to the sessions and work on moving faster.
Mixed Sessions – Do 10-20 pushups outside of the pool, jump in and swim 50 meters, repeat. Try 3-5 sets of 3 reps of this to start, with 1:1 work to rest ratio. Gradually increase the volume of the sessions over time.
It’s best to use a mixture of these methods, as swimming likely isn’t your primary sport and you are using it as a low impact recovery/conditioning method. Once a week would be fine in this scenario.
Which Stroke should you use?
I personally love the Combat Side Stroke. I learned it by watching videos on youtube, and you can too. You can also use a freestyle stroke. Be patient if it’s new.. You will get it!
Remember. If you’re using swimming as a method of enhancing recovery.. keep the intensity low to moderate for longer durations. If you want some higher intensity conditioning without the added stress to the joints, use sprints and work on decreasing the rest periods between reps.
Hope this was helpful, leave a comment and let me know!
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