How To Increase Your Pull-Ups From 0 to 10+ Reps FAST (3 Science-Based Tips)
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Published 2020-02-02
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 pull-ups, 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 pull-up 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 mid-traps 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 pull-up training in to neurologically get better at the movement itself. If you’re unable to do a pull-up 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 pull-up, which I’d highly recommend incorporating since it’s the closest exercise to the pull-up itself. The second exercise will be the negative pull-ups. These help with strengthening the eccentric portion of the pull-up 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 pull-up, then to your first 10-12 pull-ups, and then to your first weighted pull-up and beyond:
Step 1: Getting to 10-12 Pull-Ups Straight
Perform & Progress The Following 2x/week:
Scapular Pull-Ups: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Banded Pull-Ups: 3 sets of 6-12 reps
Kneeling Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
Inverted Row: 3 sets of 8-12 reps (LOWER ANGLE OVERTIME)
Pull-Up Negatives: 2-3 sets (WORK UP TO 30S DESCENT)
*Add 2 “max pull-up” sets to the beginning of these workouts and also to 1-2 of your other weights workouts during the week
Step 2: Progression
Perform weighted pull-ups 2x/week (on one day, use a pull-up variation) for 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps.
Start with 2.5-5lbs additional weight, then continue adding 2.5-5lbs more once you can successfully complete 3-4 sets of 10 reps with previous weight.
Take a pull-ups “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 step-by-step science-based 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:
builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender?…
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All Comments (21)
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Hope you enjoyed this one! For more diet & training guidance, take our free analysis quiz at builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/ to find which of our step-by-step programs are best suited for transforming your specific body. Cheers!
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I am 73 yr old woman and I do banded pull-ups, inverted and some negative pull-ups every week. But this schedule will really help me get to be able to do them without assistance. When I was 60 I could do 6. Want to get back there and more. Thanks.
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At age 38 and with a busted elbow, I finally achieved my first 10 pullup set thanks largely to this video. Ethier for ever!
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the "what the f*ck" part was the most accurate lol
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When I was a fatty I couldn't do a single rep. After I lost about 130 pounds I remember finally doing one for the first time. That was incredible.
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The thing is i forget all this before my training
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I did the exercise where you jump up and let yourself down slowly for about 2 months. I went from zero to three pull-ups. It works. 10 is my goal by the end of this year. Thanks for this video, Jeremy.
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I never normally never comment but this helped me go from 0 to 2 in a few WEEKS. I have been training my back since before I can remember but when i started to implement the kneeling lat pull downs and scap pulls, I saw tremendous improvement. If you need to get your reps up and fast, incorporate what he says into your workout schedule and you will see results.
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Don't stop when you're tired,stop when you're done."johnny sins"
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For the 3 or something people seeing this, do not give up man, I have been working for an year on doing just one pull up and today I finally did my first 10 pull ups. I started out with barely being able to do 5 push ups and made my way up to doing the 100 push ups a day back in summer of 2020. I did try doing pull ups. After about 5 months I went out with a friend that was able to do 5-10 pull ups and when I tried i couldn't even come close to doing 1 rep. I began working hard and I really wanted to be as good as that friend. 3 months before my first pull up I wanted to prove to my dad that I'm serious and I can achive a goal. I bought a resistance band (35kg) and i could barely do 3 reps with it. After a couple of week of doing pull ups with the resistance band I just grabbed a bar and did a pull up with no problem. But I wasn't able to do more than one. I continued to work and after a couple more weeks of doing abs work out, push ups and pull ups (with resistance band) I was able to do 2 pull ups (doing them for normal reps, even tho my record was 5 and I couldn't do more than it.) After doing 2 reps of 10 sets every day for like 3-4 days I was able to do 3 reps of 10 sets and after 4-5 days ofthat I'm able to do 5 reps of 10 sets. Today I finally achived my goal of 10 pull ups (the other goal is a muscle up, but that would be a lot harder) So don't give up. Trust me. You got this.
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Once a legend said that:start counting when it's hurts
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It's truly incredible how we get all this insight and research-backed information for free. It's no wonder you've continued to grow and help so many people in the process. Many thanks
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I was doing just negatives and a couple of months later I could easily do 12 clean pullups.
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It works 3 weeks of consistent training, I am able to do 2 pull ups in a row! I ran these routine 3 times a week without kneeling latpull tho.
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Well .. just loved how he points out the studies that gives him the foundation
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Jeremy i achieved my first pull up today after training 2x per week for nearly 3 weeks thanks a lot man youre the best fitness youtuber
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My dude Jeremy! I watched this video almost 2 months ago and i could only do 1 proper pullup with correct form and 2 more but incorrect form. Been doing those negatives and scapular pullups 2x a week and now i could do 5 pullups with proper form! You are by far the best of the best here in youtube! Ive been watching other pullups from other channels but i just couldnt add more pullups. Your detailed explaination of doing pullups especially the 2 phases of pullups and pulling shoulders back and down made a huge difference! Thanks Jeremy!
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I was very skeptical about following your content at first until I watched this video and decided to give it a try. In August 2020 I could barely get to 4 pull-ups. Now, January 2021, I am really pleased and happy to say I`ve gotten over 14 reps in a row just following the recommendations laid out in this workout! Thank you so much for providing such amazing tips and explanations for free to us, love from Brazil!
