Confession time.
I'm extremely scrawny, bros.
My maxes are as follows:
- I can do 10 pushups.
- I can do 15 sit ups.
- I can do 3 pull ups.
- I can do 40 squats.
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But I can't do a single chin up.
Whenever I try to do a chin up, it ends up being little more than a dead hang (barely a couple inches), then my arms go limp.
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I know what I need to do for everything else: do more.
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But how does one go about gaining the strength to do at least 1 chin up?
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Edit: I'm 6 foot even @ 185lbs, for reference.
WalterBlackPC 5y ago
PM me. Your back is probably weak as fuck, but we would need to talk about your lifts before a conclusion can be reached.
Capital_Recognition 5y ago
Are you trying to be in a chin up competition? Or, do you want to get stronger? If so, do 5 x 5 lifts for the next year and start reading up on lifting and nutrition.
boy_named_su 5y ago
Do lat pulldowns at the gym until you hit your body weight
RedLegendx 5y ago
If your goal is just to be able to do chin ups and or pull ups do the negative part of the rep (eccentric part of the movement) stand on a chair or bench with your chest already at the bar hold on to it and go down the slowest you can.
I highly suggest you hop on a strength program for the next year though, that will help you make huge strength gains for you to be able to handle tougher workouts later on though.
Project_Zero_Betas 5y ago
If you can do pull-ups but not chin-ups, it means your biceps are REALLY weak. Work on those in tandem with your back.
D3athN0te101 5y ago
Actually, according to this article, it looks like I got them mixed up.
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I can't do pullups (palms facing away from my body)
Project_Zero_Betas 5y ago
Okay, then you need to work on your lats. Use wide-grip lat pull-downs and single-arm pull downs on a cable machine until you're able to do a couple reps of regular grip pull-ups.
mrmaldoror 5y ago
Just keep trying.
Kurush559 5y ago
Just use the lat pull down machine to build up your strength bro
SalporinRP 5y ago
Use a lat-pulldown machine to build lat strength.
Also a lot of gyms these day's have assisted pullup machines where you rest your knees on a moving weighted platform.
When I first started lifting I could only do 4-5 pull-ups in a set so I did the assisted machine and used it to take 20-30 lbs off my bodyweight so I could do sets of 7-10 reps.
Built strength using that and now I can do 3 sets of 12-15 by myself. Not amazing, but a huge improvement from before.