After 40 club

[AndyGog]

Andy while you don't desperately need to do any lift, I would let discouragement guide you. There are quite a number of guys older than you that I've seen go from zero chinups to doing chinups with weight. If you can only do 2 now, maybe try doing just one whenever you get the chance, like between sets of your other lifts, or get a doorway chinup bar. Just stick to the idea of no struggling on any rep. Or build up to them with pulldowns, not ideal but it will work, that is what I've seen most guys do. There are probably some special programs that I don't know about, but between pulldowns and some 1 rep chinups you'll get there.

Thanks. I'll do pull downs for now and look into a doorway pull up bar. I might have to stretch the percentages a bit because the pulldown machine in my gym only has increments of 5kg.

[Barkadion]

Andy while you don't desperately need to do any lift, I would let discouragement guide you. There are quite a number of guys older than you that I've seen go from zero chinups to doing chinups with weight. If you can only do 2 now, maybe try doing just one whenever you get the chance, like between sets of your other lifts, or get a doorway chinup bar. Just stick to the idea of no struggling on any rep. Or build up to them with pulldowns, not ideal but it will work, that is what I've seen most guys do. There are probably some special programs that I don't know about, but between pulldowns and some 1 rep chinups you'll get there.

Thanks. I'll do pull downs for now and look into a doorway pull up bar. I might have to stretch the percentages a bit because the pulldown machine in my gym only has increments of 5kg.

Andy, try this link:

http://www.strongfirst.com/the-fighter- ... revisited/

Pavel's pull-up program is proven by many good guys. I bet some bad guys used it too

It has programing for 3RM that might be close to your need.

Also, keep in mind that pull ups are related to your body weight. You might loose some layers in the regular training. So, your pull-ups will go up. Another dimension is some mental barrier. Like "I can do only N pull-ups". That is some sort of illusion in a way. Break through it.

You will get there, mate.

Good luck!

[J-Madd]

As a beginner, this thread is giving me a lot of motivation!

I'm just planning my first, 12 week Operator block having just read the 3rd Edition of TB.
My biggest problem is that I can only do about 2 chin ups as an absolute maximum. Is there any benefit to doing 3x1 chin ups, 3 times a week?

The obvious alternatives at my gym are an assisted pull up machine or lat pull downs. Or I could just do rows or deadlifts instead.

I appreciate that I need to do chin ups to be able to do chin ups, but as I'm lifting for health and to make sure I'm strong going into older age (I'm 44), maybe I don't desperately need to do chin ups.

Thanks in advance for anyone's opinions.

Andy, welcome aboard. The programs the other fellas recommend are spot on. The key to getting good at pull-ups is adding lots of volume of high-quality reps, though stopping far short of failure. In your case, that might just mean hitting a few singles at the end of your lifting sessions. I know some people have had great luck putting a door hang pull-up bar in their home, and every time they go through a certain doorway they hit a single. Over time it will add up, and your reps increase. Doing negative reps, bent arm hangs, assisted reps and the like are all reportedly effective. Using a pull-up machine is not my preference, since (at least for me) it seems to have an entirely different groove than the natural pull-up motion, so I'm doubtful of its carry over to the real thing. Others have had different results, so take that with a grain of salt.

You don't need to answer this, but it's something to bear in mind. How much do you weigh? Carrying a lot of extra "baggage" really makes a difference on pull-ups. Joe Defranco claims that he has found that the number of pull-ups someone can do is a really good predictor of body composition among the athletes he trains. If you are just coming back to exercise after an extended period "on the couch", you might see some pretty big jumps in your pull-up numbers as you drop some body fat through your overall exercise and diet regime.

[AndyGog]

As a beginner, this thread is giving me a lot of motivation!

I'm just planning my first, 12 week Operator block having just read the 3rd Edition of TB.
My biggest problem is that I can only do about 2 chin ups as an absolute maximum. Is there any benefit to doing 3x1 chin ups, 3 times a week?

The obvious alternatives at my gym are an assisted pull up machine or lat pull downs. Or I could just do rows or deadlifts instead.

I appreciate that I need to do chin ups to be able to do chin ups, but as I'm lifting for health and to make sure I'm strong going into older age (I'm 44), maybe I don't desperately need to do chin ups.

Thanks in advance for anyone's opinions.

Andy, welcome aboard. The programs the other fellas recommend are spot on. The key to getting good at pull-ups is adding lots of volume of high-quality reps, though stopping far short of failure. In your case, that might just mean hitting a few singles at the end of your lifting sessions. I know some people have had great luck putting a door hang pull-up bar in their home, and every time they go through a certain doorway they hit a single. Over time it will add up, and your reps increase. Doing negative reps, bent arm hangs, assisted reps and the like are all reportedly effective. Using a pull-up machine is not my preference, since (at least for me) it seems to have an entirely different groove than the natural pull-up motion, so I'm doubtful of its carry over to the real thing. Others have had different results, so take that with a grain of salt.

You don't need to answer this, but it's something to bear in mind. How much do you weigh? Carrying a lot of extra "baggage" really makes a difference on pull-ups. Joe Defranco claims that he has found that the number of pull-ups someone can do is a really good predictor of body composition among the athletes he trains. If you are just coming back to exercise after an extended period "on the couch", you might see some pretty big jumps in your pull-up numbers as you drop some body fat through your overall exercise and diet regime.

Thanks for the ideas. No problem with the question, I'm about 80kg at about 20-25% bodyfat with pretty much no strength or muscle mass. That's why I was wondering about pull ups. I'm not in a big rush to do them, I was only asking because they're included in the recommended Operator cluster in the 3rd edition of TB.

Sounds like the best approach is to leave them for now. Replace them with rows or pulldowns and wait for my strength to go up and bodyfat to go down.

[AndyGog]

Andy while you don't desperately need to do any lift, I would let discouragement guide you. There are quite a number of guys older than you that I've seen go from zero chinups to doing chinups with weight. If you can only do 2 now, maybe try doing just one whenever you get the chance, like between sets of your other lifts, or get a doorway chinup bar. Just stick to the idea of no struggling on any rep. Or build up to them with pulldowns, not ideal but it will work, that is what I've seen most guys do. There are probably some special programs that I don't know about, but between pulldowns and some 1 rep chinups you'll get there.

Thanks. I'll do pull downs for now and look into a doorway pull up bar. I might have to stretch the percentages a bit because the pulldown machine in my gym only has increments of 5kg.

Andy, try this link:

http://www.strongfirst.com/the-fighter- ... revisited/

Pavel's pull-up program is proven by many good guys. I bet some bad guys used it too

It has programing for 3RM that might be close to your need.

Also, keep in mind that pull ups are related to your body weight. You might loose some layers in the regular training. So, your pull-ups will go up. Another dimension is some mental barrier. Like "I can do only N pull-ups". That is some sort of illusion in a way. Break through it.

You will get there, mate.

Good luck!

Thanks. I'd seen that program and tried it briefly about a year ago. I found it tough going though. I probably need to gain some strength and drop some excess body weight before I worry about pull ups.

[J-Madd]

Good plan Andy. Don't be afraid to thrown some pull-up singles into the mix. That will still advance the ball.

[Moz69]

Just want to thank Bark for starting this and everyone for contributing to this thread the advice here is invaluable to myself I thought i'd learned a few things about training over the years but feel truly humbled by the wealth of knowledge that is freely given here.

I've recently gone back to rope work as warm ups and some HiC to help work on my coordination and agility and after reading a post by J-madd where he mentioned bear crawls I looked into animal movements and recently started using them for a dynamic warm up which I feel ties in with what KB mentioned about accessory work and something I progressed to naturally as i felt i needed it.

Currently into week 3 of OP Black and thinking of moving to Zulu after this 3 week block it appears to tick all the boxes maybe go intermediate and push to the 4 sets per exercise for reasons mentioned and tie in nicely with my current FP, FQ, C&P, WPU, DL, or might drop DL while working on S&S twice per week.

[Barkadion]

Just want to thank Bark for starting this and everyone for contributing to this thread the advice here is invaluable to myself I thought i'd learned a few things about training over the years but feel truly humbled by the wealth of knowledge that is freely given here.

I've recently gone back to rope work as warm ups and some HiC to help work on my coordination and agility and after reading a post by J-madd where he mentioned bear crawls I looked into animal movements and recently started using them for a dynamic warm up which I feel ties in with what KB mentioned about accessory work and something I progressed to naturally as i felt i needed it.

Currently into week 3 of OP Black and thinking of moving to Zulu after this 3 week block it appears to tick all the boxes maybe go intermediate and push to the 4 sets per exercise for reasons mentioned and tie in nicely with my current FP, FQ, C&P, WPU, DL, or might drop DL while working on S&S twice per week.

Glad it helps, mate! It helps me personally a lot as well

Can you please elaborate on why you are choosing Zulu over OP for your next block? I am genuinely interested in your personal thinking/opinion about that. It's been discussed across the forum(s) but it is still good topic for discussion.. IMHO...

Also... mmm.. what is FP and FQ? French Press and Front...Q?

Thanks!

[Moz69]

Just want to thank Bark for starting this and everyone for contributing to this thread the advice here is invaluable to myself I thought i'd learned a few things about training over the years but feel truly humbled by the wealth of knowledge that is freely given here.

I've recently gone back to rope work as warm ups and some HiC to help work on my coordination and agility and after reading a post by J-madd where he mentioned bear crawls I looked into animal movements and recently started using them for a dynamic warm up which I feel ties in with what KB mentioned about accessory work and something I progressed to naturally as i felt i needed it.

Currently into week 3 of OP Black and thinking of moving to Zulu after this 3 week block it appears to tick all the boxes maybe go intermediate and push to the 4 sets per exercise for reasons mentioned and tie in nicely with my current FP, FQ, C&P, WPU, DL, or might drop DL while working on S&S twice per week.

Glad it helps, mate! It helps me personally a lot as well

Can you please elaborate on why you are choosing Zulu over OP for your next block? I am genuinely interested in your personal thinking/opinion about that. It's been discussed across the forum(s) but it is still good topic for discussion.. IMHO...

Also... mmm.. what is FP and FQ? French Press and Front...Q?

Thanks!

Apologies Bark. FP floor press and it should be FS front squat.

The reason for Zulu I just feel after reading this post and retreading TB that this would be more suited to my current lifestyle demands ability to recover send to taking a hit and feel the twice a week woukd be more beneficial to this. I'm currently balancing studies and pulling in night shifts and at 46 finding it a balancing act.

I like the idea of going in doing a good warm up then the strength work and tie it in with hic or HC at the end and should be able to get 4 of these in a week with training and still have 3 days off

Currently loving the movements as well as gc bag work etc and want to run with that and see where it goes.

hope that makes sense, typing this in from my phone so apologies if the reply is a bit disjointed but I think you get the just.

[Barkadion]

Apologies Bark. FP floor press and it should be FS front squat.

The reason for Zulu I just feel after reading this post and retreading TB that this would be more suited to my current lifestyle demands ability to recover send to taking a hit and feel the twice a week woukd be more beneficial to this. I'm currently balancing studies and pulling in night shifts and at 46 finding it a balancing act.

I like the idea of going in doing a good warm up then the strength work and tie it in with hic or HC at the end and should be able to get 4 of these in a week with training and still have 3 days off

Currently loving the movements as well as gc bag work etc and want to run with that and see where it goes.

hope that makes sense, typing this in from my phone so apologies if the reply is a bit disjointed but I think you get the just.

Makes perfect sense! Thank you for replying.

Good luck to you and please share your experience!