How to do one pull up

Here's an excellent article I just found on how to achieve your first pull up. The thing is, it's relevant to a lot of other exercises too, and as introduced me to a lot of new concepts.
I thought I'd share it here: http://www.fitness666.com/2012/10/how-to-do-one-pull-up.html

 

A strong spotter helps, with a little push, and a bit of moral support.

 

I can get my chest to the bar with chin ups but not pullups I think its because my scapulars don't retract enough.

Would a good way to strengthen them be to pull half way to 90 degrees then gently shrug my shoulders up and forward then retract and depress them a few times?

 

There is my attempts the left shoulder is higher I'll have to focus on that next time I try them.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaNPgWubx20"]MVI 48751 - YouTube[/ame]
It was more difficult than I thought it would be.

 

Try Scooby's way. This is how I was able to get myself doing pullups.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=mRznU6pzez0&feature=endscreen"]How To Do Your First Pullup! (Then 8 more!) - YouTube[/ame]

 

That video looks like something from a horror film.
Kept expecting something to burst out of your back.
No offense like.

 

Be careful you don't injure yourself. Here's Scooby on proper form. Depending on what your goals are be sure your not wasting time or damaging yourself needlessly. Good Luck!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZF0Uz7rty8"]Proper form of the pullup - bodybuilding basics - YouTube[/ame]

 

Its not my own invention i saw it recommended in the comments to this video by the person that posted it.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3wPsaR1fPE"]Hollow Pull Ups: Build a more powerful back! - YouTube[/ame]

 

I am still impressed and creeped out at the same time, flaming. XD

 

I read somewhere that only 1% of Americans can do 10 pull ups or more

and from of all places Lance Armstrong's site:

The President's Council raises the number of pull-ups required to meet the 50th percentile for teenagers by several repetitions. Thirteen-year-old males are expected to perform three pull-ups. Fourteen-year-olds are expected to perform 2 more reps for a total of 5 reps for meeting the 50th percentile. Fifteen-year-olds are expected to complete 6 reps; while 16-years-olds should do 7 reps, and 18-year-olds do 8 reps.
Adults
Males over the age of 18 are expected to perform 8 repetitions of pull-ups to be classified as in "borderline shape" according to the President's Council. The average number of pull-ups a male can do begins to decline around the 31 to 50 age bracket, and is normally associated with a decline in physical activity and an increase in weight.


http://www.livestrong.com/article/344524-how-many-pull-ups-can-the-average-man-do/#ixzz2B6QdpNmt

 

Flaming, in the nicest possible way if you can only do one pull up then farting about worrying about scapular tracking and the like is a total waste of time. You have a real habit of over analysing everything, honestly I've never worried in my life about how my scapular track or serratus activation and the like that you post about, I've still managed to put on near enough 3 stones of lean mass and stuck a hundred kilo's over my head since begining training.

Speak to the likes of mikey, Simon, Kuma, gary and CF who've been doing this for a long time (coz they're all REALLY old see ) and they'll tell you the same, they turned up, made consistent progress on the movements they wanted to get better at by adding weight or reps every damn week and they ate their asses off to get to where they wanted to be.

They did not worry about Glute activation in BW rows or scapular tracking during chins, they just did BW rows and chins.

FWIW i could do no type of chins when I started training, I got there by hanging of a chin up bar and trying my hardest every day to do one and doing lat pull downs a few times a week. I hit 10 reps in a 12 kilo vest today, still not amazing but progress non the less.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but it's high time you heard this

 

my thoughts also.

 

flaming, your grip is WAY too narrow for you to get your chest to the bar. your hands are to the inside of your elbows, ffs. get a broomstick and hold it on your chest. the hand spacing that lets you touch your chest with the broomstick is the one you'll have to use for pull-ups if you want good range of motion. also what the others say, just go and do them, get stronger and 90% of your problems will solve themselves. if you want assistance exercises for the rhomboids, choose from:
-rows with your arms at a dead hang at the bottom
-pullovers or straight arm pushdowns, focusing on scapular protraction
-really heavy front squats (preferably starting from the bottom.

if you want the technobabble that explains why (and why what you're doing is wrong), here it is:

Spoiler

the rhomboids attach further down from their origin, and rotate the scapula downwards by pulling the inferior angle inwards and upwards. the scapula rotates upwards when the arms are raised, so movements that go from shoulder flexion to extension against resistance load the rhomboids when they are stretched, thus maximizing stress on them. scapular retraction, while assisted by the rhomboids, is the domain of the middle trapezius fibers, which are actually horizontal and therefore in an angle where they can actually move the entire scapula effectively, whereas the rhomboids are not, thus no amount of shrugging in any direction is going to help you activate the rhomboids without significantly using the traps, which are bigger and will overpower them (in fact the rhomboids probably contribute more to cervical and thoracic extension than they do to scapular retraction).

 

What the guys above said.

Focus on form and put the work in

Maybe check out Al Kavadlo youtube page, he's got good tutorials on the basics and advanced stuff.


Here's some tips and exercises to help you get stronger for your pullups -

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utjNyrxIgA4&feature=plcp"]Al Kavadlo Pull-up Tutorial - YouTube[/ame]


p.s. Congrats on the 10 rep with 12 kilos Seiken_Steve... I'm on 5 reps at the moment