I weight train 4 days a week and only train each muscle group once a week. Should it be the same with bodyweight exercises? Should I only do pull-ups once a week or can they be done on consecutive days? One more pull-up question. I only do pull-ups with the palms facing outward. I started out varying my grip from set to set. But when I do pull-ups with my palms facing me I start to get tendonitis near my right elbow. I use a shoulder width grip. Could a different width grip avoid this injury?
pullups every day will be counter productive, even with just body weight. You will be overtraining. Allow between 48-72 hours between exercising the same muscle group. As far as your elbow issue. I get the exact same issue with that grip. Since doing pullups that way puts a lot more focus on your biceps and not as much on your back, I just avoid that grip. By changing your grip on palms out you can hit the three major areas that a pull up works anyways so you aren't really losing anything. I say don't worry about it and avoid the injury.
That's what I figured about everyday pull-ups, but wanted another opinion. Palms facing out is more difficult anyway, and a more practical grip. It's the grip one would use if scaling a wall or other such object.
It really depends on your rep scheme. Your statement is close to correct. You should allow 48-72 hours between maximal strength work on the same muscle work. So if your max pullups is 8 and you do 3 sets of 7, you should wait 48-72 hours before doing pull ups again. On the other hand, if you do a pullup at 8 AM, one at 8:30, one at 9, one at 9:30 and on, you'll do 21 pullups by 6:30, and will be fine to do it again the next day. It's more about what your rep scheme is. if you aren't working yourself close to exhaustion, you really don't need to wait a week before doing it again.
I thought that working yourself to exhaustion was the whole point. I've been slacking on the bodyweight exercises in favor of weights. You know, dumbell benches instead of push-ups, curls, rows and lat pulls over pull ups, and only hitting each muscle group once every five to seven days. So, thinking along the same lines as the OP, I got the brilliant idea that I could alternate weight workouts with lighter bodyweight workouts and increase my workout frequency to twice a week for each muscle group. So it was to be bench presses and curls, etc. on the weekend, push-ups, dips and chins mid-week. Well I tried it this week, with weights on Sunday, then maxing out on the bodyweight exercises on Wednesday. Right now I've got the most extreme case of DOMs I've had in months. A friend said it was because the bodyweight exercises I did involve more eccentric contractions than my weight routine. Anyway, was I totally stupid, or should I try to stick with it and hope my body can adjust?
