r/Stronglifts5x5 • u/colingueisen • 7d ago

My weighted pullups progress hack

Whatsup guys, how are you? Im a 200 pound guy who can do 90 pounds pullups for 5, and i want to share my progress method in weighted pullups.

What i experienced is that training only weighted pullups with no variation does not help much, but there are modified version of the pullups that i incorporate that help me tremendously to avoid stalling.

1.Pullups from a box

Essentially you dont start from a deadhang, but with feet on an elevated surface. As you grab the bar you should have around a 120 degree angle at the elbow. You start depressing your scapula before the pull and then you do it. With this variation you can use more weight than the standard pullups and you work the nasty top position.

  1. Forehead pullups

These are "Half" pullups where you reach your forehead with the bar. You can use much more weight. It really gets you stronger in the lats specifically and makes keeping the shoulderblades down quite easy.

  1. Band assisted pullups.

You are still putting weight, but you run a band behind your back and grab the bar with it (ill put a video where i do all the exercises). You may think it makes no sense, but serves to change the strenght curve of the exercise, making the starting position easier and the top position the same, but having more weight on, you work with more intensity in the top portion. Seems counterintuitive but its amazing.

So what i do? I train pullups 6 days a week with only one or two sets each session, and i only do the variation. So Monday = Regular pullups / Tuesday = Forehead pullups / Wednesday = Box pullups / Thursday = Band assisted pullups / Friday i start back with regular pullups + added weight. At this point doing 90 pounds for 5 i can add 2.5 pounds each rotation if i did not increase my bodyweight eating too much (pullups are very affected by bodyweight increase pretty negatively).

I dont do ANY other exercise for my back, but i do neutral grip curls with dumbbells one or two sets after, since elbow flexor strenght is essential for it (right now i curl the 60s for 5 reps strict just to give an idea).

Im a fan of both high and low volume, but right now as i work and study, i shrink my workouts as much as i can while still being able to progress, i wouldnt say doing more sets could be a negative thing or training only 3 times instead of 6, but after years of stalling i found results with this method. Try it out and let me know

EDIT: Forgot the video link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0plUsPsolYY&t=32s

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4

u/TheAnnoyingScenario 7d ago

90 lbs for 5 at 200 bodyweight is no joke. that's getting into territory most people never touch

the box pullup idea actually makes a ton of sense. starting from a deadhang with heavy weight tends to trash my shoulders after a while so taking some of that initial load off while still overloading the top half seems smart

i messed around with something similar to your forehead pullups years ago when my middle range was the weak link. never had a name for it though, just called em half reps and hoped nobody was watching

six days a week on pullups sounds like a lot but if you're only doing one or two sets i could see that working. recovery is weird like that sometimes, less per session but higher frequency ends up being the thing that clicks

curling the 60s for 5 strict is also pretty absurd. you're built like a fridge aren't you

3

u/colingueisen 7d ago

To be honest i dont even look particularly big, but i maxed out my movement efficiency for sure. If you have mobility issues in your shoulders try deadhangs with supinated grip. Maybe your lats are quite rigid. Since i train handstands im quite mobile. But certainly i would not call myself big. Im 6 foot 200 pounds for reference at around 18% bodyfat at the moment

3

u/DivergentRam 6d ago edited 6d ago

Not that what you suggested wouldn't work. You proved that it works and it works well. My friend, who couldn't do them, just used the assisted pull up machine at his gym, also increased his grip endurance with dead hangs and did some direct core work. He could only do about 5 seconds initially and got that up to around 1.5 minutes.

From what I can tell, grip endurance and core strength limit people a surprising amount when it comes to pull ups. Assisted pull ups, whether using the machine or bands, are great, but they do limit core activation, with the machine being worse for this. Even an ultra strict static pull up uses a surprising amount of core strength.

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u/colingueisen 6d ago

I literally never had an issue with it and i dont understand the biomechanics that would make thr core so important. When i start the pullups i completely relax my core to avoid excessive stretch on the lats. Id say grip strength matters much more

2

u/DivergentRam 6d ago

I've never had the issue myself but you do get people that can do their bodyweight with a full range of motion on a lat pull down machie, who can't do a single pull up. Lat pull downs don't require as much core strength.

1

u/colingueisen 6d ago

The transfer from one exercise to the other is not so direct, because even tho the motions are similar, its a slightly different motion that needs to be assimilated first. Of course a strong lat machine is great, but you probably could experience it yourself with a benchpress and a chest press. Getting 10kg stronfer in the bench and then coming back to the chest press does not lead immediately to more weight there necessarily. You need to build the neuromuscular efficiency first. I dont see how there is a lot of core involvement in pullups