Pull-ups are hard. Difficult because of the strength required. But they are one of the most basic human movement patterns, hard-wired into our DNA. We are built for arboreal locomotion: Hang from a branch. Pull yourself up into the tree. Simple, but not necessarily easy. Pull-ups are hard for modern humans simply because we’ve created a world in which we go out of our way not to climb up things. Our solution is to practice this exercise in an artificial gym setting or on a bar in your house.

If you’re having trouble performing pull-ups, first, think about all the garbage you’ve consumed over the last few weeks, and ask yourself if its helping you achieve your weight loss goals. If you aren’t close to your “ideal” body weight, don’t expect to get pull-ups any time soon.

Want to lose weight? Don’t miss a training day. Ever. It’s a choice. In addition, 5-6 days a week you should be doing low intensity cardio for 45-60 minutes first thing in the morning before you eat anything. Yes I realize that’s inconvenient and may present a challenge depending on household/family obligations and responsibilities. Do a quick online search of the long term health risks associated with being overweight and then reassess how inconvenient it is to take the dog on a brisk walk every morning. It goes without saying you should monitor and limit your caloric intake, eat only high quality food, almost never eat out, never eat refined sugar, cut out all alcohol, etc. Again, it’s a choice. It’s not going to be easy. It wasn’t easy becoming overweight in the first place. You decide if you want to stay that way.

And if your spouse is struggling with his or her weight and you insist on bringing toxic garbage into the house because you need a sugar fix or you want to appease the kids, you ought to review your marriage vows because that’s either cruel, insensitive, or ignorant.

If you aren’t overweight and still struggle with pull-ups, review the amount of effort you’ve put into practicing them over the last few weeks. Mastering pull-ups requires a little bit of practice every day for an extended period of time. In other words, it takes consistency, discipline and focus.

Over the last couple of years we have posted a wide variety of training methods and suggestions for practicing pull-ups: Pavel’s “greasing the groove” or the frequency method, the USMC Armstrong pullup program, Convict Conditioning, progressive calisthenics, etc. One thing is certain: if you don’t make the effort, you won’t see any improvement. So next time you come across a low tree branch, see if you can’t pull yourself up on it.

Warmup
Speed Ladder

3 sets/10 minutes max
10 Overhead Squats
10 Kettlebell Swings
10 Divebomber Push-ups

Strength
5-5-5
Deadlift

Then,
10 Minutes AMRAP
Weighted Pull-ups*

*It should go without saying that weighted pull-ups are a STRICT, no kip exercise. Therefore, if you’re unable to do a single strict pull-up, you must practice bent arm static holds or controlled negatives. No jumping or kipping will be allowed.
Your score will be the weight/number of reps performed in 10 minutes (eg, 45/17 for 17 reps with a 45# Kettlebell, or 0/3 for three reps with no added weight). You receive no score for no strict pull-ups.