Pull-ups: 13,064 repetitions and the lessons learned
Pull-ups can seem simple: you hang from a bar and pull your chin over it. But if you do them every day, from January 5 to June 10, and end up collecting 13,064 pull-ups, your body starts giving you very honest feedback.
This is Part I of the story, and here I mostly talk about what high volume taught me. Not about everyone needing to do the same thing tomorrow.
Why did pull-ups deserve an experiment like this in the first place?
So let me quietly let you in on the secret behind my back development. When I met an old friend in May and they asked what I’d been up to since Christmas, my answer was short: I’ve been doing pull-ups.
It was no joke or exaggeration. My body weight fluctuated between 95 – 97 kg, so every repetition was real work. Sometimes I asked myself quite seriously whether this undertaking was sensible or already too insane.
The reason was simple: I wanted to challenge myself. Pull-ups had already held an important place in the programs of the people I train. I knew this exercise builds the back, arms and grip. But I didn’t know what happens when you do dozens of pull-ups a day, day after day.
So what actually happens? The body adapts to more than we often think. At the same time, that doesn’t mean everyone should head to the bar every day right away. This project will run to three parts, and the final guidelines come only in Part III.
Pull-ups and training to failure
By the fourteenth of April, I had done pull-ups for 100 days in a row, every single day. In that time I collected 5070 pull-ups. At the start I could do 12 proper, full-range-of-motion pull-ups. On the hundredth day I tested my max again and got 19 in a row.
Honestly, it didn’t feel like a big win at first. Until then, I had tended to avoid going to failure. I usually left 4 – 5 repetitions in reserve in a set. When the daily target was 70 pull-ups, I would do, for example, 10 x 7 and add lunges and push-ups between sets. Even at the end of the tenth set, I still had 2 – 3 reps left in reserve.
My reasoning was simple: high volume and frequency should improve my one maximum set anyway.
But they didn’t.
Meanwhile, my back and forearms grew. You could see it in my T-shirts. During the first hundred days, the high training volume sent my body a clear message: the back and arms have to cope with this training load.
After that, I changed my approach. I started taking sets to concentric failure. In the last set of the day, I held the end position for another 4 – 5 seconds to really squeeze out the final effort.
That’s when my max set started to improve. Interestingly, at the same time, growth in my upper back seemed to stall. My experience was this: when I raised volume gradually and avoided failure, I gained muscle mass. When I started going to failure often, my endurance improved, but hypertrophy slowed down.
How do pull-ups affect the wrists and elbows?
Before the experiment began, I feared injuries most. Especially in the elbow joints. Many who have taken on this kind of pull-up marathon have had to quit because of the elbow or shoulder.
The root of the problem is often the wrist. When you pull yourself up, your wrists want to rotate slightly inward during the movement. If this natural movement is blocked, the tension travels on to the elbow and shoulder. At first it’s just an uncomfortable feeling. Later it can turn into pain.
On rings, this is easy to see. Do one set to failure and watch what happens as the effort builds. The wrists don’t stay in the same position the whole time but look for a more natural path.
A fixed bar doesn’t offer that freedom. Some people manage with it for years, especially if their frequency is low. But with high frequency, you have to be smarter from the start.
Practical lessons from the pull-up marathon
If you can choose, use rings. They let the wrists move and reduce excess twisting stress. If you don’t have rings, choose a neutral grip with the palms facing each other. Even better if the handle is slightly thicker, because that makes the load easier on the elbow joint.
The worst option is an underhand grip on a fixed straight bar. With that grip, even ordinary hanging can start to feel unpleasant in the wrists and elbow joints. I recommended this exercise myself for years, but now I no longer do it.
A simple truth: if you want to do pull-ups often, don’t start from ego. Start from grip, joints and recovery. High volume can build the back, but only if the body can withstand the training load.
Nor does every set have to end with squeezing yourself completely empty. My experience showed that sets with repetitions in reserve may work better for muscle growth, while sets to failure do more to raise your max rep count. Both have their place, but they shouldn’t be mixed up.
FAQ
Are pull-ups suitable to do every day?
For some people they are, for others they aren’t. If your elbows, shoulders or wrists send a warning signal, you need to reduce frequency and change your grip.
Do you always have to pull to failure?
No. Sets with repetitions in reserve let you accumulate more quality volume. Sets to failure work better as a controlled addition, not as a rule for every set.
Which grip is better for the joints?
Rings are the most natural choice. If you don’t have them, a neutral grip is better than an underhand grip on a fixed straight bar.
Author: Janar Rückenberg (translation)
Source:Turg.Fitness.ee
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