does anyone have any tips for people struggling with pullups? i dread chest and back because i can only do like 1 and a half pullups and sort of have to stretch and wait to try and pump out some more, but i really am struggling with them.

i can do everything else in p90x to a respectable degree, week 3 starts tomorrow so im still in the early goings of the program.

Stick with assisted pull-ups or use the bands. It is not going to happen overnight. For most of those starting out overweight you are not only trying to do a pull up but you are also trying to do pull ups with excess baggage. If you are not over weight it will still take time for your back, arms and lats to build enough strength to do one.
One will lead to Two then Three. There are different methods to doing assisted pull-ups. Use the chair and pump out as many as you can, Use a chair to get up over the bar and then let yourself down slowly or you can even only come halfway down (arms at 90 deg) then pull back up.
Using the bands is another alternative. But with the bands you get little resistance in the starting position and the resistance increases as you pull them down. This I feel does not challenge your back as much during the pull-up.
Doing assisted allows you to vary the use of your legs which I feel will increse your chances of doing unassisted pull-ups sooner. Verrukka is the Queen at overcoming the dreaded pull up. It takes a lot of determination to get over that bar. When you do it will feel great!

So keep hitting that bar.

Rip

Dre,

I agree with Rip. Two things to consider: first, you don't want to strain your shoulders, especially early on when they're not used to working out like this.

Second, you'll work your shoulders and back more effectively with assistance. I started with bands, hanging them over an I-beam in my basement. But when I had about 150 pounds of resistance in the bands (three of the black bands from Beachbody...I have pretty large hands) and was doing each exercise for 15-25 reps I knew that I needed to use a chair or, in my case, a free-standing pull-up bar to take it to the next level. I still need assistance, but not like I used to. And I'm looking forward to my first unassisted pull-up and will post the picture when the day happens!

Do what works for you, but give it time. It won't be long until you'll be doing pull-ups with the best of them!

Kevin

hey guys thanks for the reply. my last chest and back i actually used a chair during the very last pullup routine and was obviously able to pump out a lot more. my only concern is i was feeling the weight on my leg that was on the chair? i did feel a burn in the arms as i was doing it as well but i believe the majority of the weight was on my leg.

is this the way its supposed to be done? i know when im doing actual pullups i feel my arms carrying the weight, so i was just curious if the leg is indeed supposed to feel the brunt of the weight with the chair method?

You only want to use the chair/leg just enough to keep yourself moving up. That's a hard thing to co-ordinate when you're squeezing for all you're worth, though.
Someone on here mentioned a trick: Loop your bands over your pull-up bar and put one of your knees in the loop that hangs down. This will essentially do what your leg does and help you up. The beauty is twofold: 1) it allows you to fully concentrate on the pull-up and 2) it always helps you with the same amount of force so if you do 5 pull-ups that way one day and 6 the next you know you're getting stronger. With the chair/leg it's hard to gauge just how much work the leg is doing.

Stick Legs wrote:


That is an AWESOME idea, Legs! I'm gonna try that, cuz everyone here knows I've been struggling with the dreaded pullup.