Pull Ups

[saechaka]

Which is better to builld strenght? Doing 3 sets of 8 bodyweght pull ups or 3 sets of 5 plus 25lbs

 

[presidentender]

There is a difference between loads of light reps and a few high reps. Lifting lighter weight for more reps will build you to be able to make the same movement more times, while doing heavy weight will improve your ability to make the same movement with a heavy weight. Intuitive, right? Has nothing to do with toning versus bulking, though.

 

[MegaVovaN]

With weights. More strength = good. More bw pullups will just give you endurance. Besides, doing lots and lots of bw (or light) pullups is pretty bad for your shoulder joints and tendons.

It's like asking, is it better to do bench press with 100 lbs or is it better to add weight?

That said, I got stuck on 10-11 bw pullups for 2 months....then I said screw this and started doing 5x5 pullups with weight. (Up to +20 lb now, started with 2.5, doing +22.5 in 3 training days). I also vary the grip...hammer (parallel), pullup and chinup.

http://stronglifts.com/buildin...nto-weighted-pull-ups/

 

[presidentender]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
More bw pullups will just give you endurance.

Which can be nice to have. I intend no disrespect, but explosive one-time strength is only the ultimate goal for people who care most about explosive one-time strength. There's a reason military physical fitness tests involve push-ups instead of bench press, mile times instead of sprints, and pull-up totals instead of heavy lat pulldowns.

I'm not arguing against pure strength by any means; I love the feeling of a good short set and the satisfaction of putting up a heavy bench press. It feels much better psychologically to do 225x1 than 135x12x4. But they both have their place, you know?

Edit: I should read the OP more closely....

 

[Deeko]

If you want to build the most muscle mass/strength, the higher weight/less reps, definitely.

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: Deeko
If you want to build the most muscle mass/strength, the higher weight/less reps, definitely.

Indeed. Fit in a negative press every so often to push yourself past what your body may say is the limit.

 

[KoolDrew]

Which is better to builld strenght?

Isn't the definition of the word strength pretty much lifting heavier stuff? Now let me ask you... wouldn't lifting heavier stuff help you reach the goal of perhaps lifting even heavier stuff? Or do you think lifting light stuff (yourself) will somehow allow you to lift heavier stuff without ever actually lifting heavy?

I'm done being an ass now... bodyweight movements are great, but you really should be adding weight, not just doing more reps.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: presidentender

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
More bw pullups will just give you endurance.

Which can be nice to have. I intend no disrespect, but explosive one-time strength is only the ultimate goal for people who care most about explosive one-time strength. There's a reason military physical fitness tests involve push-ups instead of bench press, mile times instead of sprints, and pull-up totals instead of heavy lat pulldowns.

I'm not arguing against pure strength by any means; I love the feeling of a good short set and the satisfaction of putting up a heavy bench press. It feels much better psychologically to do 225x1 than 135x12x4. But they both have their place, you know?

Edit: I should read the OP more closely....

Heh, yeah, OP was asking for strength.

Though I wonder...if I do weighted pullups for a while (say, until I am doing 3x5 with 45 lb or more), will that increase my max amount of reps with just bodyweight? Theoretically, I think yes. Practically, I got to give it time to work up my strength, then test max reps with no extra weight.

 

[saechaka]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew

Which is better to builld strenght?

Isn't the definition of the word strength pretty much lifting heavier stuff? Now let me ask you... wouldn't lifting heavier stuff help you reach the goal of perhaps lifting even heavier stuff? Or do you think lifting light stuff (yourself) will somehow allow you to lift heavier stuff without ever actually lifting heavy?

I'm done being an ass now... bodyweight movements are great, but you really should be adding weight, not just doing more reps.

well I don't believe you necessarily need to have weights to gain strength which is why I didn't say I wanted to gain mass.

I just wasn't sure if I was doing enogh bodyweight pull ups to justify adding weights since I would be dropping about 9 reps. I should add I really struggled on 3rd set of weighted pull ups. But I think Ill take mego's approach to getting stronger.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: FallenHero

Originally posted by: Deeko
If you want to build the most muscle mass/strength, the higher weight/less reps, definitely.

Indeed. Fit in a negative press every so often to push yourself past what your body may say is the limit.

What's a negative press?

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: presidentender

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
More bw pullups will just give you endurance.

Which can be nice to have. I intend no disrespect, but explosive one-time strength is only the ultimate goal for people who care most about explosive one-time strength. There's a reason military physical fitness tests involve push-ups instead of bench press, mile times instead of sprints, and pull-up totals instead of heavy lat pulldowns.

I'm not arguing against pure strength by any means; I love the feeling of a good short set and the satisfaction of putting up a heavy bench press. It feels much better psychologically to do 225x1 than 135x12x4. But they both have their place, you know?

Edit: I should read the OP more closely....

The military guys need the endurance. They don't need to be as fast over 40-100m but need to be faster over 1600-5000m etc. The 2-3s faster over 40-100m means jack sh!t for those guys. It just depends on what your goal is.

For me it is all about doing as much weight as possible on all exercises. But for pull ups I'm repping out 10reps x 5sets. I've done a single pull up with 99lbs @ 84kg (185lbs). But other exercises I don't care about reps. It's boring for me to do that many and I don't train that way and it kicks the crap out of me. But for pull ups, chin pulls, wide grips it's usually for reps and sets of.

Doing weights will mean your 1RM will be higher with weight then if you can rep out sets of 8's. It just depends on what you want. Mix it up. Every 6-8-12 week change it.

You DON'T have to stick to 'one thing' for months on end.

Koing