Help- I can't do a single pull-up

Are you overweight? If so, losing weight will make a big difference too.

This is a thread greg would start. Reporting

This is the correct answer. Ask for the assisted dips and pull-ups machine at the gym. The weight assistance will allow you to implement progressive overload by gradually going from (bodyweight - X) to bodyweight.

Get a chair start by doing 10 negatives a day

stand on chair put self in finish position then lower self slowly

after several weeks just doing negs

get a band start doing like 10 band pull ups a day plus negs

aftef a few more weeks you should be able to do one

free Advice $5.00!

are you saying greg is wejo? That would be among the GOAT larps here.

Lose some weight

Do some wall climbing, rock climbing and ninja warrior stuff, it will be fun and will strengthen you at the same time.

This works, its what I had to do. The big thick long PT band. These compound movements are the first to go when you get older. I could eak out one pull up, push ups aint what they used to be. But can curl the same.

Start trying them every other day. We had a health improvement project at work a couple of years ago and when it started I could only do like 6 pull ups and 20 push ups. I started alternating every other day and trying as many as I could. I worked my way up to 14 pull-ups and 40 push ups without stopping. It’s just a matter of being consistent.

GO WITH NEGATIVES - i had this same experience of complete failure to even get ONE started at about 40 after years of being a near total office p**sy. shocked the hell out of me and i did a bunch of research and went the negatives route. you will be surprised how difficult and effective they are immediately. you will get sore - take it slowly or you can injure elbows severely. in two weeks i could knock out 1 very good pullup and would do negatives after that and added in the band=assisteds as well. i kept working at it and got back up to 8 and 9 after about a year. i'm 250 - 260 with long arms and 100% the exact opposite of pull-up guy. it was well worth the effort for me.

This is a surprisingly pleasant thread

This and general upper body strength.

I was able to knock out 10 to 12 when I was in the Army in my early twenties.

In my mid thirties, after having put on some weight and having done no upper body work for at least a decade, I learned I could do zero (I tried on a pull up bar when I was at the playground with my kids).

Forget the pull-up and go for the leg tuck. This was so difficult, it had to be removed from the Army Combat Fitness Test.

I try to just hang on to monkey bars last month. That was hard enough. No chance of ever making it to Ninja Warrior for sure. Then I rationalize it on the jog back home. Using 2 arms to lift up almost the whole body weight is too much.

God people are stupid. How do you get better at pullups? START DOING PULLUPS!!! Can't do one pullup? DO ASSISTED PULLUPS!!!

god people are stupid (I can say this bc Rojo says it all the time)

One thing to consider - assuming that you are doing the variation with a overhand grip (palms facing away from you):

When you get into position to start the pull up, pull your shoulder-blades down your back and slightly in, and THEN start the pull-up.

With your shoulder-blades in and down, you are in a much better position to pull and actually execute the movement. If your shoulder blades are floating and your shoulders hunched when you start the movement, your leverage won't be as good.

I weigh 111 dressed for the gym and I can do 5 reps at 105 on the lat pull-down machine, but I cannot do one actual pull-up. It doesn't seem to quite translate. I'm a 64yo female.

I'll try the dead hangs and negatives, and perhaps some of the other suggestions that have been posted on this thread.

Australian pullups are a good start. Find a bar that's relatively low to ground, get underneath, and with your feet still touching the ground pull yourself up. It's basically a bodyweight row, but Australian pullup sounds way cooler, cause you're down under the bar.

1) negative pullups, where you SLOWLY lower yourself from pullup position

2) lat pull-downs

3) band assisted pullups

4) hand grips