Pull up challenge.

[Diffuser44]

A goal of mine is to be able to do 25 consecutive chin-ups / pull-ups. One thing that hinders me is shoulder inflammation at the rotator cuff. If anyone has any good shoulder rehab exercises stretches or stabilizing stuff let me know.

Also if anyone has a good pull up routine that works for them let me know that as well.

 

[zzzzz]

Doing deadlifts such as a 3x3 routine or 5x5 will improve the strength of your entire back including your lats. A lot of people see their lat strength explode when they start doing deadlifts

 

[happychineseboy]

I "sprained my rotator cuff a couple year back, I fell while mountain biking. Anyways, whenever I extend my arm over head it bothers me. I cant really over head press or go all the way down on pull ups, which kind of sucks because I am a big proponent of working the entire range of motion. I suggest going to a doctor and telling them you fell or something acute so that they are allowed to prescribe you an Xray or MRI - this way insurance will cover it. Make sure you haven't seriously hurt yourself. If you have an MRI should be able to spot and tears in your rotator cuff. I usually do arm circles and stuff to warm up my rotator cuff, but nothing really helps.

 

[JustinH77]

One of the best shoulder rehab exercises I use with my clients are shoulder dislocations. I personally had a chronic shoulder injury several years ago, and even after going to my primary doctor and several sports rehab guys, oddly enough it was this exercise that completely eliminated all the pain I had. I've seen the same thing happen for several people now so this has become one of my favorite rehab exercises.

You need a long broomstick or something similar to do this stretch. Here's a video that shows you how to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33P5AI27eiU#t=17

Here are some important rules to keep in mind:

- Use the widest grip possible on the broomstick when you're starting out. The wider the grip, the easier the stretch. When I first started, I could only do this stretch with proper form while holding the broomstick with only two fingers on each side.
- Don't move as quickly as the guy in the video. Start out slowly and make sure you keep proper form. You want your elbows to be locked the entire time. Absolutely no cheating on this or it defeats the point of the stretch.
- Start off doing 20 reps per day, once a day.
- Whenever you're able to, narrow your grip on the broomstick a little bit. As you move your hands closer to each other and narrow your grip, the stretch becomes more effective and your range of motion with shoulders will improve dramatically.

Let me know if you have any questions about this. Shoulder injuries are awful to deal with and prevent you from doing a lot of the most effective exercises, so you want to get this sorted out ASAP. Then we can move on to your chin-up goals

 

[Diffuser44]

Thanks!

 

[Dark Link]

Let me know if you have any questions about this. Shoulder injuries are awful to deal with and prevent you from doing a lot of the most effective exercises, so you want to get this sorted out ASAP. Then we can move on to your chin-up goals

I've been sometimes using those exercise bands instead of the broomstick. But i get the feeling that that is cheating because I'm able to stretch it wider while doing the stretch. Still I think it is better than nothing when I do it this way. I've been noticing my shoulder blades really have to squeeze tight in the back to get the rotation behind me. I can feel the knots and grinding when I do this and it quite frankly feels good. I think this exercise will definitely help me.

Thank you

 

[mr the hairy monkey]

I am far away from doing that much in a row , might be beneficial for the kyphosis/scoliosis that I have .

the thing is to keep your rhythm going , you'll end up doing your 25 pull-ups in a row , and even more ,everything can be done if you have a strong will.

 

[JustinH77]

I've been sometimes using those exercise bands instead of the broomstick. But i get the feeling that that is cheating because I'm able to stretch it wider while doing the stretch. Still I think it is better than nothing when I do it this way. I've been noticing my shoulder blades really have to squeeze tight in the back to get the rotation behind me. I can feel the knots and grinding when I do this and it quite frankly feels good. I think this exercise will definitely help me.

It's definitely better than nothing if you do it with exercise bands, but I very much prefer the broomstick method because it keeps your hands the same distance throughout the entire movement.

You PMed me with a couple additional questions about working out and I'm happy to answer them, but I need a little more background on your situation. Can you tell me more about your experience with weight lifting? Are you currently dealing with an injury?

 

[zzzzz]

No one can do 25 pull ups in a row except for people with some exceptional imbalances in their physique/strength. This is assuming you do them with proper form and assuming you train the rest of your body as well evenly... You will gain muscle mass and therefore pull ups will be harder to perform. The strength of your lats will never overcome your bodyweight enough to do 25 with strict form

 

[Paul123]

@zzzzz that is not true at all.
Try going on a cut. It helps a ton shedding some of that body fat. I lost 10lbs recently and my pull ups increased from 24 to 30. Also do exercises that will increase the strength in your back. Lat pulldown, BB/DB Rows, and of course Chin ups and pull ups will help the most. Try to do a split workout and during back day include around 15 sets of back exercises.

 

[minoxiDjunkie]

dont try too hard, or you might end up doing worse to your shoulder.
a good key point to excersizing is - doing sets of 3 of each excersize, having a 2 minutes break in between, and - most importantly - do each one to the max you can -
for example chin ups - you do the first set without any goal - you're doing just about 90% of you'r full capability, like you go - 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 and when you feel that the last one you can do is 8, youre going 8, and stop !
have a 2 min break, and than again you do exactly 8.
when you have the goal of 8, and you know that you can do 8 than the next 2 sets would be easyer.
than you go 8 for 3-4 times (when each time means a day of doing chin ups among other things), and after 3-4 times you set up a higher goal, like 12. than 3-4 times later you go 15.
thats the key.
another thing - youd want to have a lot of different types of excesizes, so you'd have 3 days of working out in a week, and each day has different types of excersizes, so next time youll do chin ups would be the next week.

thats it for the work out,
for your shoulder, as i said - first thing is taking it easy - this is really important, because when someones injured - he must go slow, otherwise hes most likely to end up getting is injury worse.
second thing is doing some yoga, or at least breathing excersizes, just before the work out.

 

[Sir Gilgamesh]

No one can do 25 pull ups in a row except for people with some exceptional imbalances in their physique/strength. This is assuming you do them with proper form and assuming you train the rest of your body as well evenly... You will gain muscle mass and therefore pull ups will be harder to perform. The strength of your lats will never overcome your bodyweight enough to do 25 with strict form

What... It's completely possible to do 25 pull-ups in a row or even more of that especially since it's a body weight exercise; strength is of course a factor, but stamina even more so due to muscle fatigue/failure. There are people that do weighted pull-ups and can do a fair amount although those are usually done in sets rather than till failure like old fashioned pull-ups.

With that said a lot of people do pull-ups without using "strict form" which I'm assuming you mean starting from a full extension/hanging and then bringing your chest to the bar and then repeat. I would knock out 25 for you, but unfortunately I don't have access to a pull-up bar where I can actually bring my chest to the bar at least until winter ends. I have a pull-up bar at my house that I used to use a lot, but I can only bring the very top of my chest to the bar before my head is about to hit the ceiling.