How to Do 20 PULLUPS in One Set

HOW TO START DOING MORE PULLUPS… FAST!

I don’t care how many pullups you are doing (or not doing) right now. I’m going to show you how to start banging out 20 or more in one set!

No…

That’s not a typo!

And I promise, there aren’t any gimmicks here.

I’m not going to tell you to do them with a band or assistance machine either!

What I will show you is two techniques that will absolutely work.

I don’t care how heavy you are, or what your current strength level is, if you apply these two tips you’re going to see a difference!

First, I’ll show you a progression you can follow to start building up the strength you need for those pullups.  I’ll also show you an instant fix that you can use to start doing more pullups in your very next set!

Before we get started let’s take a quick look at the muscle groups involved so that we’re all on the same page.

TECHNIQUE #1: THE PULLUP PROGRESSION

To increase the number of pullups you can do, you need to have a way of building up the strength you need in a systematic way. 

You can do this decline progression to help you get there.

First, set up a bar in a rack at about neck height and set yourself up at an angle to the bar to practice pulling yourself toward it in a High Incline Row.

First, practice pulling yourself toward the bar at an angle in a High Incline Row.

You can see that with your legs in contact with the ground, this isn’t challenging enough in terms of weight to have a significant impact on your ability to do pullups.

So we can make this harder by taking one arm off the bar.

To make the High Incline Row more challenging in order to impact your ability to do pullups, do this High Incline Row with one hand.

The angle at which you align your torso to the bar is dependent on your ability level and your strength.

Beginners should start with a relatively upright angle of the body underneath the bar.

Make sure you don’t allow your body to twist like this.

Don’t allow your body to twist in this movement.

You also don’t want to pull the chest in close to the hand.

Don’t pull in close to the hand in this movement.

The key is to keep your elbows out wide and activate your core to keep yourself from twisting in the High Incline Row. You also want to ensure the hand is in line with the shoulder and touching the outside of the chest when your body is as high as it gets towards the bar.

If you’re more advanced or as you get stronger, you’ll angle yourself underneath the bar a little bit lower.

If you’re advanced or as you build up strength, angle yourself lower beneath the bar.

Continue to lower your angle underneath the bar as you get stronger until you get to an Inverted Row position.

Keep lowering your angle under the bar as you build strength.

Don’t forget to work both arms each time you do this!

You will be surprised at how quickly you will be able to make the transition to get lower and lower under that bar.  This will quickly start translating over to your ability to do more pullups.

TECHNIQUE #2: PLUGGING THE ENERGY LEAKS

In addition to building arm strength, we want to challenge our core strength.

Why is the core so important?

If your core isn’t strong enough or you are forgetting to activate it when doing the pullup, then you are costing yourself the chance to increase the amount of reps you are able to perform.

As you can see, if you get up to the bar and your body is loose, you’re not in the best position as you initiate your pullups.

If you approach your pullups with a loose body, you’re not going to get good results.

Instead, we need to be sure we’re plugging the energy leaks.

You can do this by tightening your quads, pointing your feet towards the ground, squeezing your glutes, and then contracting your abs.  This tightness in your body will instantly help you to transfer more of the force you are exerting into the bar to be able to do more pullups.

Plug the energy leaks in the pullup by tightening your quads, pointing your feet downward, squeezing your glutes and contracting your abs.

No, it’s not a magic trick!

It’s biomechanics and efficient movement that will make a huge difference in the number of pullups you are able to do.

How does this work?

If all the muscle groups in the rest of your body are loose when you try to exert force through the bar with your arms to pull your body up, the force disperses through all those loose points.

That’s why we call them ‘energy leaks’.

If you tighten them and give the energy no room to escape, then all that force has to go right back into the bar to provide you with the strength you need to lift your body up.

You can see how much easier it is for me to bang out rep after rep once I’ve plugged them all.

Performing more reps of the pullup is much easier when all of the energy leaks are plugged.

I don’t care how many pullups you’re doing right now. I want you to start being able to crank out 20 in a single set!  You will have the strength for it.  It’s just a matter of using the right progression to build it up, and then using the right techniques to make sure it stays there when you do the exercise.

The tips in this video are just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the power of what ATHLEAN Training can do for you.  I’d love to show you what your true potential is. Let me coach you through the next 90 days so you can start seeing next level gains!