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Are you gripping your thumb around the bar? I got to ~18 max set a few years back and found it much easier to go thumb in line with all your other fingers. Anot

Are you gripping your thumb around the bar? I got to ~18 max set a few years back and found it much easier to go thumb in line with all your other fingers. Another tip is to train wide grip lat pull downs at a gym then do your pull ups with wide grip since it uses more back and less bicep (bigger vs smaller muscle). Last tip is don’t forget to breath :)

grvdrm 4y ago
Definitely something you can integrate but the wide grip pull-up is less efficient even if it better isolates the back. Again, I’m not saying avoid it, but just that it’s not as much a compound exercise as a normal pull-up. My rule of thumb is to stick with as much compound work as possible as it’s a more efficient use of time. Single arm isolated work as example is great, sure, but hardly makes use of other muscles in the time you have to perform a workout. Another variation I use: neutral (palms face each other) grip pull up.
- brailsafe 4y ago
  I play around with different variations of grip widths and positioning, and feel like there's a time and place for pure isolation or totally compound movements. If one area is significantly weaker than the others, it helps to work on that in isolation, and if another significantly stronger, you're probably going to be doing all of them a disservice and possibly risking injury. Leg presses, delt flys, and lat pulldowns are some that I prefer to sometimes do in isolation to ensure that one side isn't significantly compensating for the other. I find that it's also a more effective use of the mental energy required, by reducing the total amount of muscles to pay attention to.
- tonightstoast 4y ago
  Definitely agree it uses less muscles. I was solely talking to increase one set max rep count. Neutral grips are nice.
brailsafe 4y ago
I switch both of them up periodically and through sets. Fairly limited bars that are tall enough at my gym, so I just work with what I can get, and with what my shoulder anatomy will allow. There's a theshold past which the right muscles continue being engaged, and below which not enough are. Between those, I find there's room to play around and either shoot for more upper trap engagement and scapular retraction, or lat/chest/shoulder etc.. depending on grip. I find that the grip position you mention is a little easier getting chest to bar, which has a bit of an implication for upper back engagement, especially with my shoulders that just won't get out of the way otherwise. I tend to prefer about shoulder-width lat pulldowns, but slow ones. Somewhere between shoulder width and a right angle at the elbow.
solumunus 4y ago
> Another tip is to train wide grip lat pull downs at a gym then do your pull ups with wide grip since it uses more back This is a common misconception. Close grip allows for greater range of motion in the lats. Think about it, wide grips are harder to do than close grip and if you were recruiting more back muscle compared to biceps that wouldn't be the case since your back is far stronger. This applies to all back exercises. Wide grip will hit different muscles (so bodybuilders still utilize it) but close grip overall will hit the most back muscles with the greatest ROM.

grvdrm 4y ago

Definitely something you can integrate but the wide grip pull-up is less efficient even if it better isolates the back. Again, I’m not saying avoid it, but just that it’s not as much a compound exercise as a normal pull-up. My rule of thumb is to stick with as much compound work as possible as it’s a more efficient use of time. Single arm isolated work as example is great, sure, but hardly makes use of other muscles in the time you have to perform a workout. Another variation I use: neutral (palms face each other) grip pull up.

brailsafe 4y ago
I play around with different variations of grip widths and positioning, and feel like there's a time and place for pure isolation or totally compound movements. If one area is significantly weaker than the others, it helps to work on that in isolation, and if another significantly stronger, you're probably going to be doing all of them a disservice and possibly risking injury. Leg presses, delt flys, and lat pulldowns are some that I prefer to sometimes do in isolation to ensure that one side isn't significantly compensating for the other. I find that it's also a more effective use of the mental energy required, by reducing the total amount of muscles to pay attention to.
tonightstoast 4y ago
Definitely agree it uses less muscles. I was solely talking to increase one set max rep count. Neutral grips are nice.

brailsafe 4y ago

I switch both of them up periodically and through sets. Fairly limited bars that are tall enough at my gym, so I just work with what I can get, and with what my shoulder anatomy will allow. There's a theshold past which the right muscles continue being engaged, and below which not enough are. Between those, I find there's room to play around and either shoot for more upper trap engagement and scapular retraction, or lat/chest/shoulder etc.. depending on grip. I find that the grip position you mention is a little easier getting chest to bar, which has a bit of an implication for upper back engagement, especially with my shoulders that just won't get out of the way otherwise. I tend to prefer about shoulder-width lat pulldowns, but slow ones. Somewhere between shoulder width and a right angle at the elbow.

solumunus 4y ago

> Another tip is to train wide grip lat pull downs at a gym then do your pull ups with wide grip since it uses more back This is a common misconception. Close grip allows for greater range of motion in the lats. Think about it, wide grips are harder to do than close grip and if you were recruiting more back muscle compared to biceps that wouldn't be the case since your back is far stronger. This applies to all back exercises. Wide grip will hit different muscles (so bodybuilders still utilize it) but close grip overall will hit the most back muscles with the greatest ROM.