100 pull-ups a day: what I learned from high-repetition exercise training \ stacker news ~health

100 pull-ups a day: what I learned from high-repetition exercise training

1908 sats \ 9 comments \ @BountifulB 3 Feb health

My go-to strength training workout used to be 100 overhand (palms facing away from me) pull ups on a bar. I did this one day a week. I couldn't do them all in a single set, of course, but I would do small sets of 3 to 6 over the course of an hour until I hit 100.

The 100 pullup workout was amazing for building strength. It would leave me sore as hell but it quickly produced large, visible gains in my my arms, trapezoids, lats and other back muscles.

Eventually the pump party came to an end when I got a tendonitis in the top of my palm where the bar pressed the hardest into my hand. It started to hurt slightly and i just solidered on through and ignored it: until one day it flared up bad. it It was very painful for weeks (and hurt for months) and it serious curtailed my ability to grip any kind of weight or bar and do most kinds of workouts. It was a major setback and that sent my fitness backwards.

Your muscles are stronger than your joints, in some cases. It's important to do varied sets of different exercises and limit the intensity and overuse of one particular body part. There is a reason why sets of 8 to 15 are popular among bodybuildiers and trainers, as it represents exertion but not over-exertion with too much weight or too many reps. Overtraining can lead to injury or too much cortisol / stress on the body for optimal gains.

I don't think the 100 pushups a day challenge is unreasonable or bad for healthy younger people to do. If I were doing it myself, I would do it 2 or 3x per week (M-W-F) to give my muscles time to recover. Pushups are less stressful on the body than pull ups but they are still strong full-bodyweight exercise.

I recommend doing pushups on an empty stomach (first thing in the morning, before dinner, before beds, etc.) Doing pushups with a recent meal in your stomach can cause acid reflux.

Use excellent form: tighten your core, straighten your body, keep your elbows tucked "in" more close to the body rather than flared out. If you can't do a clean, strong, solid pushup anymore - stop and resume later rather than shaking and tweaking your way through several more reps.

If you are feeling sore or you are new to working out - listen to your body and back off. You don't have to prove anything to anyone on the internet - just do your personal best and stay strong for the long haul rather than burning out or hurting yourself.

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50 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jorj_X_McKie 3 Feb

I regret doing pull-ups when I was a gym rat in my 30s. Muscle really does grow faster than your connective tissues can deal with if you are not thinking long term… and how many young guys getting ripped fast think long term when the girls are looking NOW?

28 sats \ 0 replies \ @ProofOfWorkFitness 3 Feb

Don't soldier on through pain.

Pain is a signal.

As you work out and get more fit you'll be able to tell the difference between a normal pain that goes away and a serious pain that means you should stop immediately.

Listen to your body like OP said.

The biggest thing with fitness is just staying consistent.

Do your little half-hearted workouts long enough until you actually want to push yourself further and see what you're capable of.

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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @fred 3 Feb

Pull ups can make me so sore such that laughing become problematic so I can agree with the back off suggestion, don't over exhaust the body

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @9 4 Feb

Good advice. There are lots of different style pushups you could vary it with

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @nefinn 3 Feb

That's interesting. Last year I shifted my gym training to mostly pull-up focused as my goal is to get a muscle up. My starting point was weak. I trained with bands and now I am at level where I am able to do a set of 10 pullups at max.

I followed Andrew Alindas program (img attached) and can recommend it to anyone who wants to get off the zero to higher reps. Lately I've also expanded on other forms of calisthenics training as well, but actual goal is in the preparation for muscle up.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BountifulB OP 3 Feb

If you can do a set of 10 pullups with clean, good form you are doing great!!! That will make you about as strong as your body can "naturally" get.. without lifting heavy iron.

I was once in an actual (non-metaphorical) "boating accident" at sunset. The boat flooded but we managed to steer it towards an unclimbable seawall with a ladder where the lowest rung was 0.5m over my head.

The only way out of the boat and to summon rescue for the other passengers was to pull-up and/or 'muscle up' the ladder. It was either that or spend a cold night, waves sloshing us constantly, in a flooded boat and waiting for someone to (hopefully) see and rescue us at dawn.

I was able to 'pull up' my body and climb the ladder with relative ease and confidence and go into town to get help. At that moment, all my training paid off. It wasn't about looks or enjoyment - my strength was an invaluable survival asset.

Another thing i learned from that incident was to carry a knife. We had tied up the boat with a rope and there was current that put enough pressure on the rope that there was no possible way to loosen the knot and let us be towed away. Thankfully, the rescuer had a knife and cut us free.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @riberet19 3 Feb

If you could do 100 pull-ups in a training session you weren't a novice, I'm really sorry for your injury, I was also injured when I tried to do my record of pull-ups which were about 25 or so in a single set, after that I took it more slowly, like everything, if you overdo it, you're likely to end badly.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 3 Feb

Solid advice

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @brandonsbytes 3 Feb

i did this a few years ago. great advise. what surprised me is that doing lots of quantity did not allow me to do more in one set. to a certain extent it did, but since i was training to get 100 so i did low sets, i never increase to 20 per set which is what i wanted to do. i guess its the difference between training for a marathon and a sprint. what are you going to do next?