Strength / Weight Training

I recently read that you should not do ‘main lifts’ to failure as this increases the chance of serious injury. Other exercises are fine apparently.
I’ll look for the link.

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Knocked out 3x5 deadlifts at 110kg yesterday and that was fine, though I think grip strength is going to be my limiting factor at some point.
Squats up another 2.5kg. Last rep was hard going!
OHP felt much better than last time but I fatigued really badly in the last couple of sets and only scraped the last rep.
More sets at a lower weight to get the volume up?

@French_Touch how was your progression to 3 x 10? I'm stuck at 1 x 10, 1 x 8 and then rarely get past 6 on the last set.

I started 3x?, and added 1 each week. Three times a week. So 3x6 week one, 3x7 week two etc. Now it's 3x10 pull ups and 3x10+10kg chin ups.

As long as you can recover from it. I don't know your current setup, but even adding something like 3-5x5 at 60-70% (even on a different day) shouldn't be too challenging but will add quality volume and gives you opportunities to practice the lift. It all depends on the rest of your programming (especially how much of a factor is benching) recovery, work capacity and all that other stuff though really.

I mentioned on here before but what worked for me was to do the grease the groove method, so just hit 1 x 10, then maybe 1 x 5 or just leave it at the 10, then go do your other exercises (quite handy if your rack has a bar) so you squat, get them out the way, then you do another 1 x 10, then at end of session, try another 1 x 10. In terms of volume you'll have done 35-40, or at least more than the 24 you are getting at moment. If you're up to it, just jump on and hit as many pull ups as you can every time you pass a bar.

After a few weeks of that, stamina and strength are up, and then 3 x 10 should be okay. I also like to try and chuck in variations like a leg raise, or the L-Pull, to mix it up. Good for the core.

I can do two sets of 5 chin ups now, but only two pull ups.

Not too bad though I'll keep working them.
I can do weighted dips with 10 kg so yeah, need to keep working that upper back :)

Hang on, what's the difference between a pull up and a chin up?

Hang on

Funny man!

edit: Pullup is palms facing away from you (pronated), chin-up is with palms facing towards you (supinated).

Pull up is a wide grip with palms out (nearly all lats/back so it's hard for me), chin up is the narrow grip with palms in (so you can use a bit of arms)

I figured that might be difference. I've used the terms interchangeably.

I prefer chin ups then.

Chin ups can >>>>

I like chinups. But I have quite big (forums) forearms

#massivewanker

I mean, I say like, I mean prefer to the other ones.

Pull ups feel great on the back. They're meant to be good for shoulder mobility/stability as long as you keep them engaged but I find if I do too many, my right elbow starts complaining. I'm doing 50 a day though...

I have some smashed collarbones/shoulders so that's probably why the back ones aren't so great for me. Same reason I prefer front squats - I don't have to get my arms back to the bar.
50/day?! Fuck that. I think I'm hot shit if I can do 5.

Ah, yeah that makes sense. Have you tried just hanging from a bar? That's supposedly amazing for your shoulders, unless you've been told not to, of course.

Hanging from a bar is what my old pull ups used to look like :)

"I AM fucking pulling up!"

I like hanging from a bar, it clicks my back and stuff. Problem is the only people with bars are gyms and schools and I'm not the kind of face you want hanging around your playground and gyms are spendy.

Wide grip hang I presume?

Some public parks have bars... That's how I get them in at lunch time, anyway.

For hangs I think neutral grip would be ideal but obviously aren't an authority on these things.

Heard the other day that wide-grip, neutral and narrow don't make any difference to lat development if you're doing pull ups, so just stick to shoulder-width.

inspects carpark for low hanging, hopefully structural, bars

50 a day????

Wow. :)

Hangings are great exercises, that’s one way to develop the strength needed in your hands and forearms often a point of weakness in pull ups and any thing with grips (deadlifts etc).
Wide grip hand is fine indeed since you are not pulling up it won’t make much of a diff.
One other thing you could do to develop back strength without having the force to do one pull up is to do negatives. They are very efficient (and boring I will admit that).

Climbing, init.

My body is weird. My shoulders are fucked but I have strong neck, probably because of the TTing. My biceps are that of a cyclist but I have relatively big forearms (don't ask why). Huge lower body means lots of weight to hang that's not helping. Grip strength doesn't appear to be too much of an issue - my deadlifts are ok for a 'non-lifter'.

If my arms are already fucked from other stuff I find it much easier to jump part way and finish the pull up then slowly lower down - negative, yeah?