How To Do 10 Pull Ups – The Ultimate Progression Guide

So you want to join the Jedi Masters and learn how to do 10 pull-ups, do you?

Well, no matter what your current strength or fitness level, learning how to do 10 Pull-ups can be achieved in just a few short weeks.

I don’t care who you are, even if you’ve never done a pull up in your life.

It takes practice and it takes persistence, but if your willing to put forth the effort and commit to becoming the ultimate pull-up ninja then the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow will be yours…

…I promise

So without rambling on and boring you to tears with the science and bulls*it that comes with it. Let’s dive deep into the darkest corners of how to become the ultimate pull-up assassin.

Here’s the rundown of what we’re going to be discussing.

I’m going to be taking you from point A…

…Assuming that you’ve never done a pull-up in your life

To point B…

…Becoming the grand commander and chief who can perform 50 one arm pull-ups in their sleep.

Plus everything in between

And who knows, maybe one day you’ll be able to perform a one-armed muscle up to handstand just for fun.

Like this superhuman freak…

Watch Video For Demonstration…

How To Do 10 Pull-Ups – The Ultimate Progression Guide

Just a quick note. Don’t feel like you have to read through every single progression.

If you’re already well versed in the first 3 or 4 then go ahead and skim over the content.

 

Progression 1: Inverted rows

Although not technically a pull-up, inverted rows are a key stepping stone to building up the basic level of strength to performing a full pull-up.

Finding a straight bar roughly 2 feet off the ground that can support your weight. You’re going position yourself below with the bar at chest level.

Holding on to the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, your going to pull yourself upwards bringing your chest to the bar.

Holding for one second, before lowering yourself back down in a slow and controlled manner.

If you’re not strong enough to pull yourself up just perform the negative (lowering) portion of the movement until you build the required strength to perform a full inverted row.

Watch the video below for a full demonstration…

 

Progression 2: Negatives

Once you’ve got the basics down on the inverted row it’s time to kick it up a step and practice some negatives.

Believe it or not, the negative part of the pullup (and most other strength training moves) is where the magic happens and can be the difference between being able to do 20 pull-ups or none at all.

What you’re going to be doing is starting your pullup a the top of the movement. Lowering yourself down as slowly as you can in order to build as much strength as humanly possible from each rep.

You may need a chair or step of some sort to be able to position your chin level with the pullup bar before starting the negative movement.

Once you get your form down and can consistently lower yourself slowly and comfortably. You can go ahead and move on to the next progression.

Here’s a quick video demonstration of negatives… (for your eyes only)

 

Progression 3: Chin-ups

Despite what you may have head chin-ups are (for me anyway) slightly easier than pull-ups.

The reason being is that pull-ups require more work from the lats while at the same time positioning your biceps in a weaker position.

Less bicep activation makes it harder for you to pull yourself up.

Anyway, to perform a chin-up, place your hands on the bar with an underhand grip around shoulder width apart.

Pull yourself up while keeping your back straight and your toes pointed out slightly in front of you.

Hold for one second at the top of the movement and then lower yourself down slowly, keeping your core tight and feet pointed outwards.

Again, remember not to go too wide with your grip as this again will take less activation from your biceps, making the movement even harder.

Watch the video for proper form and technique…

Progression 4: Pull-ups

So now we get to perform a FULL Pull up (Hooray…)

There’s not really much more information I can add to this progression that we haven’t already discussed.

The only difference from the chin-up progression is that you are going to be taking an overhand grip instead of an underhand grip.

Again, use a slow and controlled movement on the negatives and keep plowing away and increasing your reps.

Here’s what’s possible when you keep practicing…

Say Whaaaaaaaatttttt!!!

105 pull-ups straight.

I think you’re probably with me when I say, what the holy f*uck, how is that even possible.

I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes and even when I did, I was still skeptical.

But hey, it is what it is, and it just shows you what you can achieve when you dedicate your time to it.

 

How To Progress Quickly – Greasing The Groove

Now, this is something that you may or may not have heard of.

It’s called greasing the groove and it’s BY FAR the best way to progress at any single exercise regardless of the level you’re currently at.

Let me give you an example…

When I was a teenager in school. We had a public gym right next to our school that we went to once per week for gym class.

During one of the weekly gym sessions, one of my friends asked how many pull-ups I could do.

At the time I had no idea because I had never really given much thought to pull-ups.

Plus I was also a lazy slacker who wasn’t into fitness back then.

Anyway, after attempting to knock out a set of pull-ups and trying with every ounce of strength I had. I barely made one pullup.

Embarrassed and a little ashamed, I decided to make a bet with my friend that by the same time next week, I would be able to do 5 full pull-ups.

Unbeknown to my friend my father had a pull-up bar hung between the doorway of my parent’s bedroom.

And I knew that as long as I was consistent and practiced every day. I could make it happen.

Fast forward one week and back at the pull-up station with everyone watching I started cranking out reps.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7 1/2.

That’s right, with just one week of consistent effort I was able to go from a measly half a pullup to hitting nearly 8 reps in 7 DAYS.

How did I do it?

Greasing the groove.

The simple act of practicing a movement over and over again in a short period of time can work wonders for any movement you want to improve.

Not just pull-ups but anything.

You see for the next 7 days solid every time I walked past my parent’s bedroom…

… every time I went to the bathroom

… every time I went upstairs to my room

I simply took a quick minute to crank out as many pull-ups as I could.

And the results…

…well, I’ll let you be the judge.

 

Taking it to the next level

So what next?

Well, you can stop where you are and just be happy with the fact that you’ve learned how to do 10 pull-ups…

…or

You can get your game face on and kick things up a gear with these next set of progression…

 

Progression 5: Wide Pull-ups

Now, remember when I mentioned earlier about how a wider grip has an effect on the difficulty of the pull-up.

Well, guess what you’re going to do now?

That right, wide grip pull-ups.

I’ve already discussed this earlier but the wider your grip, the harder the pull-up

This is due to less bicep activation and more stress being forced onto your lats.

If you can try and find a wide grip pull-up bar with angled handles as this will further increase the difficulty.

 

Progression 6: L-Sit Pull-ups

Once you’ve got your wide grip pull-ups in check, the next step logical step to increase the difficulty even further is to position your legs in a typical L-shape when performing pull-ups.

This is commonly known as an L-sit pull-up.

Not only will this place more emphasis on your lats, but it’s going to add an extra element of stress to your core muscles giving you plenty of bang for your buck and working a multitude of muscles that you never thought possible.

By the way, the guy on the video, “Hanibal For King” doesn’t touch weights. He’s built his extremely impressive physique using nothing more than bodyweight exercises and by applying the principles I am laying out for you in this post.

Watch the video below to see how it’s done…

 

Progression 7: Slow Negatives

Again, I know I’ve previously mentioned this, and I know you probably feel like taking a run up and drop kicking me in the face but I still can’t stress enough how important the controlled part of the negative is.

The slower the better.

And if you think you’re going slow then slow down some more.

And to prove I’m not pulling your leg, just take a look at this bodyweight beast repping out pull-ups in a slow and controlled manner.

Take a look…

 

Progression 8: Muscle-Ups

This is the last progression.

To be honest I’ve gone way beyond what I previously thought I was going to write before I started this post.

But hey-ho, the important thing is your learning and that’s what makes it all worth it.

The muscle-up goes way beyond the boundaries of a regular pull-up and due to the nature of the move. I different approach is required

To be honest you can perform at least 10 slow and controlled pull-ups then I guarantee you already have the strength to do this move.

What you don’t have is the required technique and understanding of how to perform the move correctly.

Anyway enough blabbing from me, I’ll let the guy in the video take you through the move…

 

Wrapping Things Up

“Although we’ve come to the end of the road” Boyz To Men

Sorry I couldn’t resist.

Anyway, on a serious note, I have you’ve gained some real value and insights from the information I’ve provided, and as long as you take action you’ll know work through the progression. You’ll get to where you want to be.

If you’ve got anything to add, any stories, witty jokes or you just want to send me a picture of your face. You can do so in the comments below…

P.S. Also I should mention the product that’s been recommended a few times through this post is an awesome pull-up progression guide that goes well beyond what we’ve talked about above.

You’ll learn the importance of positioning, how to improve grip strength, injury prevention.

Heck, there’s even an entire section on the fundamentals of breathing. That’s pretty rad…

I’ve plugged the product in below for your consideration… (no pressure… wink, wink)