Problems with chin-up progression

[georgelifts]

Hey Marco,

try progressively weighted negative chins for 3 sets of 5 reps (5 minute breaks). I would leave out the machine and singles, for the sake of accumulating more quality volume first. Don't let your weight discourage you, I weigh 227 lbs and I got pretty good at chins over time.

Hope this helps,
George

[Ericreichelt81]

100 works, just get them in between sets of all lists. He's a big guy and as his weight comes down, or muscle mass goes up, it'll get easier. Until then, just do the work and as the wheels go by gradually add reps where you can. You might not strive for crazy numbers in chinning strength, but being able to do a set of 10 should be an appropriate goal for any fit person with balanced strength. Again though, I'd highly recommend neutral grip chins if you have access. Also, use a false grip, do not wrap your thumb around the bar, this will stop the arm pulling issue most have. All the bullshit about chins building arms is just dumb. Do curls for that, chins for back.

[Ericreichelt81]

I used to be an RKC do I've been doing pull ups for a long time now. I used to program it more but now I just do dips and Chins at the park on my lunch break. Some days I do a bunch and others less. It's just work really.

[marco84]

@georgelifts

With how much weight would you start and what would a sample progression look like?

[Músculo-Tonto]

Senor Marco.
You could also try dynamic-effort sets for your chins.
Perhaps go for 2 sets x10 reps, 30 seconds apart (keep that timing strict). Next time, 2 sets x 11 reps. Next 2x12, until you hit 2x15 (timing still kept strict@ 30 seconds apart). Once you hit that 2x15, add 2.5lbs (more) to your chain around your waist, and drop back to 2 sets x 10 reps, start the increase to 2x15 at the higher weight, keep repeating. Depending on your recovery abilities, you can do the chinups 2x week (with both workouts being the same setxrep). I fully admit that I'm not prioritizing an increase in my CUs right now (I'm doing them just to supplement my current cycle), so I can't 'show off results that make my suggestion the best, or anything like that.

M-T

[Tiedemies]

I was able to get my chins back up to mediocre numbers by just adding one rep to my sets every time. And I mean one rep as in, 3x5 becomes 2x5 + 6, training it three times a week. After a while then, I took one time a week light, and eventually, after getting to 3x10 took one time with bw, and one time with added weight.

I know OP can't do this directly, but if he were to make sure he consistently does a similar pattern, say 3-4 sets, originally ones, then tops it off with some lat pulldowns or something with similar stress pattern, and when possible, increases the reps in his chins, it should work. Also, as he is on the heavy side himself, he may benefit from doing weighted chinups every now and then, say once a week, after he manages a few reps.

But what do I know, I'm talking out of my ass.

[iamsmuts]

Fill in sets of 8-10 with negatives at bodyweight. Do your 3 reps and then 5-7 negatives, whatever it takes to get to 8 or 10 reps in total. Do three sets. Alternate with pullups once you can get 8 chins.

This is pretty much Scooby's recommendation. Give it a try anyway. I've seen it work a few times. Worked for me. I couldn't do 3 chins when I started, even though I did lots of curls. Now I'm weak all around, but I can do 20 or so. And I haven't done a curl in ages.

[georgelifts]

Assuming you can do 10 negative chins at about a 5 sec. tempo, my guess would be that you can start at 10 lbs added for 3 Sets of 5 reps (5 minutes between sets). Add 2 lbs each workout. I would chin one week twice and the next week once, so you don't neglect your PC (DL,CU,PC...CU,DL,CU) or do too many weight jumps too quickly.
Mo: 3x5 negative chins w/ 10 lbs Fr: 3x5 neg. CU w/12 lbs
We: 3x5 neg. CU w/ 14 lbs
Mo: 3x5 (+16) Fr: 3x5 (+18)