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Thread: Chin Ups once or twice per week?

  1. #1
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    Default Chin Ups once or twice per week?

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    I'm 59 and 171lbs. I've been making progress on my chin ups by doing them once a week. Some weeks see no progress but then the next work out a few more chins on each set. Last nights sets were 12, 10, 9, 8, 8 with eight minutes rest between sets. Once I can make 50 reps in five sets I'll start adding weight.

    One question I have is should I be doing these twice a week? When I was younger I certainly would have but I think we have all found in this forum we don't recover as easily. What's been the experience of the elderly here?

    I could always just give it a go and see what happens but I learn a lot of the collective here.

  2. #2
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    Those are pretty impressive numbers in my opinion. I'm 53, and I find that a couple times a weeks has allowed me to progress.

  3. #3
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    51, I make faster chin progress with more frequent training.

    I think this is true for most lifts -- you only grow muscle for 48 hours or so after each training session. So the ideal is to very carefully do no more work than you can recover from in 48 hours and lift every 2 days.
    In practice, we also beat up our joints, tendons, etc. and need longer breaks. Especially as we get older and heal more slowly.

    Maybe try going from 5 sets 1x per week to 3 sets 2x per week?

  4. #4
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    to chin or pullup more, we need to chin or pullup more. I love pointing out the obvious.lol
    there are a few modalities I used in the past which involve alternating sets/rep schemes. For instance:
    1. one day a week do high reps or max reps for multiples sets
    2. do a few weighted sets and increase the reps with a set weight until you hit your target rep count, then increase by 5lbs.
    3. Do a pyramid scheme such as: 2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2 or 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,7,6,5,4,3,2
    4. my favorite, at the conclusion of a chins or pullups, I'll do a set or two do negatives. Have someone assist you and push you up to the top position then descend down as slow as you possible can, repeat as many times as you can. try to increase the rep count over time.
    just a few thoughts

  5. #5
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    It depends on the rest of your program. In my experience 2x per week is better than 1x, but I reverted to 1x due to other programming priorities. In my case that was working dips into the schedule.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bestafter60 View Post
    It depends on the rest of your program. In my experience 2x per week is better than 1x, but I reverted to 1x due to other programming priorities. In my case that was working dips into the schedule.
    I'm not doing dips. Years ago I was doing weighted dips and I think that's when I tore my rotator cuff.

    Based on all the comments I'm going to give twice a week a try and see how it goes.

  7. #7
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    Recovery is a very individual thing...are you doing them as part of a starting strength program....like after deadlifts?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveL View Post
    I'm 59 and 171lbs. I've been making progress on my chin ups by doing them once a week. Some weeks see no progress but then the next work out a few more chins on each set. Last nights sets were 12, 10, 9, 8, 8 with eight minutes rest between sets. Once I can make 50 reps in five sets I'll start adding weight.

    One question I have is should I be doing these twice a week? When I was younger I certainly would have but I think we have all found in this forum we don't recover as easily. What's been the experience of the elderly here?

    I could always just give it a go and see what happens but I learn a lot of the collective here.
    You can probably do 50 in 5 sets already. Do 10 in your first set, don't go to failure.

  9. #9
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    It depends on the context of the rest of your programming.

    Generally speaking, you want to do the most amount of frequency and volume that you can handle, but that is a very open ended question with a million moving parts.

    "How much would adding another bunch of chins to another session "cost" you?" is really the question.

    You could do a lot of different options. I think heavy curls on deadlift days can be a good alternative as a lighter chin assistance exercise. So can inverted rows.

  10. #10
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    You are doing 47 reps in 5 sets now. I'd say start doing it twice per week. One day keep working towards your goal of 50 reps in 5 sets. the other day, do a 3x5 with weight. Start light...maybe 5lb and increase slowly (starting at 2.5 increases). Also, as opposed to 8 min rest, you can try supersetting in between exercise changes. I.e., squats...3x5/1x5 whatever... then a set of chins, then press 3x5....a set of chins...then DL....a set of chins, etc. this gives more like 20 to 40 minutes rest depending on your workout for the day.

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