Chin programming -- volume and intensity ok?

[Paul1]

I'm able to get 10 good chins at bodyweight for 3 sets, but haven't made much progress since then. I suspect part of this is that I'm doing chins later in the workout when I'm too tired.

Right now the rest of my programming is based on a 4 day split based on a volume day and an intensity day. Does this make sense for chins? What I've tried this past week was the following:

tues) chins, 3x10 @ bodyweight

fri) chins, 3x3 with 45 pounds, alternating with DB rows 5 reps per side w/ 90 pounds

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

There are so many ways to skin this one, Paul, but here is the direction I would go if I were trying to not only increase the number of chins I can do at BW, but also increase my pure chinning strength. Note that these two "qualities", if you will, aren't necessarily too disparate, but that I think we can all agree that the requirements of doing a set of 20 chins unbroken is different than chinning a century hanging from your waist for a triple.

Tuesday: max reps of chins x 3 sets (don't just arbitrarily cut them off at 10)

Friday: build up to a heavy set of 5 reps x 1 set, then two back off sets -10-15% of weight for 5-7 reps. Skip the DB rows entirely.

Try and get another rep on each of your max rep sets for awhile and push the weight up by 2.5-5lbs on the weighted chins. Every so often, swap the chins for overhand pull ups or alternatively, alternate chin-pull-chin or equivalently, pull-chin-pull on your max rep days.

DB rows can be useful at certain points, but in my experience this is only with much higher reps and heavier weights (think 110+ x 20 reps or more).

[ColoWayno]

Do what Jordan says, I just have been doing a similar program to what you described and thought I'd post about it for no reason.

I do the split as well and have V/I days on pull ups. I've been doing 2 sets of 10, weighted, on V day and a BW back off to failure if I don't get all 20 reps. For I day I've been doing a 5RM, and a second set to failure if I don't get my 5. Also, my 4 day split takes 9 or 10 days per cycle... The extra rest helps a lot (especially at 50).
Doing 3 sets to failure I was always inconsistent in sets 2 and 3, I think it depended on what I put into the first set.

Just FYI my last successful volume weight was 27.5lbs + BW, and I just got 5 with 60 lbs today. Progress has been slow,though, so maybe it is time for a change.

[Paul1]

Thanks guys. 10 is close to max reps. If I take a second between reps with my feet on the floor I could get a couple more maybe. Doing max reps i.e. to failure makes recovery between sets a lot harder. That said, when I was doing P90x there were so many damn pullup sets that I was going to failure like 8 times in a workout and ky numbers improved a lot.

I've been doing DB rows mainly because I hate barbell rows, they kill my elbows and I get sort of presyncopal in that position for a whole set. I can only get maybe 5-10 straight reps with a 90, so I thought that would help. Need to get the 130 pound expansion to my powerblocks, though!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I just have never found low rep DB rows to do anything useful at all. High-rep Kroc rows work well, tho.