Weak at pulling?

[marcroboy]

Hi Coach Rip,

I'm 2 months into your Starting Strength program, let's say it's been fantastic for me so far, my squat went from 125 to 255 and now it's still progressing nicely with no sign of slowing down. My other movements aren't as impressively however they are still growing as well.

Currently I'm trying to catch up on the deadlift with respect to my squats(progress hindered due to some minor back injury), so I'm doing it every other work out. I also really want to develop a strong power clean, so I'm also doing power clean every other work out, both are also progressing nicely now. But the problem is I'm really weak at pulling with my arms. My arm has always been weak at pulling stuff so this is no suprise to me. I'm 5' 8 175lb, and embarrassed to say, I can barely do a single pull up.

Do you think I can add pull ups to deadlift day? Or do you think it's a better idea to alternate it with power clean?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Work them in 2x/week, in whatever way your schedule permits. At this point, that weak a pullup/chinup is affecting your pressing, and you need to fix it.

[marcroboy]

Thank you for the response, I'll start them right away next week.