colour me impressed .
a couple of questions .
1) do you know your 1 rep max on Chinups/ Pullups ?
my best is an additional 50 kg at a BW of around 68 - 70 kg
2) any tips on getting pull-ups past 20 reps been stuck for awhile now the best Ive reached when I wasn't 15 @ a BW of 50 kg ( where I could do 30 ) is 26
Thanks for any feedback
Hey brother. I do not know my max on doing chin-ups/pull ups with additional weight. I used to chain a 45 lb plate to my waist and do 5 sets of 8-12 reps, but I never went heavier than that. I can tell you that, at the time, I found the last 2 sets to be incredibly difficult. I would have already done deadlifts though, so I would be pretty burned out.
I know a lot of gym-rats will disagree with me, as philosophies vary. But as I indicated previously, I do atypically high volume and have done so for many years. The reason for this is my desire to maintain explosive and significant strength while grappling under fatigue. I've had much bigger men comment on how physically strong I feel on the mat. That said, I'm not a power lifter, so I don't claim to be insanely powerful from a 1-rep-max perspective, at all. My best numbers for 3 reps (after doing 100+ reps in each exercise, building up in weight), are as follows: Bench - 315 lbs x 3; Squat (right to the floor, literally sitting on my heels) 335 x 3; Deadlift - 450 x 3, at a body-weight of 186 - 188 lbs.
I will give you the program I used, where I was hitting pullup numbers like that. This is one day out of a 4-day program that you train in a 5-day cycle, so once a week, you are repeating one of the days. Here is my back day from that program. Obviously, you will need to adjust the weights to suit yourself.
Day 2: Back & Traps
Sumo Deadlift
185 x 30; 225 x 25; 275 x 15; 315 x 12; 365 x 8; 405 x 5; 450 x 3 (98 total reps)
Conventional elevated/deficit deadlifts (standing on 2 or 3 plates stacked up, so the bar is very nearly resting across the tops of your feet, making the range of motion on the llift greater)
315 x 12; 315 x 12; 315 x 12 (36 total reps)
The foregoing may be too rep heavy for you... so consult with some knowledgeable people and train with a friend to police your form. If you are too fatigued, it is easy to injure your back during deadlifts, so be cautious. Don't injure yourself trying to be superman!
NOTE: I was ocasionally doing my deadlifts at noon or early afternoon (as I would have pounded out more than 130 reps and this can get time-consuming), and then coming back to the gym to do everything that comes next at 6:00 or 7:00 p.m.
Wide grip chin ups
3 - 5 sets to failure (I eventually built up to ~30 reps per set, often tapering off to fewer reps with each successive set)
Hammer-Strength Pulldown machine
2 sets to failure - try to set the weight so you hit failure at 10 - 12 reps
Seated Cable Rows
12 - 15 reps (fail in this range)
10 - 12 reps (fail in this range)
reduce weight by 20% and work to failure - push hard to breach 15 reps
Shrugs
25 - 30 reps, then increase weight
20 - 25 reps, then increase weight
15 - 20 reps, then increase weight
10 - 15 reps, then immediately start doing partial reps to failure
Reverse Pec Dec superset with Serratus Lat Pulldown (use the "V"-bar people often use for tricep press downs and lean forward and lower the bar until it hits your body, squeezing your serratus the entire time, with your elbows slightly bent... even light weight will BURN)
12 - 15 reps reverse prec dec followed by 10 - 12 reps serratus lat pulldown
Do this Superset for 3 sets.
Best of luck, my friend.