I just thought I’d drop my theory about what I think will happen and make some suggestions to help you reach your goal. I am a physical therapist and have a masters in exercise science so this is right in my wheelhouse. For new lifters, a large portion of the improvements are from neural coordination. The grease the groove concept works great in this case because there are large improvements to be made in muscle coordination of whatever movement you are working on. As an experienced lifter, I expect this to cause similar improvements but to a lesser degree because this is a motor pattern that you have already developed efficient motor patterns for pull ups. In your case, the limiting factor is going to be more about metabolic fatigue than anything else and I don’t think that shorts sets will create the metabolic conditions that will enough metabolic stress to force the adaptations you would need to get in the 40s on pull ups. After this challenge you will still have 5 months to get to your goal and in that time I think continue it with your normal weighted pull ups will be important. It would also be helpful to do sets that challenge your metabolism. If you’re max is currently 22, I would start at bodyweight pull ups with sets of 8-12 or when you begin to feel the burn and fatigue but before that forces you to stop. I would keep rest time between sets short to challenge the working muscles to recover metabolically and then repeat the sets. This will force your body to get better at handling the metabolic conditions of a max effort set by giving it an opportunity to clear the metabolic byproducts from the muscle. Doing this repeatedly will make that process more efficient and allow you to continue for longer before feeling the same type of fatigue. I don’t claim to be an expert on everything and I hope I’m wrong and that you’ll be able to double your max during this challenge. If it doesn’t work out I hope those suggestions help you reach your goal! Thanks for all the great content!
This has truly changed the way that I’m looking at this challenge and I am approaching it differently. All your points make complete sense and I have been applying them. Thank you so much!
A couple years ago, I did the grease-the-groove pullup method and it was amazing! I have since let all those gains slip away and am back to maybe 6-10 pullups max. I should do this again soon, it really does provide results!
I went to military school for high school. I never really did pushups before then. It was a bit hard at first, getting to 30-40. I probably did 100-200 a day. That adds up so unbelievably well over the weeks and months. By my last year I could do 100+ on a PT test (2 minute limit). Fond memories. 100% believe in grease the groove approaches 😁
Brian, love the video. I think this type of additional work is priceless. If you were to “rotate grips/variations” every week, guaranteed you get a stronger pull-up. You could even “flat load” the reps/sets and add 5lb each week. The possibilities are near endless! I would be really interested in you doing this experiment with other movements, maybe reverse hypers. Good luck, cheers from indiana!
I usually have a pullup bar in the doorway to my office, so it works out perfect for this. I would recommend being a little careful though, possibly with light warmups. I've pulled muscles in my back 70% of the time I do random pullups, but that was also when I wasn't regularly training so maybe the regular training will help prevent injury.
I've done this before and it took me from 10 to 20. I did 50% of my max 4 times a day, and added reps every week or two. To get from 20 to 25 I used a GVT style where I did 10 sets with 90 seconds rest trying to get 10 reps for as many sets as possible.
I am all about this. Have been a pullup junky for at least the last 20 years. Grease the groove is the way to go. I will be 64 years old on Oct 28 and will try it this time as you prescribe !
I have a fun one: barbell set at among the highest positions via where the j hooks are. Do a pullup, open the hips, push the knees forward like a sissy squat to stretch, and then position yourself under the barbell with gradual pressure/ bracing (if eating carbs it's bracing I guess you could say) for a narrow grip overhead squat. That's one rep.
I think I might try this with one armed pullups, my current record is 9 so maybe I can start with 2 or 3, probably 2, my strength feels like it falls off fairly quickly the more I do.
I’m gonna do this with you! I could always use more back strength but my chest needs the most work😅. So I’m gonna do both push-ups and pull-ups! Count me in!
I'm pretty happy being able to get sets of 5 on pullups. Now I need to find a place for a pullup rig inside my house or find a way to get the dojo owner to install a pullup rig. First the row complex and now this. Now the complex is definitely paying dividends since it's getting really hard for guys to get around my upper body while rolling so this could be helpful. Thanks Brian.
I been stuck on 10-11 for a minute now so this should be interesting. Most I ever did was 24 but that was 12 years ago when I was 17 and had the doorway pullup bar at my bedroom door. My dad made me stop bc we would start to see cracks in the stucco ceiling above the door 😂
I'm on week two of Recon Ron to build back up after a broken clavicle incident, so this is exciting! Grease the groove sure works, but I'd rather do all my pull ups as a little session everyday rather than having to remember the GTG thing while I'm running around doing stuff
My brother did a similar thing with pull ups in middle school. He was strong as fuck for his age. We had a beam next to our kitchen where he would do pull ups multiple times per day
I’m going to start today, a little late for Brian schedule but it’s ok. By the way, I just finished wave one of his power builder program, the “bring sally up “ squats almost killed me😂😂
I did 20 pullups a day every day and every week i added 10 more...i ended at 70 a day, my lats were smoked like never before...i just had to stop, it was like someone woult stab me to the lats haha I did similar with pushups, doubling the reps, but after a few weeks the elbows werent happy
I did this when I was lifting weights in high-school. Most times when I passed the pull up bar I would do at least 5 and it really did help. I was able to blast them out just in a couple weeks
Great idea and looking forward to it. Only trouble I’ve had with this approach is my elbow starts to hurt. Hope that doesn’t happen again, I think it’s pretty common with high volume pull up protocols.
I think I would have to do a lot more push-ups per one pull up because they are much easier for me. I don’t know anyone in the world who cannot perform one push-up but I would say the majority of the population cannot do one pull up
This method is exactly how I, as a teenager, went from 0 chinups to 8 chinups (9, if the ugliest, sloppies chinup in the world is considered valid). For a beginner it's effective, time efficient and seemingly effortless.
I once tried to do push ups and pull ups 5 times a week, on top of my regular training. Left me with some pretty bad biceps pain. Either my form was just so shitty back then or I should´ve done less reps.
If you decide to do this, do you still train pull-ups during your weight training sessions or do you only do pull-ups as part of the grease the groove program? Right now I do weighted pull-ups once or twice a week, but would I still do that while doing GtG?
Are you still training pull ups during your weight training sessions but you can also replace them with other forms of rows and things like that since you have more access at the gym to those things
I had to stop because I started physical therapy on my shoulder issue but I plan on revisiting this and doing 100 pull ups a day for 30 days to see what happens
I remember training pullups for a week straight and than I was able to do 33! I can't believe it myself. So yes, greasing the groove works on people who allready can do pullups. Before that I was at 25 untrained in the pullup.
Brian, all you have to do to get your 43 for 43 is do a 60lb weight cut starting now and do your 43rd birthday set at 170bw haha.. jk jk, stay big and strong my friend, you'll bust those 43 out easy
I think it depends on how far you were working prior to starting the EDC. If you’re working very hard then the caries will just be challenging and you can probably pull off doing the pull ups as well. If you were finding the EDC to be absolute brutal, and I would not have to pull ups until your work capacity it grows a little more
I had a buddy in basic training, fail the 2nd PT test on the push up. He was very skinny. Never worked out before he joined the army. After he failed, he had a month until the next test. He did sets of 5-10 reps every chance he could for the whole month. Next test he almost maxed out the test. I believe he got mid-60 range…max points was like 72. So in a month, greasing the groove took him from less than 40 push ups to over 60. Doesn’t seem too impressive to most…but I saw the struggle on the PT test he failed not even getting to 40 and they were all broken up after 10-15 reps and then I saw the triumph on the next one where he only struggled with the last 10-ish. In my opinion, it was incredible and the first time I got to see every day, someone work through the adversity, although not life threatening adversity, it still taught me a lesson I could take away from it!
That is a badass story! My dad used to make me do 100 push ups every day and night, and when I had to do the push up test at school I’d always dominate it! But pull ups can’t even get one lmao
Cool idea! I'm joining this with a slightly modified version where I add one rep to one set every day until every one of the sets is increased by one rep from where I started. This means there will be 10 day periods instead of weekly periods and there will only be 3 instead of 4 more total added reps per set at the end of the month but I think the smoother progression is worth it for me personally, especially since I'll be starting with one rep per set (current max is a measly 3).
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial That's rough! Maybe try rings? I've gone down the weighted route to get the pull ups progressing. But still keen to try GtG somehow.
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial Dang, heal up. My bad for missing that! You’re awesome and I look forward to everything you put out. The way you break everything down just clicks for me and has helped with literally every one of my lifts. Thank you for doing what you do!
If you really want to maximize the amount of reps you can do I would suggest adding some weight to your pull-ups like 10-40lbs because when you take the weights off to try your test they will feel significantly lighter and you’ll be able to do more reps. Worked for me.
Thank you for the tip my friend, I’m still doing with the pull ups in my normal program, this experiment is just kind of a side thing for bodyweight alone
I think the 'Easy Strength' program by Dan John uses the principle of 'greasing the groove'. Am currently following the program and the results are very good!
Well I am not setup to do Pull-Ups at the house but I will do them before and after my workout at the gym. But I will do this for Push Ups at the house. Every time I take my dogs out or I need to hit the head my self I will do Push Ups. Lets get it!!!
Never man. I weigh about 230 pounds and M below 10% body fat now. At my biggest, I was 273 and literally couldn’t walk 10 steps without getting out of breath. I may have been slightly Stronger but I was also hurling myself towards the grave just like many other RUclips fitness people
I would never have done that to myself in the first place if I understood that gaining weight really doesn’t matter that much. And I would never do it again or recommend anyone do that. When I see you guys with my frame without much mass, I always just hope it is a season of time for them because it’s not sustainable. Especially not once you’ve hit 40
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial Thank you for the clarification. You know us youngsters...We always want to be as big as possible. I need to reconsider my position on that. How much weight is a good balance between strength, athleticism and health for a 6ft guy?
One thing I learned many years ago from my drill sergeant in 2002. Pull-ups are great and all but you only really need to do one. Because that one can save your life. So I’m going to live my life being happy with doing one lol.
What if you're hanging from a cliff with someone hanging off you're back? Or if you have to climb up a rope? Or climb down a burning building to safety? In all those cases, you'll need to have the strength to do much more than one pullup.
![Cody Johnson - I'm Gonna Love You (with Carrie Underwood) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yy9PuYMU29g/mqdefault.jpg)
I just thought I’d drop my theory about what I think will happen and make some suggestions to help you reach your goal. I am a physical therapist and have a masters in exercise science so this is right in my wheelhouse. For new lifters, a large portion of the improvements are from neural coordination. The grease the groove concept works great in this case because there are large improvements to be made in muscle coordination of whatever movement you are working on. As an experienced lifter, I expect this to cause similar improvements but to a lesser degree because this is a motor pattern that you have already developed efficient motor patterns for pull ups. In your case, the limiting factor is going to be more about metabolic fatigue than anything else and I don’t think that shorts sets will create the metabolic conditions that will enough metabolic stress to force the adaptations you would need to get in the 40s on pull ups. After this challenge you will still have 5 months to get to your goal and in that time I think continue it with your normal weighted pull ups will be important. It would also be helpful to do sets that challenge your metabolism. If you’re max is currently 22, I would start at bodyweight pull ups with sets of 8-12 or when you begin to feel the burn and fatigue but before that forces you to stop. I would keep rest time between sets short to challenge the working muscles to recover metabolically and then repeat the sets. This will force your body to get better at handling the metabolic conditions of a max effort set by giving it an opportunity to clear the metabolic byproducts from the muscle. Doing this repeatedly will make that process more efficient and allow you to continue for longer before feeling the same type of fatigue.
I don’t claim to be an expert on everything and I hope I’m wrong and that you’ll be able to double your max during this challenge. If it doesn’t work out I hope those suggestions help you reach your goal! Thanks for all the great content!
This has truly changed the way that I’m looking at this challenge and I am approaching it differently. All your points make complete sense and I have been applying them. Thank you so much!
A couple years ago, I did the grease-the-groove pullup method and it was amazing! I have since let all those gains slip away and am back to maybe 6-10 pullups max. I should do this again soon, it really does provide results!
I went to military school for high school. I never really did pushups before then. It was a bit hard at first, getting to 30-40. I probably did 100-200 a day. That adds up so unbelievably well over the weeks and months. By my last year I could do 100+ on a PT test (2 minute limit). Fond memories. 100% believe in grease the groove approaches 😁
Brian, love the video. I think this type of additional work is priceless. If you were to “rotate grips/variations” every week, guaranteed you get a stronger pull-up. You could even “flat load” the reps/sets and add 5lb each week. The possibilities are near endless! I would be really interested in you doing this experiment with other movements, maybe reverse hypers. Good luck, cheers from indiana!
I usually have a pullup bar in the doorway to my office, so it works out perfect for this. I would recommend being a little careful though, possibly with light warmups. I've pulled muscles in my back 70% of the time I do random pullups, but that was also when I wasn't regularly training so maybe the regular training will help prevent injury.
I've done this before and it took me from 10 to 20. I did 50% of my max 4 times a day, and added reps every week or two. To get from 20 to 25 I used a GVT style where I did 10 sets with 90 seconds rest trying to get 10 reps for as many sets as possible.
The 25th was my 58th birthday. I will join you in this starting now.
I'm in. Starting tomorrow morning
Greasing the groove is so effective, applies to anything in life. Just bought a Nordic hamstring curl strap as my next challenge .
I hit like as soon as I saw the dog! 🐶
Im starting this with you Brian! Thanks for the inspiration man
I'm in. Max reps of 10 so working to make it to 20.
I have no doubt in my mind that you will brother
I too will join the challenge.
Really interesting idea! Thanks for sharing!
I started yesterday so I don’t forget
This is awesome, I can't wait to see the results!
I am all about this. Have been a pullup junky for at least the last 20 years. Grease the groove is the way to go.
I will be 64 years old on Oct 28 and will try it this time as you prescribe !
I have a fun one: barbell set at among the highest positions via where the j hooks are. Do a pullup, open the hips, push the knees forward like a sissy squat to stretch, and then position yourself under the barbell with gradual pressure/ bracing (if eating carbs it's bracing I guess you could say) for a narrow grip overhead squat. That's one rep.
I think I might try this with one armed pullups, my current record is 9 so maybe I can start with 2 or 3, probably 2, my strength feels like it falls off fairly quickly the more I do.
Recently hit 20 consecutive pullups for the first time, tempted to try this to keep the train rolling!
I love this idea for a challenge! Love this info too, so helpful!
I’m gonna do this with you! I could always use more back strength but my chest needs the most work😅. So I’m gonna do both push-ups and pull-ups!
Count me in!
I'm pretty happy being able to get sets of 5 on pullups. Now I need to find a place for a pullup rig inside my house or find a way to get the dojo owner to install a pullup rig. First the row complex and now this. Now the complex is definitely paying dividends since it's getting really hard for guys to get around my upper body while rolling so this could be helpful. Thanks Brian.
I been stuck on 10-11 for a minute now so this should be interesting. Most I ever did was 24 but that was 12 years ago when I was 17 and had the doorway pullup bar at my bedroom door. My dad made me stop bc we would start to see cracks in the stucco ceiling above the door 😂
Excellent idea, i join the Challenge, Brian RUclips not notify the vid, it doesnt appear as the last video In your channel either.
Hey Brian , did you ever do the follow up video? Im going to try this to get my pull up reps higher.
I'm on week two of Recon Ron to build back up after a broken clavicle incident, so this is exciting! Grease the groove sure works, but I'd rather do all my pull ups as a little session everyday rather than having to remember the GTG thing while I'm running around doing stuff
My brother did a similar thing with pull ups in middle school. He was strong as fuck for his age. We had a beam next to our kitchen where he would do pull ups multiple times per day
I’m going to start today, a little late for Brian schedule but it’s ok. By the way, I just finished wave one of his power builder program, the “bring sally up “ squats almost killed me😂😂
I’m gonna try this with kettlebell swings
43 and I’m in.
I'm in
I did 20 pullups a day every day and every week i added 10 more...i ended at 70 a day, my lats were smoked like never before...i just had to stop, it was like someone woult stab me to the lats haha
I did similar with pushups, doubling the reps, but after a few weeks the elbows werent happy
I did this when I was lifting weights in high-school. Most times when I passed the pull up bar I would do at least 5 and it really did help. I was able to blast them out just in a couple weeks
Its easy when you're a teen because you're full of testosterone. Try it in your 40's.
on it!
Great idea and looking forward to it. Only trouble I’ve had with this approach is my elbow starts to hurt. Hope that doesn’t happen again, I think it’s pretty common with high volume pull up protocols.
Use a rice bucket to counter the flexion and you won’t get overuse injuries. I have a video about it on here
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial Thanks, Brian! I will look for the video.
Awesome man. I'm in 👍
I’m in. Ever thought about doing this at a 1:1 ratio with push-ups?
I think I would have to do a lot more push-ups per one pull up because they are much easier for me. I don’t know anyone in the world who cannot perform one push-up but I would say the majority of the population cannot do one pull up
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial that is my situation, can do bb rows with 300 pounds for sets and reps no problem, chin ups? O
Also I am in brother
I start with 6 consecutive pullups
Would love to do this along with you!
This method is exactly how I, as a teenager, went from 0 chinups to 8 chinups (9, if the ugliest, sloppies chinup in the world is considered valid). For a beginner it's effective, time efficient and seemingly effortless.
I once tried to do push ups and pull ups 5 times a week, on top of my regular training. Left me with some pretty bad biceps pain. Either my form was just so shitty back then or I should´ve done less reps.
I'm at 8 reps right now so lets hope for 20 after 28 days
Get at it son . I'm hoping to get from 5 to maybe 8-9.
Day 16 of this challenge for me. Why do my triceps hurt more than anything else? Weird
If you decide to do this, do you still train pull-ups during your weight training sessions or do you only do pull-ups as part of the grease the groove program? Right now I do weighted pull-ups once or twice a week, but would I still do that while doing GtG?
Are you still training pull ups during your weight training sessions but you can also replace them with other forms of rows and things like that since you have more access at the gym to those things
i suck at pull ups so this is key for me
Already a month? What about the results. Im curious. :)
I had to stop because I started physical therapy on my shoulder issue but I plan on revisiting this and doing 100 pull ups a day for 30 days to see what happens
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial Get well soon. And thanks for response. :)
I predict this works ☝️
I will give this a go cause I suck at pullups lol if this doesn't work than I guess I'm doomed 😅
I remember training pullups for a week straight and than I was able to do 33! I can't believe it myself. So yes, greasing the groove works on people who allready can do pullups. Before that I was at 25 untrained in the pullup.
Brian, all you have to do to get your 43 for 43 is do a 60lb weight cut starting now and do your 43rd birthday set at 170bw haha.. jk jk, stay big and strong my friend, you'll bust those 43 out easy
Would this challenge be too much if your just stating the EDC program?
I think it depends on how far you were working prior to starting the EDC. If you’re working very hard then the caries will just be challenging and you can probably pull off doing the pull ups as well. If you were finding the EDC to be absolute brutal, and I would not have to pull ups until your work capacity it grows a little more
30 might be more realistic for you if your current PR is in lower 20s.
I doubt this method works, but I'll give it a try...
.
I had a buddy in basic training, fail the 2nd PT test on the push up. He was very skinny. Never worked out before he joined the army. After he failed, he had a month until the next test. He did sets of 5-10 reps every chance he could for the whole month. Next test he almost maxed out the test. I believe he got mid-60 range…max points was like 72. So in a month, greasing the groove took him from less than 40 push ups to over 60. Doesn’t seem too impressive to most…but I saw the struggle on the PT test he failed not even getting to 40 and they were all broken up after 10-15 reps and then I saw the triumph on the next one where he only struggled with the last 10-ish. In my opinion, it was incredible and the first time I got to see every day, someone work through the adversity, although not life threatening adversity, it still taught me a lesson I could take away from it!
That is a badass story! My dad used to make me do 100 push ups every day and night, and when I had to do the push up test at school I’d always dominate it! But pull ups can’t even get one lmao
Inspiring as f*ck! Love to hear it. Kudos to your buddy!
Was a lot of fun for the first 3 weeks, but 3 reps must've been too high a starting point. Oh ego you rascal.
I have to restart as well because of my physical therapy so we can do it together my friend
Cool idea! I'm joining this with a slightly modified version where I add one rep to one set every day until every one of the sets is increased by one rep from where I started. This means there will be 10 day periods instead of weekly periods and there will only be 3 instead of 4 more total added reps per set at the end of the month but I think the smoother progression is worth it for me personally, especially since I'll be starting with one rep per set (current max is a measly 3).
I’m totally down with this challenge…I suck at pull-ups
Pull ups have always been a weak point for me. I'm in.
Hey! Anyone knows the results of
This video ? 😅
I had to stop because of a shoulder injury. It’s still injured. Otherwise, I would have completed this for you guys already.
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial That's rough! Maybe try rings? I've gone down the weighted route to get the pull ups progressing. But still keen to try GtG somehow.
Damn, I'm in. Currently ar 25 pullups, this should be interesting
Years ago there was a similar program for calves
It’s been 2 months. Are you going to post a follow-up on this?!?
I did in my injury video. I paused the challenge to do physical therapy on my shoulder injury that happened from a few months ago
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial Dang, heal up. My bad for missing that! You’re awesome and I look forward to everything you put out. The way you break everything down just clicks for me and has helped with literally every one of my lifts. Thank you for doing what you do!
Thank you so much man! I will hopefully be back to the challenge soon!
Haha, look at the daily total on day 4... Something you want to tell us?
Looking forward to your wim Hof vid bud
running this with you brian!
Love the secret video. I'm in.
I'm in!
If you really want to maximize the amount of reps you can do I would suggest adding some weight to your pull-ups like 10-40lbs because when you take the weights off to try your test they will feel significantly lighter and you’ll be able to do more reps. Worked for me.
Thank you for the tip my friend, I’m still doing with the pull ups in my normal program, this experiment is just kind of a side thing for bodyweight alone
Hey brother! Are you still doing coaching???
Absolutely my friend
I think the 'Easy Strength' program by Dan John uses the principle of 'greasing the groove'. Am currently following the program and the results are very good!
Damn man. Always learning, always growing, always motivating. Thank you so much.
Well I am not setup to do Pull-Ups at the house but I will do them before and after my workout at the gym. But I will do this for Push Ups at the house. Every time I take my dogs out or I need to hit the head my self I will do Push Ups. Lets get it!!!
I'd love to see you try doing 43 pull ups in one go. Most I ever did was 37 at 194 pounds. I did did pull ups and push ups all the time back then.
I’m in. Starting at 2 pull-ups per set at a bodyweight of 230.
Do you have any plans on getting back to the weight you had 5-6 years ago? Do you feel healthier now? You were huge as fuck. Now you look natty.
Never man. I weigh about 230 pounds and M below 10% body fat now. At my biggest, I was 273 and literally couldn’t walk 10 steps without getting out of breath. I may have been slightly Stronger but I was also hurling myself towards the grave just like many other RUclips fitness people
I would never have done that to myself in the first place if I understood that gaining weight really doesn’t matter that much. And I would never do it again or recommend anyone do that. When I see you guys with my frame without much mass, I always just hope it is a season of time for them because it’s not sustainable. Especially not once you’ve hit 40
@@BrianAlsruheOfficial Thank you for the clarification. You know us youngsters...We always want to be as big as possible. I need to reconsider my position on that. How much weight is a good balance between strength, athleticism and health for a 6ft guy?
I've always wanted to be able to do more pullups, so I'm gonna do this
Great idea!
I'm in from October 1st 💪🏻
Brian I wnat own how strong u are what's your pr's ?
Amazing 😀
I’m in!
Definitely going to join in!
One thing I learned many years ago from my drill sergeant in 2002. Pull-ups are great and all but you only really need to do one. Because that one can save your life. So I’m going to live my life being happy with doing one lol.
That's a really interesting way to look at it. Sadly most people can't do one.
What if you're hanging from a cliff with someone hanging off you're back? Or if you have to climb up a rope? Or climb down a burning building to safety? In all those cases, you'll need to have the strength to do much more than one pullup.
@@tjcogger1974 well I guess I would just let go of the edge of the cliff and hopefully land on top of the other person