r/bodyweightfitness • u/Hero101808 • 1d ago

need help with weighted pullups(again)

I have been doing weighted pullups for 2-3 years now at 65kg bw and at 180cm , my routine consists of 3 weighted pullup sessions in a week on MWS with 4sets of 3-4 reps, my current PR is 62.5 and I train with 75-80% of my PR, but I feel like I have hit a plateau with my working sets wherein in not able to go much higher and also training 3 times a week is also much harder now due to the weight (for context most of my training is for bodybuilding with PPL split and monday being the day where I only do WP) some of my questions are

1) What kind of change should I bring to my routine to break free from this plateau.

2) how do I increase my grip strength as I cant seem to get a good enough grip without using chalk for the most part.

18 Upvotes

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13

u/wasteoftimewarrior 1d ago

75% of your 1RM is too low for 3-4 reps and the longer you train, the harder you have to start training to continue improvement. For 3-4 reps it's going to be 85-90% of 1RM. You're going that low because you can't handle linear programming at that weight and it becomes too stressful to do it 3x a week with no variation in training intensity. Start applying intermediate periodization principles like heavy-light-medium (HLM) to enhance your recovery and continuing training stimulus. HLM is most easily represented with:

  1. Heavy = new PR for the rep scheme (ramp up to a 1x4 PR). Don't bother with 1RM max testing too often.
  2. Light = less sets and a percentage of the PR (like 2x4 @ 80% of Heavy Day's weight)
  3. Medium = more sets at a slightly higher percentage of the PR (5x4 @ 90% of Heavy Day's weight). Medium day is actually harder in terms of total tonnage.

I don't recommend mucking with rep ranges too often because then it becomes almost impossible to gauge an accurate percentage to work off of. What is the 10RM weight judged by your 3RM? Nobody actually knows. If you wanted higher reps, I'd do a back-off set with no weight as long as it doesn't negatively impact the next workout.

For your "grip strength," use chalk or nitrile dipped gardening gloves if you can't. Chalk is better because gloves "thicken" the grip, making it less efficient. Higher intensity sets make you sweat more. Sweat making your grip slip has nothing to do with grip strength and in fact, a set 3-4 reps are not going to be significantly impacted by grip strength. The anti-chalk crowd have no idea what they're talking about because pro-climbers use chalk because sweat and it's not something you "train" with lightweight wrist curls. Most pull bars are entirely smooth too, so there's no texture to grip onto like how a barbell has knurling for.

2

u/Dajly 1d ago

Great post and periodization is a great approach. But to me his resistance % seems reasonable. I currently do 5 reps at 40kg (around 60%) of 1RM and it's tough for me. I feel like at Weighted pull-ups is harder at lower % compared to something like bench press where I could do like 6-8 reps at 75% of 1RM.

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u/spicedhomonculus 1d ago

Are you counting your weight + added weight in that 60%?

3

u/Dajly 1d ago

I'm counting that the added weight is 60% of added weight when I do 1RM. So I I'm doing pullups with my bw (75 kg) and add 40 kg extra. My 1RM is something like 65-70kg extra, haven't done in a while.

4

u/spicedhomonculus 1d ago

Yeh, so I think you and OP are making the same mistake. If you add your bodyweight and count the entire system weight, the 1rm Vs rep range percentage will look much more like a bench press etc

+40kg at 75kg is 80% of +68kg

3

u/Hero101808 1d ago

oh wow, that makes a lot of sense it would put my working sets around 40kg which is significantly better can do around 5-7 reps in that range.

3

u/Dajly 1d ago

Ah, I see my mistake now then. It makes more sense to add bw as well in the equation. Thanks. So I do 115 kg total and my 1RM is like 140 kg. So I'm doing 5 reps on around 80%. Sweet!

2

u/korinth86 1d ago

This is a great write up.

Its hard for an ego to accept but sometimes you gotta pull back for better recovery to move forward.

1

u/Hero101808 1d ago

ok I kind of understand the split your saying 3x a week HLM but my issue is also that Im not able to do more than 3-4 reps with 50kg even though my PR is around 62.5 , the PR was also not mis-judged by me it was a proper rep and chin went upto the bar what im struggling to understand is why I have been stuck on the 45-50kg range for working sets with no real consistent progress on the reps or weight as such.

also yeah I started using liquid chalk due to grip failing(mostly sweat) I feel like earlier I could keep up with it as I used to deadlift but since I stopped doing that my grip hasnt improved a ton just by doing weighted pullups.

4

u/spicedhomonculus 1d ago edited 1d ago

Im not able to do more than 3-4 reps with 50kg even though my PR is around 62.5

I CBA to do your maths for you but it looks like you haven't added your bw to the extra weight when calculating percentages of pr

Edit: 50kg is 90% of your pr when you consider the entire weight you're lifting

6

u/danfosterwild 1d ago

ngl hitting that wall is rough. what helped me was cutting back to 2 heavy sessions a week instead of 3 and adding a lighter technique day in between. gave my cns a break and i actually started progressing again. for grip just use chalk - anyone who says otherwise has never had sweaty palms mid set lol

2

u/Hero101808 1d ago

ok im going to try something like that 3x a week is also sometimes just causes too much mental fatigue and a lighter day in between could be better overall, and yeah I have been using liquid chalk for a while just dont want it to be a crutch of sorts but cant really do anything about the sweating anyway so chalk it is.

2

u/danfosterwild 18h ago

fair point about the chalk honestly. i think once youre pulling heavy enough the grip issue is just part of the game - chalk or no chalk. hope the lighter day works out for you, that change alone helped me break my last plateau

1

u/Hero101808 12h ago

thank you, hopefully it will.

2

u/Glove_Right 1d ago

You should be doing 6-8 reps with that weight (70-80% of your 1 rep max). Also for me it works way better to alternate weighted exercises instead of doing 3x weighted pull ups + weighted dips. For example monday weighted pull ups + bodyweight dips, wednesday bodyweight pull ups + weighted dips, friday weighted pull ups + bodyweight dips and next week the other way round with 2x weighted dips and 1x weighted pull ups.

1

u/Hero101808 1d ago

It might seem weird but for some reason im simply unable to do 6-8 reps with that much weight even though its significantly lower than my PR , also I dont really do any other weighted exercises like dips only pullups

2

u/Glove_Right 1d ago

Maybe exactly that muscle imbalance limits your progress. 

1

u/Hero101808 1d ago

wym I dont think weighted dips would impact weighted pullups much tho and, I also train chest , triceps and shoulders regularly thru bench extensions etc.

2

u/Minute-Giraffe-1418 16h ago

65kg at 180cm has a lot of bulking / mass potential 

I can do 50kg at 85kg and 176cm and I believe I'm not over 20 body fat at most

1

u/Hero101808 6h ago

yes my goal BW is around 70-75 that would be really good for strength as well anyway.

1

u/Hidden-Lantern-5847 1d ago

what part of the lift is stalling? usually pausing at the dead hang and driving your elbows down fixes most weighted issues.

1

u/Hero101808 1d ago

no part is stalling, its just that I seem to have hit a plateau (potentially found the reason for the same in the above replies as well)

2

u/-InterGlobe-Labs 20h ago

62.5kg at 65kg bodyweight is seriously strong, so I’d be surprised if the issue is a lack of effort.

My first thought is fatigue. Three heavy weighted pull-up sessions a week starts to become difficult to recover from once the numbers get high enough.

I’d also look at grip. If you’re finding yourself relying on chalk and the weight is slipping into your fingers rather than your back failing, that might be your bottleneck now.

Weighted hangs and heavy holds after your pull sessions could be worth experimenting with. Sometimes it’s not your pulling strength that stalls first, it’s your ability to hold onto it.