The Foolproof Method To Unlock Your First 5 Pull-Ups in 3 Months

Firstly, I’d like to welcome all the new faces to the newsletter. Thank you for your support & taking an interest in your health & fitness.

Pull-Ups are a bloody hard exercise, despite what fitness gurus online may be telling you.

You’re lifting your entire body weight with relatively small upper body muscles compared to your leg muscles.

So don’t be disheartened if you can’t bang out pull-up reps yet.

Here’s a simple concept you can follow to unlock your first 1-5 unassisted pull-ups in 3-6 months’ time (assuming you CAN’T do 5+ reps without assistance):

1️⃣ You’re going to find a resistance band that you can complete AT LEAST 3 full range of motion pull-ups with → I’m talking starting in a dead hang, chin over the bar & a controlled lowering phase.

The thinner the resistance band, the better, as this will closer mimic unassisted reps.

2️⃣ You’re going to start doing 3 sets, of 3 reps with a resistance band that JUST allows you to achieve 3 reps → This shouldn’t feel easy.

3️⃣ You’re going to do pull-ups 3 times per week, on non-consecutive days → I suggest you limit training any other pulling exercises if your goal is to increase your pull-ups.

4️⃣ Rest periods should be at least 3 minutes, up to 5 minutes maximum. You will need longer rest periods when starting out due to how taxing the reps will be. Start conservatively with 4-5 minutes of rest.

5️⃣ Once you’ve achieved 3 sets of 3 reps consistently over 3+ sessions, or it’s feeling too easy → add one set = 4 total sets.

Once you’re consistently hitting 4 sets of 3 reps, progress to doing 5 total sets.

THEN, once you’re achieving 5 sets of 3 reps consistently for 3+ sessions, or it’s feeling easy, progress to 3 sets of 4 reps.

Follow this progression scheme until you reach 5 sets of 5 reps with your chosen resistance band.

If you’re using a thin band, you’ll likely be able to do 1-3 reps unassisted at this point. This is when you can ditch the resistance band altogether & focus on increasing your unassisted pull-up reps with the same progression scheme.

Here’s an example of this program in action:

Week 1:

• Session 1 → Red band = 3, 3, 2 (failed on 3rd rep)

• Session 2 → Red band = 3, 3, 3 (only just achieved last rep)

• Session 3 → Red band = 3, 3, 3 (felt easier on 3rd set)

Week 2:

• Session 1 → Red band = 3, 3, 3 (felt easy today)

• Session 2 → Red band = 3, 3, 3, 2 (increasing to 4 sets, hard!)

• Session 3 → Red band = 3, 3, 3, 3 (only just achieved 3 reps of 4th set)

You keep going with this progression scheme for at least 2-3 months until you reach 5×5 with the red band → then try unassisted reps.

You will feel like quitting when you plateau but you must repeat the reps & sets you stagnate on until it feels easier, then push for another set so you keep progressing.

You could also use rest-pause sets if you’re really struggling to achieve the rep target.

Here’s how rest-pause sets work in action:

• Rep target = 5

• Achieve 3 reps (can’t do one more) → rest 20-30 seconds → 1 rep → rest 20-30 seconds → 1 rep = 5 total reps.

Rest-pause sets allow you to achieve your rep target if you’re struggling to achieve it due to the high intensity of the set.

Thats it!

Reply to this email if you have any questions about increasing your pull-ups. I’m happy to help you out!

Thank you for taking the time to learn & improve your health today.

Zak Wolstenholme

Aussie Physiotherapist You