yet another pullups question

[Ben dur]

so yesterday afternoon was my back day, so i threw a not so uncharacteristic twist into my routine, as i often do.

i decided after a nice little warm up of walking, and light jogging, to headed straight to the pull up bar for a max set of (pronated?) overhand pull ups(palms facing away from self)...

each one a dead hang as usual, and chin over with each rep.

after 10, 12, 13, i thought it was about over, but to my amazement, i continued onward to 17(my personal best, achieved nearly a year ago) then to fail at number 18, mere centimeters from completion

this was quite a way to start up a big back day, and i was excited about then completing a normal max set of 12(which would normally be a first set), and to much confusion, i was only able to achieve 8 before my form simply collapsed to what may be considered kipping

so i stopped after number 9 (which was slightly inertia educed)


my question is this

does this seem abnormal to anyone

usual set
pull ups
x12-14
x10-12
x8
x6-8

workout in question
pull ups
x17
x8
x6
x6

 

[P-funk]

you went to all out faulure on the first set and had nothing left for the second set....what did you think was going to happen?

 

[Ben dur]

im not saying i was disappointed at all


i was just wondering
with a max set of 17
would it be strange to then pull off merely half of that on the next set?

 

[Ben dur]

but in all honesty, i was only expecting a normal workout to begin with

after completing 17, i was hoping for at least 10

thank you for your comfort btw

 

[P-funk]

doing anything to failure requires a good deal amount of energy. it is not uncommon for you to have nothing left the following set.

how long did you rest between sets? that will play a big role in what kind of recovery you have before the next set and the potential outcome of that set.

 

[Ben dur]

i usually rest for 90-120seconds

after the max set i probably stretched it to 180sec though

 

[P-funk]

i wouldn't be to concerned. going to failure is tiring and will have a direct impact on the following sets. One of the reasons we say to 'leave some in the tank' is so that on the following sets we can get enough repetitions to generate enough total volume to create a proper stimulus (not that taking a set to failure will not create a proper stimulus. it will. but, it is also extremely fatiguing on the body).

For example, if you look at what you did today:

1x17
1x8
1x6
1x6
= 37 total repetitions

If you weight (hypothetically speaking) 150lbs, your total volume looked something like this:

37 reps x 150lbs = 5550lbs total volume

Now, if we compare that to what you could have done if you 'left some in the tank', your example resembled something more like this (if I picked randomly from the rep ranges you provided):

1x14
1x12
1x8
1x6
= 40 total repetitions

40 reps x 150lbs = 6000lbs of total volume



Does that make sense?

 

[Ben dur]

makes perfect sense

and thank you once again

had i stopped before failure, i would have likely completed more total reps

 

[Merkaba]

Ok, I thought this was going to be why could I do so many with a different grip. Which I would have no idea. If you usually start off with no more than 14, and never go over that then you didnt know you might have actually gained something, doing all of this gym stuff! I agree with P. If you start off with a max out, that is considerably taxing, tapping into a greater store of what you would have stacked upon for your next usually set of 10 or so. I used to have a max of 35 which I rarely executed, and after that 15 was about the max. A 50% reduction is nothing to worry about. I've got back day today in about two hours.

 

[Ben dur]

i do roughly the same number with either grip

i just prefer the overhand grip, because it seems that an underhand grip stretches my most posterior forearm area beyond comfort (not painful, just not comfortable)...

other people dont complain of this however...

is this strange?

 

[Ben dur]

updated

today i walked into the gym with my head held high
a frame shirt and shorts
live strong wristband

i did a very minimal warm up
and went straight to the bar

completed 18 pull ups
probably could have squeezed out 19 but i didnt

only 18
personal best

than i went on to complete
12 on my second set
i figured if things continued, i would just forget my usual back routine and just max out on pull ups

i went on to complete a total of 104 pull ups
i failed on 105
and never completed a set of less than 6

total workout lasted just at 1 hour
and i did nothing else

people in my gym think im nuts

what do you all think?

 

[fufu]

I used to do that. I would do some very high volume chin up days. Most I ever did was 100 in a day. I found it a pretty useful technique to get my max rep set up.

 

[Ben dur]

yeah...
i dont know if i would try going over 100

just over a hundred yesterday, and my biceps, pecs, lats, and abs are screaming today...

but i will do this again in a couple weeks