Good Physical fitness in all areas except Pull ups

[AlexanderLarade]

Hey there, I'm hoping to attract the attention of a few fitness junkies around here, I'm an reserve force Infantry soldier, and I have general concerns about my fitness. My current PT scores that I have just tested for are

63 Pushups in one set
48 situps in a minute
2.4km run in 11:03
5km run in 23:13
I weigh 220 pounds
and all of these scores are acceptable and I have absolutely no problem on ruck marches, obviously I'm not the fastest runner but I can keep up during our regiments PT in our PAT Platoon
I used to weigh 255 pounds before the start of reserve force BMQ, On my free time all I did was go to the gym during the week/
The only problem with my scores is that I find my pullup scores to be absolute garbage  :crybaby:
I can only do 2 pullups from a dead hang and it's kind of embarassing to me and whenever I go to the Base gyms I'm scared someone will laugh at me
Is there any real way for me to increase my pull ups significantly relatively quickly before I ship DP1 infantry?

 

[Transporter]

Drop 20lbs.

 

[Pieman]

Arm length? It's a mass/arm length ratio physics thing. Measured in work (Joules):

W = m * g * d

m = mass (kg) , g = 9.81 m/s^2, d = distance to achieve pull up (meters)

It's all directly proportional too. The lower your mass, the less work required. The longer your arms, the more work required. If you weight a lot and have long arms, you got a horrible amount of work to do compared to a short light guy. I'm not sure it's a very fair comparison for fitness at all....unless you take into account the persons body type.

 

[AlexanderLarade]

My arms are 2.75 feet long

 

[Ayrsayle]

There is no "miracle" way to get better at pull-ups fast, save to do them consistently.  I've found that doing sets of 3, 3-4 times a week was easy enough to fit into my schedule, and gave fairly good results.

With a max of 15, I typically do sets of 12,9,9.  If 2 is your max, simply do your max, or aim for negatives (jump up to the bar, and slowly lower yourself to a dead hang) until you are able to do 5.  Some gyms will have an assisted pull-up machine (I've mixed opinions of them, but they can be useful to get yourself up to 5 unassisted).

We just ran a PT test the past week, and one of the Cpls (who weighs 225) did 25.  Less weight helps, but is not the be all.

Good luck.

 

[AlexanderLarade]

Jesus I wish I could drop 20 more pounds  :crybaby: I lost 35 from October 2013 to now but I'm at a standstill, my body is starting to look incredibly toned except for my stomach area  :facepalm:

 

[Pieman]

We just ran a PT test the past week, and one of the Cpls (who weighs 225) did 25.

Mercy. Did lightening bolts shoot out of his biceps every time he went up?   Curious to know about how tall the fellow was (arm reach).

I'm around the same weight, but also have a reach of just under 1 meter (about 3.3'). It's on the difficult side for myself from the get go...never could get more than a few out before hanging there like on a clothes line.

 

[Transporter]

Jesus I wish I could drop 20 more pounds  :crybaby: I lost 35 from October 2013 to now but I'm at a standstill, my body is starting to look incredibly toned except for my stomach area  :facepalm:

Sounds like you're on the right track so just keep at it and don't get discouraged. It won't happen overnight and there is no secret to making it happen faster, except diet (what and how much you eat) and exercise. You'll get there.

 

[Daniel212]

Are pull ups still tested and expected at BMQ or BMOQ?

 

[Quirky]

Are pull ups still tested and expected at BMQ or BMOQ?

Were they ever? No there is no test for them specifically. Being able to do more than zero will help with the obstacle courses.

 

[Daniel212]

Thanks, I’m just concerned now that outside of official testing the instructors will tell people to do a certain amount of pull-ups.

 

[PuckChaser]

Thanks, I’m just concerned now that outside of official testing the instructors will tell people to do a certain amount of pull-ups.

Then do as many as you can and don't quit. Work in your off time to get more.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Were they ever? No there is no test for them specifically. Being able to do more than zero will help with the obstacle courses.

The only time that I recall "chin-ups" (that's what they called them) being tested was for the pre-para fitness test. The only other time that I was "tested" was on a US Army course.