<p>I was just wondering what the best way to practice and get your pull up number higher. This is the weakest event on my CFA, and I want and need to increase the number. Rest of the events except for my run are above the averages listed in the books. And I know how to decrease my run time.</p>
<p>Practice. Use negatives when you cannot do perfect pull ups. </p>
<p>The biggest thing is using your back muscles. A lot of people have a narrow grip on the bar. This causes them to use their biceps to do most of the work. So, use a wider grip and keep your thumbs over the bar. Lean back a little and rotate your shoulder at the start of the motion. Then, use your back to bring your shoulder blades together. This advice has worked for me.</p>
<p>my bb throw still sucks. if anyone has advice on anything from form to grip on the ball, it would be appreciated. thanks</p>
<p>for pull ups. a lot of it is mental. Go at a good pace and try to keep that pac going. Once u get into that zone where ur going up and down , up and down, it feels like you can go forever. </p>
<p>of course you need really good back and should delt muscles. so work on those. Another good excerise is to work ur weakest spot, ur sticking pint. To find ur sticking point, do a slow chin up, and find out at what phase of teh chin up do u feel teh weakest. then you have to do ur chin up started from that spot. after u do this for a while, u'll strengthen ur weak spot.</p>
<p>btw what is CFA?</p>
<p>cfa- cadet fitness assessment, its part of the candidate application process. your tested on basketball throw, pull ups, sit ups, push ups, shuttle run, and mile run.</p>
<p>when I started in July/August 2005 prepping, I was only doing about 6 or 7 pull-ups. 4 days a week I went to a park near my house and maxed out on pull-ups. I got up to 11 (even though I only did 9 on the CFA in october after knocking around my joints in a TKD testing). Here at USAFA I learned to do pyramids. I do up to 5 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) so after BCT I was up to 17 for my first PFT. Now I do 18 (almost no training since fall in this area). </p>
<p>The keys are using your back, wider grip, pace, and your head. Put your chin towards the sky, then you will get more in because your arms go less distance and your focus is up. </p>
<p>Pretty much, doing pull ups often and maxing is probably the quickest and most effective way.</p>
<p>Candidate Fitness Assessment*</p>
<p>You're not a cadet yet ;]</p>
<p>If you can't do pull-ups at all yet (this is for girls), I found a way to get a <em>lot</em> better. Most gyms have these pull-up machines where you can lift a certain percentage of your body weight and then gradually work up to your full weight. I found that I could lift 100 pounds in consistent reps and it wasn't long before I could lift my full weight. It's encouraging because you probably don't realize how close you are to being able to do a couple on your own. When I started out, I was only 10-15 pounds off my actual weight, and I could track my growth each week because I could lift a few more pounds. Now I can do 3 on my own, whereas a few months ago, I couldn't do any. That's just what worked for me. :)</p>
<p>Here's a workout I use to gain pullups and still do every other night or so. When I got back from christmas break I had dropped from 21 pullups to about 14 or 15. In one month doing this workout I went back up to 20 good pullups before the PFT. It will work on both your strength and endurance needed to get 10-20+ pullups.</p>
<p>Repeat at least 3 times a week:</p>
<ol>
<li>Pretend you are taking the PFT/CFT and do as many good, qualifying pullups as you can.</li>
</ol>
<p>(Change your grip if necessary and if it helps.)</p>
<ol>
<li>After you finish, pull up a chair and immediately (do not wait) do 10 2-second negatives. </li>
</ol>
<p>(Grab on to the bar and take your legs off of the chair, hold yourself up and lower yourself down slowly, taking at least 2 seconds per negative. Use the chair to get back up without using your arms and repeat)</p>
<ol>
<li>Repeat 2 or 3 times.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you do this between 3 and 5 nights a week, you should see improvement within a few weeks.</p>
<p>redhead89,</p>
<p>how many reps did you do? For me I can currently lift about half of my body weight. thanks</p>
<p>It is best to to between 8 and 12 reps for any upper body workout. You should be at the point where you can physically not do any more by 12. If you can keep going, add weight.</p>
<p>I would do 3 sets of 10. It kills, but challenge yourself as much as possible. If you're lifting a weight where you don't feel like you're struggling, then increase the weight and push yourself to the limit. It will hurt, but when you break down your muscles and keep working through it, that's when you're really going to see results. At least, that's what my dad told me, and it wasn't long before I was lifting my full 115 on my own. :) Good luck!!! Don't get discouraged!</p>
<p>Oh, just wanted to let you guys know that I tried G4C's pull-up workout on Saturday. It absolutely sucks, I love it. :) The negatives start to get really hard really fast, especially towards the end. I did three sets of it two days ago, and I'm still a little sore actually, so you might want to start off with two sets per day unless your in really good pull-up shape.</p>
<p>Told ya. It hurts. :) Two sets is enough, but once you're not sore the next day, go to three.</p>