Anyone that knows me knows I love pull ups, and I'm damn good at them too. I take pride in pull ups, and at a bodyweight of 230 pounds, I've done 20 straight overhand strict pull ups, I can do sets of 12 L-sit pull ups with my legs held straight out in front of me, weighted pull ups with up to 100 pounds of extra weight attached to a belt, and at one point actually began delving into more difficult gymnastics movements. Pull ups have helped me build upper body strength and mass like no other movement I've done, and have helped me to maintain healthy shoulders by building the all-important upper back muscles that are often neglected. If I could go from an overweight kid who couldn't even manage a flexed arm hang to walking down my hall and banging out 12+ pull ups whenever I want, you can to. Here the three most important things to remember when trying to improve you pull ups.
1) Frequency
I truly believe when it comes to bodyweight training especially, frequency is king. We often forget in a world where everyone is telling us to be careful about overtraining, that strength is a SKILL. The fact is, the more you practice, the more you will improve. While that isn't a hard and fast rule for every situation, it absolutely applies to pull ups.
The best thing that ever happened to my bodyweight training was my brother getting one of those total gym things for a gift. While it's useless for just about anything else, it is a sturdy and reliable pull up bar that has hung in my doorway for years. There are some days where every time I walk down the hallway, I'll hop up and bang out a set of 10. By the time the day is over I've done well over 100 pull ups without giving it a second thought. Other times I'll practice pause pull ups and L-sit pull ups. When I first started getting into pull ups having a pull up bar in my house was an invaluable tool, just as it was following the numerous surgeries I've had. It's an incredible tool that can be used nearly everyday.
Simply put, if you want to teach your body to handle its own weight, you have to practice handling your own weight. The best tip I can give is to invest money in a pull up bar and hang it in your doorway. Start slow, doing a few sets a day leaving a couple reps in the tank on each set. As you improve, do more sets throughout the day, or fewer sets with more reps. Do this every single day. Make it part of you life just like sleeping and eating.
Another way to increase your volume of pull ups is to do them in between your sets at the gym. In between sets of upper body lifts, or even in between sets of lower body lifts, walk over to the pull up bar, and bang out a set. When doing this don't push the reps anywhere near failure. You don't want to hurt your other lifts by exhausting your body doing pull ups on the side, but rather to build volume. For example, in between sets of overhead presses, if you can do around 10 pull ups, you would perform sets of 5. If you perform 5 sets that 25 pull ups. Over time this increase in volume will tremendously impact your bodyweight control and strength.
The simplest way to put this is that if you truly want to get better at pull ups, do them every day.
2) Strength
The pull up is a movement that requires tremendous strength in the upper back and abdominal muscles. The reason that so many people struggle with pull ups, aside from being overweight, which we'll get into later, is that they neglect the pulling muscles. For some reason, men in our culture are OBSESSED with building huge chests. I see guys spending more time on this one muscle group than I spend on an entire Olympic weightlifting workout. Over years of training like every other guy you see in your gym, people often develop an imbalance where their pushing muscles are much stronger than their pulling muscles, (upper back musculature and biceps).
Now you might be saying, sure I do the bodybuilding chest day, but I also do a back day. The problem with this is, while people are willing to train their bench press heavy, they often don't understand how to train the upper back muscles for strength. They end up spending another two hours (ridiculous) on high volume upper back work that not only doesn't build strength, but overtrains the muscles, breaking them down far past the point of progress.
So, how do you build absolute strength in the upper back that will help with pull ups. I hate to be a broken record, but the basics are ALWAYS the best. HEAVY deadlifts, HEAVY cleans and snatches, HEAVY barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, and machine rows, HEAVY and STRICT lat pulldowns, HEAVY ASS carries...get the picture? I can't get into exact sets and rep ranges because programming could be an entire article in of itself. However, some guidelines to follow are that strength is best built in the 3-7 rep range, while muscle hypertrophy (muscle building) is best developed in sets that range between 8-15 reps. Vary your reps, vary your sets, and lift HEAVY.
I don't care what ANYONE has told you, if you want to get stronger, you're going to have to lift some heavy ass weight at some point.
3) Body Weight
The final piece of the puzzle that people neglect is their weight. How many fat people have you ever seen banging out high rep sets of pull ups? The reality is that pull ups aren't just about absolute strength. They are a product of your ability to control and handle your own bodyweight. Therefore, the lower your bodyweight, the easier pull ups should be. If you're carrying around excess fat, you're losing reps.
Now, I've never been in favor of dropping a ton of weight just for the sake of doing more pull ups. It seems like a cop out to me, but the reality is, if you're badly overweight, it's time to do something about it if more pull ups is your goal. It may be as simple as cutting out unhealthy desserts or fast foods, or it may be more difficult and you may have to pay attention more to details.
The point is, if you are carrying excess fat, that weight is in no way shape or form helping you. Get rid of it, and feel better about yourself and your numbers.
Final Thoughts
To sum this all up, the three steps you have to take if you want to improve your numbers of this most basic of bodyweight movements are: build volume through frequently doing pull ups, build maximal strength through heavy lifting, and eliminate excess fat that is weighing you down. Take these three steps and I promise you with commitment and hard work you too can pull up like a champ!
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