Weighted Pull-Ups Progression

Often in life, there are these magical moments: deja vu, out-of-body experience, omens, and curses. These things aren't scientifically true, but we experience them nonetheless. I've noticed that the future can bleed into the past, and you can prepare yourself before these type of stellar moments.

I've intended to train the weighted pull-ups for the last ten months. I thoroughly enjoy pull-ups, and having trained them for 14 months consecutively, I had varied the rep range and gotten very comfortable in them. I did go through injuries in my elbows and shoulders (rotator cuff), but I've evolved my technique and adjusted my routine so that I'm recovering very quickly. At first my goal with pull-ups was to do as many reps in one session as I could possibly do, and this was the method I employed on push-ups when I began training.

The high rep pull-ups gave a great lat pump, and they gave me a lot of mental confidence. Once I passed the 100 mark of reps in a session, each workout was so mentally draining and demanding that my body wasn't going to let me to continue that style. I capped out at 127, and was injured from it. I knew when I had recovered that high reps was too injury-prone and hard on the joints. In many exercises, you progress in weight every session, and this is great for muscle building. So I knew, after dodging buying a dipping belt for so long, I had to invest, and I did. I got the Ironmind De Riguer Dipping Belt. It's said to be able to hold 1000lb. The nylon ones I looked at couldn't hold more than 50 pounds and the leather ones not more than 100lb. It's a vouched for product, so I went for it, and it's working out great.

I've only been doing the weighted pull-ups for half a month (15 days). I started at the 10lb plate, because I figured that anything lower would be an insult to myself. I did 2-3 pull-up sessions a week, adding 5lb per session. This past Friday I did 8*35lb for 2 sets. Tomorrow I do 8*40lb for 2 sets. I'm going to go on a trip and returning Thursday to hit 8*45lb plate for 2 sets. I'm not sure where I'll cap out, but I can tell by my quick advancement in them that my strength easily carried over to these. I think it was to my advantage to do them body-weight only for so long because I've really ironed out my technique to get my chest to the bar. I haven't sacrificed any bit of my form yet, and I think that's valuable and highly efficient.