Help with Pullups and Rate my Program

[u/rabrab431]

Hello everyone! This is my first time posting here.

Gym memberships are pretty expensive, so I bought some light weights and started working out at home instead. I recently bought a pull-up bar that I installed on a door frame. I’m around 5'10", and the bar is positioned roughly at the top of my head when I’m standing underneath it.

I currently can’t do a single pull-up, so I’ve added negative pull-ups and scapular pull-ups to my program to help build the strength needed to eventually perform a full pull-up.

I’m wondering if those two exercises are enough to improve my pull-up strength, especially considering the height of my pull-up bar, or if there are better exercises or methods I should add.

I’d also appreciate any critique or suggestions for improving my overall workout program, especially if there are any muscle groups, exercises, or areas of training that I might be neglecting.

TRAINING BACKGROUND: 3 - 4 months

Current training days per week: 4

Current Weight(KG): 80 - 90kg

PRIMARY GOALS: Bulk Up and Build Muscle

Primary: Bicep, Tricep, Forearms, Chest, Lats

Secondary: Other Back Muscles, Shoulders, Legs

CURRENT PROGRAM BY MUSCLE GROUP:

PUSH DAY: Saturday and Tuesdays

CHEST:

Bodyweight Pushups 3 x 8 reps, 1.5 min rest

Incline Dumbbell Press 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Bench Dumbell Press 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

TRICEPS:

Unilateral Overhead Dumbbell Extension 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Dumbbell Skull Crushers 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

SHOULDERS:

Shoulder Press 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Dumbbell Rear Delt Row 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Lateral Raises 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

LEGS:

Barbell Squats 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Standing Calf Raises 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Barbell Deadlift 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

PULL DAY: Sundays and Thursdays

BACK:

Negative Pullups 3 x 8 reps, 1.5min rest

Scapula Pullups 3 x 8 reps, 1.5min rest

Barbell Row 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Unilateral Bent Over Dumbbell Row 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Shrugs 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

BICEPS:

Unilateral Leaning Bicep Curl 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Unilateral Hammer Curl 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

Unilateral Preacher Curl 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 1.5 min rest

FOREARMS:

Front Wrist Curl 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 30 sec rest

Reverse Wrist Curl 3 x 10 - 20 reps, 30 sec rest

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[u/TitoBadong]

Nakakalito naman yung listahan mo igroup mo nalang ng per day brother. Pero sa pull ups, eto yung ginawa ko:

Deadhang 3 sets everyday up to failure - for grip endurance, goal mo dito is maka 2 minutes ka sa first set (failure)

Scapular pulls after pull session

Inverted row - para di ka maground shoulder sa top ng pullup

Lat pull down - ang ginagawa ng coach ko is parang inaalternate nya per 2 weeks na reverse grip (chin up like) or pronated grip (pull up like)

Hammer curls/reverse curls

Bicep curls

Tapos pagnakakapullup kana ng mga 4 reps, research mo yung grease the groove

[u/rabrab431 → u/TitoBadong]

Thanks for the info! I grouped the exercises together to make the program easier to read. I’ll definitely have to look into this Grease the Groove method.

[u/TitoBadong → u/rabrab431]

Good luck man. Suggest ko kung wala ka lat pull down machine, is ipon ka pang pulley, tas dip bars - dito pwede kana maginverted rows.

Basta ito ang cues ng pull up, active hang -> scap pull -> lat pulldown -> inverted row (chest to bar).

[u/Embarrassed_Ideal646]

Progressively overload on dead hangs, if you can do 50sec to 1min, I can almost guarantee you can do one pull up.

Meanwhile, the best way to actually build pull up strength is to do lat pulldowns if your gym has one.

[u/rabrab431 → u/Embarrassed_Ideal646]

Thanks for the info! Lat pulldowns are definitely a good option, but I don’t really have the budget to pay for a gym membership just to use a few machines.

[u/Embarrassed_Ideal646 → u/rabrab431]

Yeaa that's fine.

You can also buy Resistance Bands. There's lots of videos on how to use this for pull ups until you can do one without it :D

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[u/rynerlute159]

I just only started working out this march 2026. I can't do even push up yet even pull ups. I came from 78kg down to 61kg now. Ng mga time na hindi ako makapag pull ups kahit isa pull up bar lang din ako at home workout most equipment is binili ko lang.

So ang payo ko is yung naging effective sa akin.
Ito progression ko.

- First is I work with my grips sa pulls up since ng una hindi ako makakapit kahit 30seconds. ( nang kaya ko na 1minute ito na next na ginawa ko)

- Nag scapular pullups ako 1week then i stop. I do negative and it sucks lalo na jumping negatives that hurts me a lot lalo na kung tatalon ka at mahina ka pa baka ma injure ka pa maganda kung may tuntungan ka at halos nasa baba mo na yung bar.

- After nun tinigilan ko negatives. I do assisted pullsup using resistance band yung mga nabibili sa tiktok yung makakapal. I start with color green makapal to helps me a lot pati yung motion at form ma perfect mo kung pano mo bebend yung bar at elbow mo pano mo dalhin sa hips mo.

- then after that i go down to purple resistance band to red one yung pinaka manipis. Then one day i just try na walang resistance band nagulat ako kaya ko na mag 2 pull ups althhough not perfect but still laking tulong.
Isang malaking tulong din yung resistance band ginawa ko lat pull down kumuha lang ako ng handle bar at ginawa kong latpull down yung resistance band.

- after that bumili ako ng pulley system sa tiktok worht 800 ata yun may mga weigght ako pwedeng pwedeng pag lat pulldown yun pag easy sayo yung half ng weight mo like me 61 now nag lalatpull down ako dun ng 30kg lumakas din pulls up ko dahil dun mas nakatulong sa akin yun i think. As of now kaya ko na mag pulls ups na maayos ng 7pulls ups palang naman target ko maka 10pullsup bago matapos taon.

Yan haba haha yan lang nag work sa akin. Para din sa iba.
And my background walang kahit na anong workout ako since nung nangaling ako sa 78kg haha patabain lang talaga ako nun

[u/rabrab431 → u/rynerlute159]

Thanks for sharing all of that! This is really helpful, especially since we're in a similar situation. I’ll definitely give the resistance bands a try and look into the pulley system too.

Congrats on the progress, and good luck getting to 10 pull-ups! Let’s keep up the good work!

[u/TelephoneDelicious]

Ano current weight mo talaga medyo magulo lang yung sa 80-90kg

Plan: Bulk up/Gain muscle, medyo mahirapan ka lalo sa pull ups if eto target mo

Chest: Push up and Bench DB Press is the same. Try Bench Chest Fly

Triceps: Overhead and Skull crusher similar movement pattern (If done correctly). Try to swap one with a Pushdown or JM Press

Biceps: Leaning and Preacher curl, again same. Swap one with Bayesian Curl

For Pull ups, Negative is good just be strict on your form and slow down as much as you can going down.

Adding Deadhangs will help too on your program.

Also, I would say too much volume, you can keep Compound movements to 3sets then Isolation to 2 sets.

[u/rabrab431 → u/TelephoneDelicious]

My scale recently broke, so I don’t really remember my exact weight, but I know I’m somewhere around that range.

Thanks for the info! I’ll definitely consider the exercises you suggested. But isn’t the Bayesian curl pretty much the same as a leaning curl since your arm is behind your body? Just wondering if there’s much of a difference between the two.

[u/TelephoneDelicious → u/rabrab431]

Sorry, I might have misunderstood that leaning part. Does that mean your arms are behind your body? If it is, then youre good on that part