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Ok, I know this is the RMC page, but the questions I have are based off a number of threads on this page.

How wide do you do the pullups in these tests.

I usually do pullups 2.5x shoulderwidth and get about 3-4 in.
However, I can do 10+ at shoulder width.

Hi, on my PRMC we did the pullups with our hands a little more than shoulder width apart. They say you need a minimum of 3, but you should really be aiming for at least 6.

minimum of 1, a lad on my one couldnt get one yet still passed

When i started doing pullups i couldn't manage that many either but your not born to bang out a set of 12 on your first attempt. A good tip i got from the AFCO was to try and do as many as i could in 2 minutes. So say you get to 6 and start struggling let go shake your arms then after a couple of seconds go again until 2 minutes is up. Make a note of your scores and after a couple of weeks you'll see some improvement, try to do them everyday. This method really worked for me you can do the same for press ups and sit ups too. As for where to put your hands if you want to go into detail then the wider your grip the more you'll use your back muscles (latts), if your hands are closer together then your mostly using your forearms and arms (biceps). As a general rule go for shoulder width appart this is how you have to do it on the PRMC as well.

Hope this helps

An excellent peice of advice regarding pull-up's was in the book "Royal marines circuit training", it suggest putting the pull-up bar in a doorway you use a lot and do three pull-ups everytime you walk through it, after a while you'll be doing it without even thinking about it. I now find overgrasp easier than undergrasp.

you can get a pull up bar from argos for 5.99, do a set of them everytime you go in and out of your room and you'll be laughing

Im going to make sure I do both ways from now on, palms facing in and out as on the PRMC you realise just how important decent bicep strength/endurance is (not curling 50kg type of strength but lots of small repeated efforts) for rope/obstacles.

I got made to redo various rope obstacles and the day after my arms were on fire.

What was interesting as well was when the Sgt. Major explained to us the reason behind Royal's specific form guidelines i.e the reason your knees must be tight against each other when doing sits is that it builds strength in the hip adductors (?) that helps a lot when doing rope climbs.

Is it possible to tear muscles badly when trying to do pull-ups if you're not used to heaving your own body weight? I'm using the 'assisted pull-ups' machine at the gym at the moment - about 8 kg of my body weight removed. I've got a pull up bar at home which I want to start using but I don't want to do myself an injury. Should I wait until I've progressed to the lowest amount of assitance on the machine, or just go for it?

As long as you're warmed up properly nothing should go wrong. You'll either be able to do it or you won't.. If not, stick with the assisted kind.

Brian- wrote:As long as you're warmed up properly nothing should go wrong. You'll either be able to do it or you won't.. If not, stick with the assisted kind.

Thanks

GemmaLS wrote:Is it possible to tear muscles badly when trying to do pull-ups if you're not used to heaving your own body weight? I'm using the 'assisted pull-ups' machine at the gym at the moment - about 8 kg of my body weight removed.

As you already do assisted ones the muscle groups needed (biceps, upper back) are already strengthened and used to the movement. to some degree.

Gemma if you can get one unassisted pullup done you would be stronger than 90% of other women. How many do you need for your course etc?

Thanks GGHT

I have no idea - they're not in the fitness testing but they may crop up during training (RAF officer training). I start in May so I've got a while to work my way down the 'assistance' levels on the machine at the gym. Plus there's not a lot of me to lift so I should be OK

I'm terribly competitive and want to be at least as good as some of the men - therefore have been concentrating on pull-ups and full military press-ups. Plus even if they're not in the training they're a damn good way to improve strength.

Ok, i can now do 6 pull-ups with 4 kgs of assistance (bodyweight - 4kgs) and now feel confident enough to attempt them at home in the doorway so that I can progress a lot quicker than just using the machine at the gym a couple of times a week (I tried the door way before and could barely bend my elbows ).

I'm currently weight training (high reps, low weights) 3 times a week. If I use the method of doing a few pull-ups every time I pass through my door way, would it be OK on top of the weight training I'm already doing? As far as i understand it, pull-ups are like sit-ups and pressups in the sense that you can do them a lot more often than weights. Is this correct?

http://www.mfat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic. ... nt+pullups

Gemma have you seen that, try and get to week 20 lol.
Seriously though, well done that real progress.

What exercises are you currently doing for your back, I reckon pullups take it out of you a bit more than pushups/situps, but that's just me.

Thanks GGHT

At the moment I'm doing a mixture of things for my back depending on which pt is training me. Seated rows, lateral pull downs, bent over rows etc.

I'm trying to have a few more sessions now where I do:

military press-ups
wider grip press-ups
crunches
leg raises
trunk raises
palms facing away pull-ups
palms facing pull-ups

instead of free/machine weights. I figure that routine would work most muscle groups, I might throw some bent over rows in to complement the wide grip press-ups.

Will definitely check out that training plan.