Building up to 2,000 Pull Ups

This Sunday, I will be doing a Pull Up Challenge in aid of Jigsaw. You can read more about that on my GoFundMe page HERE. This blog will be more about building up the reps towards this challenge.

Pull-ups are one of those love/hate exercises. And I absolutely love them. People can argue over how much weight needs to be on the bar for a deadlift/squat/bench to be considered ‘heavy’, good reps or impressive. But I don’t think there’s much arguing when someone reps out pull-ups. Something about it to me is impressive, and I think it’s a great goal to have.

Whether it’s banging out pull-ups wherever I am or even training my Dad to do them back in the day of being a sole PT, increasing pull-ups has always been a goal of mine.

However, after a few weeks without doing them, the number of pull-ups I could do would drop dramatically.

It wasn’t until January 2022, after doing an EMOM of neutral grip pull-ups of 5 until I hit 100 after 20 minutes, that I ever gave it some thought of how many I could do in a day.

And, let’s be honest, the form in those reps was not perfect. But it opened the door to thinking how many I could do. As the running took over in 2022, I kept losing steam on my pull-up goals.

And then in June this year, shortly after my first Backyard Ultra, my hamstring pain got worse. The running came to a halt. But not wanting to give up on the gym entirely, as I recovered, I put a greater emphasis on my upper body work. On increasing my bench numbers. And increasing my pull ups.

But it had been a while since I had done serious pull training.

So, I returned to a neutral grip (hands facing each other), aiming for an EMOM of 5 for 20 minutes. Over the next few weeks, I would increase that until I got to 45 minutes. Then, I switched it to wide-grip pull-ups (hands facing away), starting at 20 minutes for five reps and slowly building up the time.

I would get these EMOM sessions in at least twice a week, sometimes incorporating chin-ups (palms facing towards you), sometimes weighted chin-ups, in other sessions for an 8-15 rep range.

When I got a PB of 20 pull up reps in a row a few months back, the 2,000 rep challenge was on.

But it was a daunting task. I delayed announcing it for fear of failure. I needed some proof that this was at least possible. Plus, the more reps I was doing, the more my hands were taking a beating. If I was going to do this challenge, I needed to address both these issues.

If I’m going to fail this challenge, I want it to be because I physically can’t do any more pull-ups, not because my hands were ripped to shreds and they were the only things holding me back. Roisin, the ABC Gym Clane Coach and Manager, lent me pull-up grips, making it much more tolerable on my hands.

That addressed the hands, but the confidence wasn’t there for 2,000 pull-ups. I had got to 300 pull ups in an hour doing a five rep EMOM. I increased the EMOM to 6 reps. Big mistake. By minute 10, I was back down to 5 reps. And my back was fried. I threw in the towel and left the gym.

A few days later, I took a different approach. It's still six reps, but breaking it up into three reps every 30 seconds. Thirty minutes later, we were onto a winning approach to get more reps done in less time.

Using this approach, I banged out 360 reps in an hour.

Good, but well short of 2,000 pull-ups.

And, at that pace, I was likely to burn out. With the hamstring healing and the marathon training window getting shorter, it was now or never for the 2,000 pull-up goal.

Besides, I had the date in my head for months: Sunday, September 10th, World Suicide Prevention Day.

I just needed a little more proof that it was possible.

So, I set out to do 250 pull-ups at a four-rep EMOM and rest for 30 minutes before going again. That would give me 750 pull-ups in 4 hours. On August 25th, a little over two weeks from my challenge day, I set out to do 750 pull-ups.

And while the hands killed me at times, 4 hours later, I had hit 750 pull-ups, feeling good that there were more reps in me. There was no backing out now.

My hands after 750 pull-ups. I had drawn blood without the grips earlier in the week

I set up the GoFundMe page on Sunday and posted the challenge on Instagram.

And here we are now. Feeling good. Feeling nervous. I feel excited for Sunday.

The plan is to go with the 4-rep EMOM. I will start at 6 a.m. on Sunday so that if the arms start to burn out, I have more time, dropping the EMOM to 3 reps, etc.

I will take a break every 60 minutes (well, 62 minutes, to hit 250 reps and start again on the quarter hour for the next 250. Enough time to eat, post updates, and hopefully build awareness for World Suicide Prevention Day and raise funds for Jigsaw.

I will attempt to live stream the reps on my Instagram page (@coach_seanc), and the plan is:

6 am: 0-250 reps
7:15 am: 251-500 reps
8:30 am: 501-750 reps
9:45 am: 751-1000 reps
11 am: 1001-1250 reps
12:15 pm: 1251-1500 reps
1:30 pm: 1501-1750 reps
2:45 pm: 1751-2000 reps
3:47 pm: 2000 reps finished

That’s the ideal timeline, but anything can happen during those reps, and I might need a longer break in parts. I will be conservative and take longer breaks rather than sticking to a timeline that may burn me out.

But that’s what a challenge is all about. Aiming for something that seems just out of reach. 750 to 2,000 pull-ups is a big leap!

We’re ready!

If you can support, head here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/2000PullUpJigsaw

And follow along on the day through my Instagram: @coach_seanc

#LetsGoGetEmAgain