Weighted pull-ups
2 warm-up sets, then 5 sets of 3 pull-ups at about 85% of your 2-rep max, 3 min rest.
- Slot
- Strength
- Focus
- Pulling strength
- Time
- 20 min
- Intensity
- High intensity
- Injury risk
- Moderate injury risk
- Equipment
- Pull up bar, Added weight, Timer
How to do it
Find your 2-rep max: the heaviest total load (your bodyweight plus added weight) you can do 2 clean pull-ups with. For this session, use about 85% of that total. Example: 70 kg bodyweight + 30 kg added = 100 kg max; 85% is 85 kg, so add 15 kg. Do 2 easy warm-up sets, then 5 sets of 3 pull-ups, resting 3 minutes between sets.
Run it now
The same timer as the app: a five-second get-ready, then every round and rest counted down with a beep. Keep this page open while you train.
Weighted pull-ups
0:00 / 19:50
Ready
19:50
7 rounds
2 warm-up sets, then 5 sets of 3 pull-ups at about 85% of your 2-rep max, 3 min rest.
High risk: read the protocol, stop if anything feels wrong.
- 7
- rounds
- 3:00
- rest
- 19:50
- total
Done.
Want this inside a plan? Take the quiz.
Seven questions about your climbing, then a plan built from your answers. Free.
Want this in a plan? Seven questions and you get a plan built around your climbing.
Take the quizWho it's for
Boulderers in a strength block who already have a solid pulling base. Worth being honest about the priority: for most climbers, fingers and technique limit performance more than pulling strength does. This is worth doing when pulling is genuinely your weakness, not by default.
Common mistakes
- Guessing the 2-rep max. Test it properly on a separate day, fresh. Guessing high makes every set a grind and every rep worse than the last.
- Half reps. Chin over the bar, arms fully straight at the bottom, every rep. Range is the first thing to go when the weight is right.
- Kipping. If the hips are helping, the weight is too heavy.
- Skipping the warm-up sets. Two easy sets is the minimum before loading the elbows this hard.
- Adding weight every session. Strength doesn't move that fast. Weeks, not sessions.
How to progress
Stay at 85% of your 2-rep max until all five sets of three are clean and fast, then retest the 2-rep max rather than adding a fixed amount. Retesting every four to six weeks is enough. Keep it in strength blocks and drop it to a single maintenance set during performance and deload weeks.
When it fits
The training periods this exercise fits into in Blok Sessions.
Strength Stronger fingers and pulling, with weight you control.