You're telling me if I do 1 set of pullups all out to exhaustion , say 25, versus a set of 8 every 10 minutes for 100minutes the 80 pull ups will grow more muscle? With that much rest and that low of a number you barely feel them. Whereas 25 will exhaust the muscles. Time under tensions ???

If you're going for hypertrophy I wouldn't recommend pull-ups as a main exercise--as much as I think they're a great exercise.

Time under tension is more of a principle or quasi-rule than a law. What the muscle needs is to be exhausted, to be fed oxygen, to be mildly injured in order to stimulate growth--to tear and rebuild without loss of function.

You won't grow much from one set of 25 of anything. GVT (German Volume Training) proposed high reps but it also proposes high sets. What's missing from just doing a bunch of sets of something is whether you're observing good form or working intensely.

I really only do pull ups and rows for back. Other stuff too hard on my body. And I do overhead presses and squats. What would you recommend I add and how many sets? I have kettlebells as well. I dont care much about biceps or triceps or smaller groups
I just want to break strong and athletic

When you say other stuff is too hard on your body, do you mean that you've had injuries or there are structural disadvantages, or that your body isn't yet prepared for bigger lifts?

You can always start with deadlifts using just a bar or dumbbells for back. OHP and squats are great. For the upper body, the bench press is probably your best choice if you're not worried about bi/tri development. The bench will build those to some degree anyway but it's the best overall chest exercise.

I trained as an athlete for most of my life. A very athletic move is the clean/clean and press ... if you're looking for power. Whether or not I cared about aesthetics, abs were always on the menu because power transfers through the entire torso, and strong abs are key to that transfer. Athletic bodies tend to focus on the posterior chain and that chain ends though the abdominals and the musculature of the lower back.

I could recommend specific sets and exercises if I knew more about your fitness goals and current routine. Kettlebells--I didn't mean to ignore that you said you have them.

e: General guidelines for building muscle:

8-12 reps per set, 3-6 sets per exercise, 2-3 exercises per body part, 2 workouts per week per body part, working at 75-90% intensity depending on tolerance and workload, and protein supplementation
Those guidelines are not set in stone by any means and they aren't the best or only way to build muscle. They're just the way people usually get into it because they encourage muscular endurance and growth. When I wanted to build my chest from 42 to 50+" in high school, I was doing only the bench press and push-ups at first, and then I added all kind of stuff that I'd do AFTER bench presses as my main lift. I started doing chest 3-4x per week which is NOT what is normally recommended, but I mixed in "light days". I added incline, decline, cables, flys ... all kinds of shit and my chest grew quickly BUT it was important to listen to my body and rest when needed. Sometimes I needed to go back to 2 or 1 even workout(s) per week. I'm a believer that there are principles that work and that there are also individual tolerances. Sometimes it helps to change things up completely. Whenever I hit a plateau, I'd see if something needed to change. Sometimes time is what's needed but sometimes it's better form or a rest or something new.


This post was edited by RewtheBrave on Oct 15 2020 09:52am

TUT is a myth, if it were true, people would be doing 100+ rep sets

pushing out the painful last few reps of the highest weight you can do with good form is where growth occurs

also dropsets

This post was edited by jadeoner on Oct 17 2020 10:03pm

i second this and to dive deeper as to why - you need to be fairly cut to be in hypertrophy rep range for pull ups. if size is what you want, you arent going to be able to that many pull ups