Pullup Form? Forearm Pain.

[Twitchy]

Never used pull-ups as a part of my strength training on the regular until recently. I just did lat pulldowns. Currently I can only do five pullups, yet when I do them I get this stinging pain in the top(the part responsible for extension) of my forearm.

My chin-ups are pain free, I can do 8+ pain free. However as soon as I change to pull-ups the pains starts.

How do I fix this? Is it my form?

[squat]

Umm, I don't think this can be an issue of form, unless you're doing goofball pull-ups. It's a pretty natural yet awkward movement. Maybe you should just do chin ups, since they don't hurt you, and they're barely different. I prefer chin ups. I used to do them with 90 pounds hanging from my waist. Hurts my shoulder, so I don't go so hard, anymore. I do pull-ups sometimes, but there's not really any point. I'm better served by cable rows+chins. Those are easier, and I can progress pain-free.

You could look at what you're doing with your forearms before pull-ups, maybe. There could be an issue there.

[Twitchy]

Originally Posted by squat

Umm, I don't think this can be an issue of form, unless you're doing goofball pull-ups. It's a pretty natural yet awkward movement. Maybe you should just do chin ups, since they don't hurt you, and they're barely different. I prefer chin ups. I used to do them with 90 pounds hanging from my waist. Hurts my shoulder, so I don't go so hard, anymore. I do pull-ups sometimes, but there's not really any point. I'm better served by cable rows+chins. Those are easier, and I can progress pain-free.

You could look at what you're doing with your forearms before pull-ups, maybe. There could be an issue there.

If I do switch to just chin-ups would the grip width need to be same as pullups for back development, or is the narrow grip fine?

[skywalkr]

Is the pain by your elbow? If so it could possibly be tennis elbow, would need a lot more to be able to know for sure. My golfers elbow flares up bad when I do chin-ups if I am not consistently doing eccentric work to keep it at bay.

[AlphaBettor]

Originally Posted by Twitchy

If I do switch to just chin-ups would the grip width need to be same as pullups for back development, or is the narrow grip fine?

Figure about shoulder width grip for chin ups, somewhat wider for pull ups.

Chin ups work the extension function of the lats whereas pull ups work lats via adduction. If you try to take chin ups as wide as you would medium overgrip pullups there's a good chance it will jack up your wrists.

[Twitchy]

Originally Posted by skywalkr

Is the pain by your elbow? If so it could possibly be tennis elbow, would need a lot more to be able to know for sure. My golfers elbow flares up bad when I do chin-ups if I am not consistently doing eccentric work to keep it at bay.

Not near the elbow, just all over the top of my forearm. Myofascial release on the forearm seems to only temporarily help.

[AlphaBettor]

It's hard to diagnose injuries and pain during movements over the internet. There's a lot going on in the forearm with numerous overlapping muscles and structures. Practical advice would be to just stick with chins and whatever else you can do pain free (over grip lat pulldown?)

[BEATMEOUTTAME]

Yeah i cant think of anything technique related that would cause forearm pain... usually pullups result in golfers elbow from people not concentrating on elbow alignment.

I'd watch some videos on pullups to see if there's anything you're not doing... but more than likely you've got some sort of forearm ailment that needs time to heal.

I like to do both because of the different angles and muscle groups targeted but this isn't a pain that's just going to go away if you keep doing them when it hurts

[kc2010]

Unless I missed it, OP, I don't think you mentioned...is this pain on just one side, or is it affecting both arms? When I first read your post I assumed both arms, but noticed that every time you mentioned your "forearm" you used the singular form. Could be significantly different potential causes depending on if we're talking one arm versus both arms having the pain.