Hey , random commenter here . I deadlift just shy of 400 lbs . I couldn ' t do a pullup or chinup for the life of me for years . A few options . 1 . Get a doorframe bar for at home , and practice negative reps until you ' ve got it . 2 . Suck it up and do negative reps in the gym . Seriously , being able to take some embarrassment is one of the best life skills you can possibly build . Honestly ! 3 . Find the pulldown machine in the gym , and use the machine to build up to higher weights . 4 . Get a resistance bandpullup assist band . You loop it around the bar , loop a foot through it , and you can get them in different thicknesses which have different levels of assist . The crossfit place I went to for awhile used these for anyone who couldn ' t do 100 pullups , which let people who were still getting better participate in the full workouts .