Pull Up Exercises

The Pull Up is a classic bodyweight exercise for the upper body, mainly the back. The pull up is among the best upper body exercises there is for strength development and muscle building.

The downside is that Pull Ups are also among the most challenging exercises you can do. At first, you may not be able to do more than 5-6 (you may not even be able to do one).

The great thing about pull ups is that they can be done at the gym, at home with special, but inexpensive, bars like the Iron Gym Pull Up bar you can see in the picture above or some other doorway pull up bar, and even at parks where there’s usually bars in certain places.

Why do Pull Ups

There are many reasons why pull ups are so popular:

• They help you build strength and muscles.
• They improve your posture, shoulder health, and symmetry.
• A multi-jointed exercise that places your body under a lot of stress and burns a lot of calories.
• Can help you with many outdoors activites and sports.

How to do a Pull Up

Starting position

• Grab the bar with an overhand grip with both hands wider than shoulder width apart.
• Hang from the bar with your arms completely stretched.
• Cross and bend your legs slightly backward.

Movement

• While breathing out, pull yourself directly upward until your chin clears the bar or comes as close as you can take it.
• In a regular pull up you bring the bar toward your chest. In a behind the back pull up you bring the bar to the back of your neck. This may require a wider grip and to lower your head a bit as you get to the bar.
• Hold that position for a second and then lower yourself back down until your arms are stretched completely once more.

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Tips:

• Try not to swing your legs and hips if you can do the exercise without it. It’s better to rely on upper body strength alone. If you don’t have the strength you may jerk your hips to help you propel your body upwards. This is called Kipping Pull Ups.
• Regardless of your ability, when it gets to the point where you can’t seem to do another rep, switch to Kipping Pull Ups to help you squeeze out a few more reps from your current set.
• Crossing your legs seems to make it easier to do more reps.
• Keep your head pointing upward at the bar.
• Push your chest up a bit as if it is longing to touch the bar.
• Wear gloves. This is an exercise that can cause abrasions on your palms. Gloves at all times.

There are a number of variations of this exercise:

• Chin ups which involve an underhand grip and are easier
• Gripping with your palms facing each other is also easier
• Doing Kipping Pull Ups which I’ve discussed
• Towel pull ups – Hanging a towel off the bar, grabbing that and pulling yourself up.
• One arm pull ups – If you can do this you’re my God. This requires incredible strength.
• Australian pull-up – You place the bar at about 3 feet height, lie under it, grab it with both hands and pull yourself up so that the bar meets your chest. The only part of you touching the ground are your heels.

How to Build Strength For Pull Ups

You may find it difficult to do a lot of Pull Ups at first. Here are some of the ways to build strength:

• Do chin ups or mixed grip pull ups instead until you get stronger.
• Do Kipping Pull Ups for a while.
• Do a negative version of the Pull Up – Jump up and grab the bar. The jump should help you clear the bar with your chin. Lower yourself very slowly down until your arms are completely stretched out. That’s one rep.
• Just do as many as you can. This is an exercise in which you can improve very quickly.

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Pull Up Machines

There are all sorts of machines that help you do pull ups by taking away some of your body weight. This isn’t the best way to improve your fitness and the number of pull ups you can do. These machines don’t do such a good job at simulating the actual exercise. It’s better to struggle with proper pull up exercises than to use these machines.

In Conclusion

Pull Ups should form a regular part of your back workout. They help strengthen your back and improve your overall fitness level. You can and should do them even if you weigh a lot. It’s about the right proportion between your strength and your weight.

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