How to perform really clean pull ups

info@antranik.org — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 16:37:49 +0000

In the above video I go over what constitutes a perfect pullup. You need to make sure you are going down all the way until the elbows are straight and preferably utilizing the “scapular pull” which is a movement that occurs in the shoulders and shoulder blades despite the arms being straight.

I can’t quite get my chest to the bar yet, how can I start pulling higher?

It’s all about quality over quantity in this case. Go for less reps, but replace them with higher quality reps and more sets. Stop the set when you stop hitting your upper chest. If that means you only get 3 reps, so be it. Rest as much as you need to (3-5 minutes should be enough) until you can do 3 more really high pull ups. Do a ton of sets like this. After a while you should be able to pull higher – maybe mid-sternum. Make your definition of “good rep” mean “to mid-sternum.” This will dramatically increase your ability of achieving a muscle-up as chest-to-bar pull ups are a prerequisite for it.

What about going down into a dead hang for every rep to make it even harder?

That will build even more strength in a greater range of motion. So by all means, DO IT! But you MUST follow these guidelines:

You MUST keep the shoulder girdle stable at the bottom of the pull up so you don’t aggravate your shoulders. To do that you need to retract and depress their shoulder blades together. Pull ups are moreso about utilizing the muscles in the back than just using your biceps to get there.
A lot of people misconstrue the idea of “lock out” to mean forcing the elbow extension to the point and actually end up creating hyperextension. This could be bad for their joints, especially if one is overweight, as the muscles are not under tension to hold things together for that moment. Locking out isn’t necessarily bad, I’m just asking you to be mindful of how far you’re taking it.

Learn the Bar Hook Grip to automatically put the shoulders into external rotation so your back is always ready to go.

Find a bar where you could actually hook your fingers all around it and you’ll find it much easier to get to the top of the pull up. When you do find a bar, the best is to learn the gymnastics bar hook grip while you’re at it (this is different than the barbell hook grip): While hanging off a bar, get your pinky-side of the hand liberally over the bar, hook your thumb UNDER the bar to hook over/onto your index or middle finger. (the barbell hook grip that weight lifters do hooks the thumb under the bar, but also under the index or middle finger, which is not what we want in this case).

On a pull up bar, grab the bar with greater emphasis of the pinky and ring fingers going over the bar and grip firmly (rather than letting them just go for the ride) externally rotates the humerus and if you’re in a dead hang you’ll find it’s not as passive or dead of a hang anymore and actually quite active as if you’re doing a scapular pull without needing to cue to pull the shoulders down away from the ears. It’s a very strong position.

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How to do a pull up if you can’t even do one

info@antranik.org — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 16:05:32 +0000

Pull ups are very important in regards to FOUNDATIONAL strength. They are a compound exercise that call for many different muscle groups, so they’re very effective at strengthening many weak links all at once. Most notably, they strengthen the upper back muscles. The very same ones that are often weak and in a stretched out state because we sit in chairs all day with our shoulders forward/rounded, making us more kyphotic than ever. If you think in terms of pushing or pulling, it’s like we’re stuck in a “push” position. Adding pull ups to your exercise routine can help to balance all that out. It’s helped make it much easier for me to maintain good posture throughout the day.

So anyway! If you can’t even do ONE pull up… here’s a video I made that explains how to build up to one.

Some more tips

When the palms are facing you, they’re called chin ups. This grip is recommended to start out with because it is often a little bit easier.
The slower you lower yourself down, the more you get out of this exercise.
Go for 5 sets of 8 negative chin ups. Rest for just a minute or two between sets.
You’ll get there if you do this every other day.

Help! I can’t even do these eccentric pull ups properly! What other exercise can I do that will help me?

Click here to expand the answer.

Then you have to start with Inverted Rows aka Horizontal Rows. These are easier than pull ups (or even eccentric pull ups) because your feet are supported on the ground. The lower the bar, the more difficult the exercise will be.

They look like this:

Question: Hey yo, I can finally do ONE pull up! How can I do even more?

Click here to expand the answer.

First of all, congrats! I knew you’d get there. Don’t drop the negative/eccentric pull ups out of your routine just yet. We still need to keep using them to get the practice in. There’s no point in doing just one pull up and stopping there. Simply start your set with your one or two pull ups and fill the rest of the set with the negative/eccentric reps.

So again, go for 5 sets of 8 chin ups, with the first few possibly being normal chin ups and the rest being eccentric!

And last but not least…

When it comes to bodyweight exercises, the greater your…well… body’s weight… the more difficult everything will be. If you are overweight, the benefits of losing weight will be significant. Even losing just a few pounds creates a very noticeable difference in performance. But anyway, no matter your starting point, you CAN do pull ups. And you WILL do pull ups if you want to. It’s just a matter of practice. With practice, you could achieve anything and with baby steps, you could climb any mountain.

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