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What are your fitness goals? Some people may want to get flexible fast while others want to walk 10,000 steps per day. Then there are people, presumably like you, who want to learn how to do a pull up.
It’s an impressive exercise. You’re using your arms to lift your entire body weight. If you’re wondering how to get better at pull ups, it’s all about practice, strength and getting your form right.
When a pull up is done correctly, it involves hanging from a bar and pulling your body up so your chest is in line with the bar. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
Whether you’re new to trying pull ups or you’re trying to perfect your technique, let’s dive into everything pull ups.
First things first, if you want to learn how to do a pull up correctly, it’s important to understand which muscles you’ll be working.
Pull ups use multiple muscle groups located across your arms, back and torso.
Arms:
Back:
Torso:
That’s a lot of muscles getting in on the action. With all that muscle work, you’ll certainly need to be conscious of how to get rid of sore muscles if you’re starting to do pull ups.
Learning how to do pull ups is about strength, technique and mental fitness.
Unless you’ve got a super fancy setup, you’re unlikely to have the at home gym equipment you need to do a pull up. While you’re learning how to do a pull up, you might actually prefer to do them at the gym where you’ve got someone who could spot you.
There are two elements to a pull up – technique and strength. So how do you get better at pull ups? You work on both elements.
When you’re ready to go, place your hands on the pull up bar with your hands a little bit further than shoulder width apart. You’ll need to use an overhand grip. You might need some assistance to reach the bar, or you could stand on a step.
To do the pull up movement, lift your feet so they aren’t touching the floor or the step. Using your strength in your back and arms, pull yourself up towards the bar. If you can’t get your chest up to the bar, just go as far as you’re able. Lower yourself and repeat. Or simply jump down and cheer that you did a pull up.
If you want to try an assisted pull up while you perfect your form and build your strength, using a resistance band is a good option.
It’s simple to learn how to tie a resistance band to a pull up bar. Tie each end of the resistance band to the bar. Make sure they’re tired securely as you’ll be using the resistance band to support your body weight.
To do a pull up with the resistance band, place one foot into the centre of the band with the other foot gently crossed behind it. Then perform the same pull up action.
When you set smart fitness goals, it’s about working within your boundaries and gently challenging them.
There are two elements to a pull up – technique and strength.
How does one sound? Or ten? Maybe 20? How many pull ups are good depends on the individual.
If you’ve never done a pull up before and you’re able to do one, then that’s amazing. If you’ve mastered one, you might be able to gradually build up to more. Just be aware of the signs of overtraining and consider whether you should exercise every day or take a day off.
Swimming is an activity that requires a lot of back and arm strength. In fact, research has found that there may be a link between swimming performance and pull up strength.
So if you’re a swimmer, pull ups may be a good exercise to include in your routine.
Mastering the pull up grip could be a challenge in itself. If you don’t have good grip strength, you may notice that your hands tire very quickly.
Before you even try a pull up, you might try hanging on the bar to build up your grip endurance. Otherwise, you could try a farmer’s walk, which means walking around with your arms down by your side with a dumbbell in each hand.
You could also do assisted pull ups with a resistance band.
In your quest to master the pull up, don’t forget about other types of exercise. Add in some bodyweight exercises for your glutes, free yoga online classes and even some core exercises at home.
Maybe you could even incorporate this strength challenge as part of a 30 day family fitness challenge to include the kids in the fun!
Related:
Reviewed by the healthylife Advisory Board November 2021.