Follow this step-by-step guide to get your first pull-up and beyond.
Repping out sets of pull-ups is a great display of upper body strength. It means you're very strong for your bodyweight.
You may remember how difficult pull-ups are from when you were a kid in gym class. Or maybe you've never ever gotten one... yet. You're reading this, so you're interested in getting to the point where you're pulling your own bodyweight unassisted.
There's no getting around the fact that you have to be strong relative to your bodyweight. If you're significantly overweight, it will make pull-ups all the more challenging. But they're certainly not impossible if you're strong. Specifically, you need to build strong lats and arms.
The exercises below will help prepare you for the ultimate upper body pulling exercise. I'm using the term "pull-ups" rather than "pull-ups and/or chin-ups" for the sake of simplicity. They work essentially the same muscles. When you do pull-ups your hands are turned palms away from you. For chin-ups, your hands will face you. One is not inherently better than the other. Most people will find chin-ups easier. If you're a stickler for "what if I have to do this in the 'real world'?", I admit you're not going to climb a wall by doing a chin-up. If you want to work on chin-ups just reverse your grip for all the exercises.
Now that that's settled, let's get to it. Let's assume you're starting brand new. You've never done a pull-up before and you know you have to start from scratch to build up to it. You'll begin with the simple and gradually build to more complex and difficult exercises over time.
The first exercise to work on is hollow body holds. Hollow body holds teach you how to remain tight in the pull-up position. Remaining tight makes it easier to raise and lower your body than if you were flopping around like a fish.
Start by lying on your back on a mat or another comfortable surface. Press your lower back into the mat. Keep your arms flat on the mat for now. Extend your legs as straight as you can and lift them off the mat. Hold this position for 10-20 seconds. Keep your core tight (act as if someone were about to punch you in the belly) and keep breathing. If this is too difficult, raise your legs a bit higher. If it's too easy, hold your legs straight out, only a couple inches off the floor.
The next progression is to maintain that position (core tight, back flat, legs extended), while extending your arms as far as you can away from your feet. Even though you're lying horizontally, imagine being in this position while vertical and you can see this is how you'll be hanging from the bar. Hollow body holds are about learning basic body control. It's tougher to do than it looks. With practice you'll get better at it. Two or three sets building up to about 30 seconds per set is a good goal.
Inverted Rows are what to work on next. These are essentially the reverse of push-ups. You'll be building strength in your entire upper back as well as in your shoulders and biceps. If you have access to a Smith machine that's great. But you can also do them using rings or a TRX, a bar in a squat rack, or even at home gripping a sturdy table.
The more vertical you are the easier they will be, so start there. As you get stronger, you'll graduate to doing them from a more horizontal position.
Grip the bar with your hands slightly farther than shoulder width apart. You'll have to experiment a little to find the width that feels most comfortable for you. Walk your feet out until you're in position. You want to mimic the body control you learned from the hollow body holds here. Keep your core tight, flex your quads and butt. If someone were to look at you from the side your body would look like a straight line from your head to your feet.
Start with your arms fully extended and your body straight. Row to pull your body up to the bar. Touch the bar with your upper chest and descend under control to the start position. When you can get 8-10 reps for a couple sets it's time to lower bar to a more horizontal position.
Now it's time to meet the pull-up bar. This step is Pull-Up Negatives where you'll be lowering yourself from the top of the pull-up position. You can use a bench to step on to reach the bar. Grab the bar with your hands in a comfortable position while you're standing on the bench (or other stable surface). Literally jump up to the top position of the pull-up (don't pull with your arms at all). Hold at the top for a beat then lower yourself as slowly as you can. This is the "negative" or eccentric part. You're going to build strength by resisting the pull of gravity here. Fight gravity as hard as you can. These are really going to build your lats, shoulders, and arms.
Once you've returned to the bottom position, place your feet back flat on the bench and prepare for the next repetition. Jump back up and repeat. Because each rep is going to take a few seconds (maybe several) you won't be doing a ton of reps per set. Just 2 or 3 reps, then take a break.
The next step is Banded Pull-Ups. The band's elasticity will help offset some of your bodyweight, giving you an assist for these pull-ups. Wrap one end of the band around the bar and place your foot in the other end. Start with the widest band in the set. If you have to use more than one band at first, that's fine.
Start at the bottom position. Your arms will be fully extended. Take care not to shrug your shoulders up towards your ears. Keep your shoulder blades close together and down. Pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar. The reason I want you to touch your chest to the bar rather pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar is because I don't want you craning your neck. That could lead to injury.
Focus on feeling your lats working primarily, not your arms. Sure, you'll feel your biceps working but your lats are larger, stronger muscles. Get them to do the bulk of the pulling with your arms just assisting.
Once you can get 8-10 reps in a row it's time to switch to a slightly narrower band. You'll get a little less assistance and you start the process over. Build up until you can get 8-10 good reps and move to the next narrower band. Once you can get 10 reps with the narrowest band you're ready to get your first unassisted pull-up.
In the event you still feel a little apprehensive, I got you. Use that narrowest band again, but this time instead of using your foot, you'll wrap it around one knee. This will give you assistance but a little bit less. Your own muscles will be doing just about all the work. When you can knock out 10 of these, it's time to get your first full bodyweight pull-up.
The first thing I want you to do is approach it aggressively. Believe you're strong enough to do it, because you are. Make up your mind to get one rep. One pull-up. You got this!
Get into the bottom of the pull-up position. Keep your body tight and pull until the top of your chest touches the bar. Then lower back down. That's it, you did it! All your hard work paid off.
If you haven't done so yet, check out the video at the top. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.
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