Pull-ups!! From zero to hero!
Pull ups, what can I say about pull ups, one of the most beautiful and cool exercises one can do. Apart form that, pull up is one of the most ancient muscle building exercise in existence, and even though there is no other exercise that can proof the upper body strength people just don’t include them in their workouts, or if they do is something other than a pull up.
It is a fact that a few people can do pull-ups, the actual movement, without cheating, with the chest touching the bar and with the whole body engaged. Generally, people fear this exercise but they shouldn’t because with the correct guidance from their trainer/coach, consistent training and determination anyone can achieve a pull-up.
And I know that is true because some of my clients that feared only thinking about touching the bar (not even talking about pull-ups here) now they can easily knock out sets of unassisted pull-ups. The secret is to take your time and don’t give up, trust yourself and your strength. Start your training with regressions and slowly progress to more advanced exercises until you succeed your goal.
Add the following exercises in your workout and you will see an increase in your strength :
#1 Bottom Grip Hold (Semi-straight arm)
You grab the bar, squeeze the grip as hard as you can and hang (under tension) for as long as you can. Over time try to hold it longer and longer.
#2 Top Grip Hold (Flexed Arm)
Very similar to the bottom grip hold, except that your arms are bent at 90% or more and your chin is above the bar.
Focus on driving your elbows to the side to keep tension on your lats.
Keeping your feet in front of you in order to force your lower core to work as hard as possible. The core is a very important element to achieve proper pull-ups; so avoid crossing your legs behind you since it reduces core activity.
#3 Negatives
With the negative, your goal is lower your body under control from the top position to the bottom position of a pull up. Negatives will increase your strength fast, but they will also increase your soreness.
With the negatives, make sure you are focusing on keeping your elbows to your side/hips. This will engage the lats a lot more.
The goal of the negative pull-ups is to control descent. Place your feet in front to keep the core engaged.
#4 Negatives With Pauses
Start out by lowering slow and then stopping. Hold the pause position under control. Then slowly start your negative again. The goal with the pause hold is 2-3 pauses with perfect control.
