The Bane of My Fitness Existence: The Pull-up
September 26, 2008 by Kelly Turner
Filed under Fitness
KLM asked me this question yesterday:
I’ve been wondering for a while, what kind of functional training can you do to build up enough muscle to do pull-ups? I cannot even come close to doing 1 and don’t really know what kind of at-home exercises would help with that. Thanks!
First, I would like to state that I CANNOT DO A PULL-UP. Im working on it, I swear, but I still cannot do the YET. For an inspiring motivator see this little lady pound out 4.
As I have stated before, functional training is a form of exercise where you use your body in the way it was designed to move in order to engage more muscle groups for faster results, and cut down on injury. By definition, this eliminates isolated muscle machines (like the assisted pull-up machine.) So how do you train for a pull-up?
Practicing pullups is the sure fire way to eventually be able to do them. Mounting a pull-up bar and lots of grunting and groaning will eventually pay off. However, if you don’t want to puncture holes in your walls, or if steady progress you can gauge suits you better, read on.
The latissimus dorsi (lats) are the primary muscles utilized to perform a pull up.
WARNING: Do not Google Image latissimus dorsi, unless you want to see a lot of graphic surgery pics. Blech.
Obviously, this is where you will want to focus most of your attention. At the gym, you can do lat pulldowns with a cable machine, either sitting on a bench, a stability ball, or standing in a squat position.
cable lat pulldown with medium overhand grip
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
At home, you can do the same exercise with a resistance band
Or you can try a few other exercises:
Rows (there are a lot of variations of rows, but bent-over with one arm at a time is the easiest to do with proper form. You can put your non-working arm and knee up on a bench or chair for more stability.)
1 arm dumbbell row with neutral grip
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
Dumbbell Pullovers (If you don’t have dummbells, you can use a really heavy book or a small child)
1 dumbbell pullover
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
The synergist (helper) muscles involved in pull-ups are the biceps and the pectorals (chest).
To work the biceps you can do:
Bicep Curls (do these standing on one leg to increase intenisty)
seated dumbbell bicep curl on stability ball with neutral grip
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
Preacher Curls (these take out the opportunity to use momentum, and isolates the bicep better)
kneeling dumbbell preacher curl on stability ball with underhand grip
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
To work the pecs (chest) you can do:
Pushups
pushup
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
Decline Pushups (for when you get stronger)
decline pushup
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
Chest press (If you walk out a bit further on the ball, so your head and upper shoulders are supported, you can easily turn this into a butt and thigh exercise as well. Keep your hips up towards the celing in line with your body.)
dumbbell chest press on stability ball with overhand grip
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
Dumbbell Flyes
dumbbell fly
(Click on image to view this exercise…)
Working each muscle individually is going to be a little less effective than working all the muscles together (such as in a lat pulldown) but if you can only work out at home: fret not. You can always get the same results at home, as you can at the gym.
When you get your pull-up you gotta send me a video. Everyone. I want pull-up videos from all of you (yes, that includes me.)
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I can’t do one either. sigh. BUT, my gym does have a combo tricep dip/assisted pull-up machine so that you can do a modified pull-up with like 50 pounds less than what you weigh. It’s a nice way to work up to a full pull-up, but you get the satisfaction of actually doing some, even if you get some help. :)
I cannot do a push up to save my life. Thanks for sharing options for the stability ball. I’m always looking for new ways to utilize mine!
I don’t think I’ve ever been able to do a pull-up. It’s pretty frustrating. I’ll try these. Even just one would make me pretty proud.
I never used to be able to do pull-ups and now I can do ten. I’d like to think I’m just that good but really I have CrossFit to thank for it. If you really want a “perfect pull-up plan” you gotta try it!!
PS> My shoulders are much bigger now though and I don’t know how I feel about that.
PPS> Negative pull-ups are super helpful as well, imo.
The pull up is one of those exercises I love and I hate. It hurts so much when I do them, but I know they are such a beneficial compound exercise. In fact, I have recently challenged my oldest son to a pull up challenge (he won). I say it’s because he weight about 80 pounds less than me! I also like to supplement with various forms of the lat pulldown. Great exercises for the upper body!
The best and most fun way to get better at pull-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, etc.? Rock climbing. I can’t believe how much upper body strength I’ve gained over the past year of climbing fairly regularly, and the best thing is it’s a fun, social environment as well.
FBG- i dont like those things. I always feel like im going to get squished somehow. like in the movies where someone falls i na pit and the walls start to close in.
Stacey- i dont think stability balls get enough credit. They are very useful though in helping to lower the intensity of most exercises until you are strong enough to do them on your own.
tfh- im in the same boat sister.
charlotte- oh man i freaking love crossfit. I actually got the main pullup picture form their site. I have a weird thing about my shoulders- I dont want them to get too broad. anywhere else i want as much tone and muscle as possible, but my shoulders, i barely touch them.
lance- so how many did he do? and how many did you do? I always heard that guys have this weird competitive thing with their sons to be top dog.
Kat- ove never tried it. I have a lot of friends that do and they can do pullups using a door frame. i dont know how their fingers dont snap off (its all forearm strength) but im always very impressed.
HOW FUN!!
Id be in for a video.
my bane? running. more than a couple of minutes.
I still loathe.
There are also modified pull up versions you can do – my favorite one being the “Australian pull up”, which is like a row…need a bar low to the ground (playgrounds sometimes have them if you don’t have access to a gym), extend your body out flat (like a plank but facing up), hold onto bar and pull chest up to bar – wide grip or narrow (overhand or underhand too). That is the other distinction – wide and narrow grip pull ups. The video you posted of that lady doing 4 are narrow grips which are a bit easier (still, its quite the feat!!) than the wide grip pull up. I can do 3 (underhand) narrow grip and am working on my wide grip, I almost have one, I just need the tiniest bit of assistance to get started (my tip toes on the Bosu – I push off and ooomph, pull up to the bar).
A friend of mine can pound out about 50 full extension pull ups, he is also a little guy with big arms…..probably helps! ;) I do like the benefits of pull ups but one can also do modified pull ups that are quite beneficial. Nice post! I read through the other posts …..really good stuff! Have a great weekend!
Cute pictures… I don’t care if that guy /is/ a dumbbell, still worth looking at ;)
These are great! I’ll have to start incorporating them into my exercise plan.
I can do 2 pull ups (or at least, last time I checked I could), and about 4 chin ups. Chin ups are way easier. Actually I found that pull ups kinda hurt my wrists- is there any wrist stretches you can do to protect them when doing pull ups/chin ups?
stretches wont really protect anything- you can work on your forearm strength to take a bit of the pressure off, but other than that i would wear braces, if they are that important to ya. hanging by your hands puts a lot of stress on the wrists. My shoulder hurts when I try pullups- they are pretty tough on the upper body, but thats why people love em so much!
A couple months ago I thought I’d add in some upper body strength training (push-ups, pull-ups, dips) to help me with my mental toughness for running fast (those exercises always made me feel strong and running fast requires a fair amount of arms anyway). But I could barely do one pull-up, which was very discouraging, and then I got a hamstring injury so I had to bail on my running speed work. I didn’t keep up the upper body exercises either.
Today, however, just because I read this post, I went the pull-up bar we have in a doorway and tried again and did 2!!
The only real upper body work I’ve been doing regularly the past couple months is swimming. And though my hammy is still not recovered enough to do fast running, I could do the upper body exercises to help with my swimming and vice versa. Thanks for the motivation!
Cool videos!
But if doing pull-ups makes my arms look like the lady’s in the pink shorts in the top picture, then I don’t want to do them!
The father-son competition:
He did 12
I did 10 (and the last couple were pretty weak…)
I will challenge him again soon….and I will win!!! (I hope)
i’ve tried… why does the grip you have make such a difference in ability–different muscle groups? what way are you really supposed to have your hands?
thanks for the answer! i wish the at-home practice (w/out putting holes in the walls) involved a few less exercises… because i’m lazy.