The Proper Way To Do Pull-Ups
Having a wide back helps with the illusion of having a small waist. One of the best exercises to widen the back for this purpose is the pull-up.
The pull-up is a movement that you can walk into any gym in America and find someone doing, albeit incorrectly. The chance of witnessing pull-ups done with perfect form is extraordinarily rare. I mean, you’ll see Lucky the Leprechaun finally enjoying a bowl of his “magically delicious” Lucky Charms before you see a proper pull-up performed in the average big box fitness center!
Oftentimes, what you see are people not executing each rep from a dead-hang, which means they’re stopping short of full extension of their arms at the bottom of the movement. This in turn means they’re using their biceps — NOT the lats — to perform the lift.
Either that, or they’re kipping. In other words, they’re using momentum, with movement from the lower body driving the upper body towards completion of the lift, which places stress on the shoulder structure and can lead to serious injury issues.
Because all of that is no bueno, what say you to learning the proper way to do pull-ups?
Good!
INSTRUCTIONS
1). Grab the bar with your hands about shoulder-width apart and your palms facing outward and all of the digits on your hands wrapped around the bar.1NOTE: To involve more of the back and less of the arms, place your thumb alongside your index finger instead of wrapping it around the bar. To recruit even more of the lats, don’t wrap your pinky fingers around the bar. Instead, keep them pointed in the air like snooty Brits do while drinking tea from smaller teacups than can be found in a dollhouse kitchen. That shit is fucking absurd!
2). With your arms fully extended above you, hang from the bar and stick your chest out, arch your back slightly, and pull your shoulders down. Cross your legs and bend your knees behind you.2NOTE: You can perform pull-ups with your legs hanging straight. However, doing so won’t allow you to arch your back as much, which in turn won’t allow you to engage your lats as much. This trade-off might be worth it considering your individual circumstances. For instance, I have sciatica and performing pull-ups with my legs straight is much more manageable than with my legs crossed and pulled behind me.
3). Brace your core, squeeze your glutes, and breathe out through your mouth as you focus on using your elbows to drag your body upwards to the bar while pulling your shoulder blades down and back and drawing your elbows down toward your ribs. Stop when the bar is parallel to your collarbone.3To make pull-ups harder and activate more back musculature, lean back throughout the entire movement and pull yourself up until the lower part of the sternum comes in contact with the bar.
4). Hold yourself pulled up to the bar for 1-2 seconds and squeeze the shoulder blades back and down as you keep trying to pull up though your momentum is halted. Maintain tension in your glutes and abs.
5). Inhale and lower yourself in a controlled manner until your arms and shoulders are fully extended.
6). Repeat.
NOTE (1): Using a wider than shoulder-width grip doesn’t equate to a wider back. It just increases the susceptibility to shoulder injury.
NOTE (2): Don’t think of trying to pull your body up to meet the bar. Instead, think about trying to pull the bar down towards you.
NOTE (3): If you have the mobility to and are comfortable getting your chin over the bar, then do so. But there’s no need to. So don’t extend your neck or jerk your chin in effort to get over the bar, as muscle strains and vertebral damage of the neck can occur.
NOTE (4): For extra resistance, if necessary, perform with a weighted vest or strap on a dip belt to dangle weights between your legs.
Pull-ups are a measure of strength. And if you can’t perform them in strict fashion, then you’re weak. And most people are that: weak.
If you’re like most people, then you won’t be able to perform a pull-up using the technique described here.
So why…the…fuck…am…I…telling…you…to…do…the…movement…anyway?
Well, let me tell you a story about a boy named Monster…
Early in my lifting career I was unable to do a pull-up despite having trained for several years. I found it embarrassing and resolved to fix it by doing bodyweight pull-ups EVERY gym session — even on leg days.4That’s called “specialization,” which is when you do a movement or train a lagging body part with higher frequency and/or volume. Moreover, as soon as I’d walk into the gym, the very first exercise I’d do were pull-ups.5That’s called “prioritization,” which is when you give a movement or lagging body part extra attention and/or perform the movement or train the lagging body part at the beginning of a workout when you’re fresh.
After employing the training principles I told you about in the footnotes, I went from doing one struggle rep to busting out around 10-12. Once I was able to perform double-digit reps for multiple sets, I bought a dip belt and proceeded to begin doing weighted pull-ups. I started with 5 lbs and then progressed to as much as 135+ lbs for 12 reps at a body weight of 240-250 lbs. This didn’t happen in a day. It took months — MONTHS!!! — of me doing pull-ups EVERY SINGLE TRAINING SESSION and challenging myself to do one more rep or pull up more weight than I did the session before.
The moral of the story is that’s how you build a back that’s wide as fuck, through hunger and persistence.
When asked how I developed my back, I tell trainees the above and suggest it to them. I have yet to hear from anybody who’s actually done what I’ve advised them to do. And, accordingly, I have yet to hear from them that they have a back that’s wide as fuck!
NOTE: If you’re currently unable to do even a crappy pull-up, then do a pull-up progression program, which would consist of core strengthening exercises and such horizontal pulling movements like ring rows or bodyweight inverted rows, negative pull-ups, and assisted pull-ups with a chair, band, or partner holding your feet and slightly helping to push you upwards. Once you master each progression, then begin attempting strict pull-ups as outlined here.
For a workout routine that possibly includes pull-ups, as well as other exercises geared specifically to your goals, training experience, injury history, and available equipment, then find out more HERE
Glossary: abs, arms, biceps, chest, exercise, glutes, goal, gym, kipping, lats, routine, workout