How To Get Better At Pull Ups & How to Get Your First Pull Up

Oh the elusive pull up.

There’s just something about doing them (especially as a woman in a crowded gym) that makes people take a second glance.

What a display of back and arm strength, core stability… and HARD WORK!

Anyone has the potential to do a pull up. It just may take some dedicated time spent working on them to truly master the pull up.

PULL-UP POINTS OF PERFORMANCE

1 - Start with a hollow body position

Having a tight core, straight legs, and pointed toes makes pull-ups easier than doing them hanging like a dead, lifeless weight from the bar.

The Hollow Position

This is what it looks like on the ground.

Tight core, straight legs, feet together

2 - Choose the right grip for pull ups

Let’s start with your grip just slightly wider than your shoulders. We can mess around with different width grips once you are a pro. A lot of people actually get a “chin up” before getting a “pull up” because there is more bicep involved in the chin up. Practice both! Regarding where your thumb goes, I prefer putting my thumb under the bar. You can play with over or under and see which works best for you.

OVERHAND OR PULL UP GRIP

UNDERHAND OR CHIN UP GRIP

3 - Initiating the pull in the pull up

To initiate, pull your shoulders back and elbows down. Keep a hollow body position, and keep your abs and glutes flexed. Try to also keep your neck in a neutral position as you pull instead of looking up and trying to reach your chin over the bar.

4 - Use a full range of motion in the pull up

I teach my clients to work the full range of motion in all of the exercises they do. It benefits their strength gains, keeps them safe, and makes sure their bragging rights are in check.

After all, If you are throwing down in a pull up competition, having the same range of motion keeps us all on equal ground. If I do 20 full pull ups and you do 25 half pull ups - I won ; )

The Best Exercises To Get Better At Pull Ups

Bar Hangs

A static hang from the bar with a hollow body position. Remember, keep your abs and glutes flexed. (deadhang demo)

Scap Pulls

Practice the initiation of the pull up by pulling your shoulder blades down and back, holding for a second, then slowly exending. Maintain that hollow body while doing these! (scap pull demo)

Eccentric Pull Ups (or Pull Up Negatives)

Start at the top with your chin above the bar, and slowly lower yourself while keeping tension the whole way down. Make this harder and harder by adding time to the eccentric drop. (negative descent pull up demo)

Inverted Rows

Set up a pair of rings or an empty barbell on a rack. Practice pulling your chest toward the rings or bar and then lowering it back down. Start by standing fairly upright, and incrementally make this harder by gradually making your body parallel to the ground. Make sure you are keeping a hollow body position & maintaining a tight back and shoulders throughout the movement. (inverted row demo, ring row demo)

Dumbbell Rows

The key to effective dumbbell rows is activating your lats. Do this by pulling your elbow high and back. Try to pull the weight toward your hip vs. your chest. Once you can do sets of 15 reps with each arm, go up to a heavier dumbbell. (dumbbell row checklist)

Flys, Curls, and Face Pulls

Strengthen all of the smaller muscles of your upper back, shoulders, and biceps by doing face pulls, reverse flys, and curls. Once you can do 15 reps with great form at any given exercise per set, add weight. (reverse flys, bench flys, dumbbell curls, face pulls demo)

Banded Pull Ups

There’s no better way to get better at pull ups than to do pull ups. Assistance bands come in all types of thicknesses, and you can combine them together to find a strength that suits. As you get stronger, the bands get smaller, and eventually, you won’t even need one. (banded pull up demo)

Patience

If you are starting from scratch, it may take some time to get your first pull up. Be patient but most importantly, keep working on them! Don’t give up after week 1 when it starts to get hard or frustrating. Keep going and you’ll be amazed at how strong you become after a few weeks of dedicated practice.

Sample routine to get better at pull ups

Example Week

Day 1: 3 x :30 Bar Hangs

Day 2: 3 x 5 Scap Pulls

Day 3: 3 x 3 Eccentric pull ups (get slower each week!)

Day 4: 3 x 10 Inverted Rows (get lower each week!)

Day 5: Body Building Finisher:

3-5 Sets of

10 Reverse Flys

12 Dumbbell Curls

15 to 20 Face Pulls

Rest as needed after each set and then back to it!

Day 6: 3 x 15 Dumbbell rows per side (add weight once you can do 3x15 each side)

Day 7: 3 MAX REPS of Banded Pull Ups (reduce band tension once you an do 10 in a row)

We Can Help

If you want help getting stronger, getting in shape, getting your first pull up, or any other goal, we can help.

Our specialty is helping our clients enjoy their training, and making them look as good as they feel.

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