Pull ups are one of the best exercises for increasing the size and strength of the upper back and arm muscles. They also contribute to your core development. Not to mention, it is an extremely convenient exercise as well, given that you can effectively work your back muscle with the pull up bar and only your body weight. However, this comes with a price. Pull ups are generally one of the most difficult exercises to master. Most people actually use very wrong approaches to master pull ups, for example doing Lat (latissimus dorsi) muscle pull downs and machine assisted pull ups won't cut it down. In this blog, let’s look into some studies that indicate the most effective steps in achieving your first pull up:
1) Strengthen the Pull Muscles Groups:
Here is one study (here is the link) that shows that the muscles that are most activated during pull ups are core, biceps, upper and mid traps.
Therefore, these are the muscles you have to work on. According to the research, “Activating the main muscles used in the alternative pulling exercises to a similar extent as that of the pull up will result in maximal transference from the training program and exercises to the exercise of interest; the body weight pull-up.” So, what are the best alternative exercises that will strengthen these muscle groups?
Scapular pulls:
First, start with the scapular pull ups as it will target the lower trap: that is really important for your pull strength. Now to perform this exercise simply hang on the bar, relax your shoulders down now pull your body without bending your arms, and give little pause at the top. This exercise will not only help you in strengthening your muscles, but also helps you in simulating the first phase of the pull up. As pull up is on two main phases: scapula retraction and contraction of biceps to achieve full range of motion.
Single arm pull-down:
Now, the next exercise that you should do is kneeling single arm pull-down. This will really help you in strengthening your lats, biceps and core as will. This exercise is more effective that the traditional lat muscle pull downs because it is a unifunctional exercise (i.e. you will train each side separately). Traditional let muscle pull down is a pretty similar movement as a pull up, but it would help you to transfer well in terms of strength development as the research (here is the link) shows that there is really weak correlation between these two exercises, one reason for this is that the traditional lat muscle pull downs do not contribute to any activation of the core muscles.
Australian Pull-ups:
The next exercise that you have to perform in Australian Pull-ups (AKA Inverted Row Pull-ups), this exercise will further strengthen your Lat, core and arms, but also emphasizes the upper traps as the research shows that this muscle is highly engaged during pullups (here is the link). To perform this exercise, simply hang on a lower bar while extending your lags on the ground and while preforming the rowing exercise, try to squeeze your trap muscles at the top.
2) Neurological improvement:
Besides strengthening your major muscles, it is important that you should neurologically get better in the movement itself. Well, obviously if you can’t do a single pull-up you have find some alternatives to practice with.
Resistance band pull-up:
The first exercise that we use for this purpose is Resistance band pull-up which we would highly recommend incorporating in your workout routine as it is a closer exercise to the pull-up itself. Resistance band pull-up are more effective than machine assisted pull-ups as it activates your core while performing the exercises whereas machine assisted pull-up doesn’t.
Negative Pull-ups:
Finally, do negative pull ups for strengthening the eccentric portion of the pull ups. It also gives you a confident feeling for controlling your body against gravity. To perform this exercise, simply jump up to the bar and then slowly come down with little pauses.
SETS AND REPS
For each exercise perform 13 sets of 10 to 15 reps after every second day.
Note: if you are an overweight you really have to cut down your weight first so that there will be a lesser load on your muscle fibers.
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