How to Get Your Pullups in Order
Posted on 30 March 2009
How to Do Your First Pullup
Pullups are one of the best bodyweight exercises out there. They work your back, shoulders, and biceps…or so people think. I once did a workout that involved close to a 100 pullups, and the following day my chest and abs were sore as well. I did not do any chest or ab work that day, or the day before. It really is amazing to see just how connected your body is (kind of a strange sentence when you read it back).
A lot of sources out there tell you that if you can’t do a pullup, you should first practice with a resistance band pull downs or cable pull downs. I’ve actually developed a video showing resistance band exercises in place of pullups. Although it is not a bad idea, the truth is that if you want to get better at a particular exercise, you need to do that particular exercise.
The basic transition into a full pullup is as follows:
Jumping Pullups
The jumping pullup is what it sounds like: you jump towards the pullup bar with the sole purpose of getting your chin up over the bar. The jumping pullup gives you a little boost towards the bar, since most beginners are unable to even move past the dead hang position.
Tips:
You can use a platform of some sort as demonstrated in the video, or just jump from the ground if the pullup bar is low enough
You do not need to do the backward C-curve thing at the end of each pullup as demonstrated by the video. That’s just Crossfit training for the kipping pullup (which is a whole different exercise).
Jumping Pullups & Hold
Once you’ve mastered the basic jumping pullup, it’s time to move onto jumping pullups + hold. In this variation, you simply stop at the top position of the pullup, and hold for as long as possible.
Jumping Pullups & Negatives
The negative portion of a pullup is where you’re returning to starting position. To further strengthen the muscle involved in performing a full pullup, you’ll slow down the negative portion of the movement.
Tips:
I recommend jumping up to the bar, and then doing the negative, although you can use a chair as demonstrated in the video if you feel uncomfortable jumping with momentum, then slowing down.
As also demonstrated in the video, you can use negatives to train other variations of difficult pullups, as well as use them as a mass-gaining technique once you’ve become proficient with pullups.
Putting it All Together
Now it’s time attempt your first pullup. The starting position of a pullup is known as the dead hang position because you’re basically just hanging there with your arms full stretched out. Your feet should be curled behind you. Look up towards the bar, flex your back muscles and use them to pull yourself up towards the bar. Try to go as far as possible. If you still can’t touch the bar with your chin, then don’t worry. You’ve already done the preliminary work necessary to strengthen your pulling muscles.
About the Author
Parth Shah is an average joe who’s tired of all the nonsense he sees in mainstream health and fitness media. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website and suscribe to his RSS Feed here….
Comment by Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips
30 March 2009
Good post Chis/Parth. Couldn’t agree more on the importance of pullups. Even when you’re doing a full resistance training routine you can still feel the impact after putting a few pullups into your workout.
Comment by Meg
30 March 2009
I’ve actually been working my way up to full pull ups lately, using the assisted pull up machine at my gym.
I have a pull up bar at home but havn’t been able to use it since full pull ups are currently out of my reach. Thank you for these ideas! I’m going to try to use them on my at home pull up bar to add to my in-gym pull ups!
Comment by Rodney
30 March 2009
Any suggestions on how to minimize trauma to elbow tendons? Several years back I way over-did it trying to get into shape and am just now finally almost pain-free after doing virtually no upper body exercises during this period. I know I used my grip, forearm muscles, and any muscle I could to do the pull-ups back then, and I paid for it with the elbow tendinitis. Is there a way to focus on using back muscles and avoid the stress to elbows and associated muscles? Thanks!
@ Rodney: If you let your elbows recover they should stay OK. I would minimize things like tricep pushdowns and too many dips but pullups should be fine. Try eating a low grain diet to keep inflammation down plus take plenty of fish oil. Try and stat with slow controlled movements as well. No sudden jerking or too much locking out.
Comment by DR
30 March 2009
For beginners, I like use a Jump Stretch band for assisted chin/pull-ups.
As well, for negative training, I sometimes incorporate pauses in addition to the slow negative.
Comment by Rayna
30 March 2009
When I first started to seriously work out I couldn’t do pull ups. I laughed at the thought because it was normal, you know, girls can’t do pull ups, right?
I actually never tried the bands and always subbed jumping pulls up + negatives. It only took me a couple of weeks before I could do my first pull ups, then two in a row, then three.
My max strict pull up personal record is 5. I’d like to get up to ten, but I’m at a plateau at the moment. Kipping has helped, I can do up to 13 kipping pull ups and usually fail to the skin on my hands ripping off, not muscle failure.
Comment by Son of Grok
30 March 2009
Its kind of like how your back can get sore from doing pushups. Pullups are a great exercise!
The SoG
Comment by Parth
31 March 2009
Thanks for the feedback guys! I’ve never tried jump stretch bands. The jumping pullups were enough to get me started with pullups and had very similar results as Rayna. I used to think that they’re a great substitution for pullups – doing rows and pulldowns instead of pullups – but one thing I realized is that if you want to get better at an exercies, you want to perform that exercise as best you can without any outside assistance.
Comment by Evan
31 March 2009
The home pullup bar is a good idea. I have a doorframe mounted one that works great. I try to do at least one pullup (from a dead hang) every time I pass by it. I could do three or four if I really really tried, but why exhaust myself? What I do now is enough to finally make my lats and rhomboids etc start to show.
@ Evan: Try some extremely slow negative chins they will give you results for sure. Ellington Darden of HIT fame rates them as the best upper body exercise of all time!
Comment by Yash
1 April 2009
Any tips on getting your numbers up once you get a few strict pullups under your belt? I was training for this a little while ago since I was thinking about doing Marines OCS and pullups are in the fitness test. I have a bar in my doorway and i’ve heard the “do 5 every time you go in your room” but that’s just made me good at doing 5 pullups a lot of times.
@: Yash: Doing 5 frequently will help but I find as your general musculature increases and your practice increases you will find your pullup numbers going up slowly but surely. Unfortunately once you reach a certain point it can be hard to get more BW pullups for me that was about 10-12 strict, since then I have found it difficult to increase the numbers.
Comment by Rodney
1 April 2009
Thanks for the advice above. I will continue ahead with caution and include your tips in my gradual recovery.
Comment by Rita
2 April 2009
I always do the kipping pull-up and never really get any soreness in my abs. Just from reading this post I think I’ll try some good ol’ strict pull ups and see where they get me!
@ Rita: You will find its slow negative chinups that really get the abs. Especially when you do L-Pull-Ups…..