The pull up, unique bodyweight exercises difficulty rating for one rep – 4 out of 10
Average time taken to master, 1 month.
Description
The pull up is one of the oldest and yet most versatile bodyweight exercises you can do and the beauty of it is if you combine several different types of this exercise in one session you could in fact have a very effective total upper body workout.
Method
To do the standard version which mainly works the latissimus dorsi (side back muscles) hang from a bar with your arms fully extended, hands in an overhand grip and shoulder width apart, and your feet off the ground.
From there take a deep breath and slowly pull yourself up until your chin is a couple of inches passed the bar and then breathe out as you lower yourself back down to the starting position.
Advice
Concentrate on keeping your latissimus dorsi and abs tensed throughout the movement.
Lean back slightly and thrust your chest forward before you begin each rep.
Apart from your arms, keep your body as still as possible and try not to use momentum to lift yourself up.
Pausing for a second after each rep helps to stop your body from swinging back up.
If you are not strong enough to do this exercise you can do negative reps by standing on a bench or chair and just lowering yourself down from the top position of the exercise. (If you do negatives, try to lower yourself down as slowly as possible).
You can make the exercise a lot more difficult by including static holds on each rep by holding the bottom, middle and top positions for 5 seconds.
The slower you do each rep the harder but more beneficial the exercise is.
What are the best shoulder exercises?
See the one arm chin guide to compliment the pull up