Mastering the perfect pull-up can be extremely tricky, especially when you're a beginner. However, this challenging, yet rewarding, exercise will help you build strength & hypertrophy in a range of upper body muscles that can help prevent injury. And you don't need much equipment to do this. So are you ready to introduce this crucial exercise into your workouts? We have you covered with this blog, that will detial the benefits and how you can perform the perfect pull-up. 

 

Why You Should Implement Pull-Ups Into Your Programme

Academic sources outline multiple benefits that you can get from completing pull-ups, including: 

• Muscle hypertrophy of the latissimus dorsi, deltoids, & biceps
• Improve muscular endurance & strength 
• Improve shoulder girdle stability
• Prevent Injury
• Improved grip strength

Considering the pull-up is a multi-joint movement, thus engaging multiple muscle groups, it can also be effectively used as a pre- to post-progression test. Throughout your programme, you are likely going to incorporate a range of exercises that focus on hitting muscles that are activated and engaged during a pull-up. These sorts of tests are used continuously among athletes. By adding this to your training programme, you can track your progression continuously.

What's amazing is, you can access these benefits with just one piece of equipment. The pull-up bar.

 

Different Pull-up Bars

Here at Exersci, we have a few different options. 

Pull-up Bars

The most cost-effective and direct piece is either the heavy duty pull up bar or the multi-grip pull up bar. These do what it says on the tin. They are extremely versatile and sturdy, withstanding up to 150 Kg. With over a meter length bar, you can complete a range of hand positions using the heavy duty bar to engage the muscles essential within your programme. Likewise, the multi-grip bar offers a range of positions for you to place your hands making it easy to hit a range of muscles. Additionally, the different bar positions may make it more comfortable on your grip and the tension through your elbows and shoulders when performing, leg raises or dead hangs.

However, if you want to upgrade your home or commercial gym, you may want to consider our other pieces. 

Rigs and Racks

The wall mounted rig is an extremely useful piece of equipment. With additional accessories it can be utilised as a squat rack, helping you position weights for bench press or millitary press. More to the point of this blog, this rig opens up avenues for pull-up variations. The extended distance from the wall allows for more swing, for those wanting to complete kips, gymnastics and/or crossfit variations of pull-ups (such as muscle ups). 

Other pieces, such as the EX2 and EX3 power racks also provide a sturdy rig to complete your pull-up regime. These pieces come with different grip variations, allowing you to focus and fully engage the desired muscle group, for example, an inward grip to engage the biceps. Both the EX2 and EX3 can also come with a cable system. This will allow you to complete the lat pull down which is a handy variation of the pull-up to get better isolation of the lats and regress the exercise. 

Lastly, our half power rack also comes with a pull-up bar. This provides a lower cost to the EX2 & EX3 rigs but remains versatile providing a rack that can utilise exercises such as squats, bench press etc. The half power rack doesnt stop there however. It provides a great set up for those wanting to focus on calisthenics with a built in dip station. 

Ultimately, the piece of equipment you choose will come down to your needs and financial allowance. Purely for pull-ups, you may want to go with the heavy duty pull up bar. However, if you want to better utilise your space and improve space efficiency, the other pieces of equipment will allow you to perform pull-ups and much more. 

 

Preparing for your first pull-up

Warm Up

Before performing any exercise it is important to warm up first. Typically a RAMP protocol is used, whereby you include some key factors: Raise, Activate, Mobilise and Potentiate. Warm-ups are used to improve performance (strength, rate of force development), improve blood flow and oxygen delivery and limit injury (Source). The following guidelines are presented in line with the United Kingdom Strength & Conditioning Association:

Raise: Elevate the body temperature, heart & breathing rate and blood flow. You can do this with low-intensity cardio, such as using a cross trainer (thus engaging musculature used in a pull-up). 

Activate & Mobilise: The aim is to engage key muscle groups and take key joints through large ranges of motion. Here you could complete rotator cuff exercises, arm circles, and IYTs. 

Potentiate: This refers to completing an activity that is considered close to the intensity of the exercise performed. Within team sports, things like sprinting, and changes of direction are applicable. With pull-ups, you should complete variations of the action, I.E., scapular pull-ups and assisted pull-ups. 

 Grip and Hand Placement

You will need to determine your desired grip. The grip that you choose will ultimately alter the primary muscles involved. The most common are a overhand or underhand grip. 

Overhand grips are most typically thought of when you think of a pull-up. This will include you placing the hands on the bar directly above you (palms facing away), at about shoulder width or slightly wider. This will have a larger engagement of the latissumus dorsi (largest back muscle). 

The underhand grip is often referred to as a chin-up. The hands will be placed on the bar narrower than the overhand grip (palms facing you). Having the palms facing you will engage your biceps to a greater extent.

Body Positioning

Before starting the initial pull-up or even the 'dead hang' (where you hang from the bar with your feet off the ground) it is important to initiate the core and retract the shoulders. This will allow for a controlled approach at the start of the movement and not put too much stress on shoulder joints if you have not been predisposed to these kind of resistances.  

Your posture should include a straightened back and should remain like this throughout the movement. As you progress into the dead hang, depending on the height of the bar, you may need to bend the legs to a 90-degree angle, just so that your feet aren't hitting/touching the floor.

Initiating the pull-up

Initiate the pull-up with a controlled and deliberate movement. Avoid jerking or sudden motions. Picture yourself pulling your elbows down and back. Consciously engage your back muscles as you pull up. Think about squeezing your shoulder blades together. This mental connection helps ensure you're working the right muscles.

 Full range of movement

Performing a full range of motion is crucial for reaping maximum benefits. Make sure your starting position is from a dead hang, arms fully extended, and pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar. By taking the exercise through the full range of motion, you are applying resistance to the muscles (i.e., the bicep) at different lengths and at different portions of the muscle. 

 

Regressions of a pull-up 

Consistency is key, however, we understand that bodyweight exercises can be massively challenging, especially for beginners. It is important to understand that this isn't a movement that you will likely achieve the first time. Unfortunately, this can often hinder your motivation, which is why you should have useful regression tools in place. 

The most common regressions are using resistance bands and performing negatives/eccentrics. 

For example, the Exersci® Resistance Bands come as a package, with different bands being different sizes/thicknesses, thus meaning varied resistance. By placing a band around the pull-up bar, the 'resistance' is pulling vertically upwards, meaning that it can be used to assist you. By placing your foot/feet (or knee(s)) on the resistance band, the lower you go the more resistance it will give to push you back up to the bar. This means that it helps the portion of the movement that is the most difficult. You can progressively overload by reducing the thickness of the band, thus less resistance. Not long, and you will be able to perform them unbanded. 

Additionally, you can also perform negatives/eccentrics. This refers to you completing the extension component of the lift slowly and very controlled. An eccentric muscle contraction refers to muscle lengthening and is thought to induce greater strength and neural adaptation when performed chronically (source). You can perform these by jumping or having a step that gets you to the top of the movement. You then control yourself down to full extension and repeat. They are most beneficially implemented when attempting to hold the top portion of the lift. As your body starts to lower and your arms extend, you must still contract as if you are trying to complete the full pull-up to maximise adaptation.

 

Progression of a pull-up

Opposite to regressing, it is important to progressively overload your exercise to maximise adaptation.  This can be done by adding extra weight to the movement. You could add weight via a belt (Dipping & Pull Up Belt with Chain) or by adding a weighted vest (Tactical Weighted Vest). Progressive overload is a recurring talking point throughout our blogs, simply because of how important it is to induce strength and hypertrophy gains (Source). In short, for the muscle to adapt it must be placed under a certain degree of stress to provide a large enough stimulus to initiate cell signalling pathways for adaptation. The optimal rep range for muscle growth and strength lies between failing at 8-12 repetitions. Therefore, unless you want to build muscular endurance, you may need to up the intensity to maximise your gains, therefore one of the 2 methods mentioned above is crucial. 

If you want more information on the importance of progressive overload and how to best implement it, check out our previous blog entitled 'Is progressive overload the key to improvement?'.

 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Understanding and rectifying common mistakes is paramount for effective and safe pull-up execution. 

Swinging Momentum

Many beginners use swinging or excessive momentum to complete the pull-up, compromising muscle engagement. Make sure to maintain control with an engaged core to avoid this.

Incomplete Range of Motion

Failure to perform a full range of motion limits the effectiveness of pull-ups. Make sure to start from a dead hand, and you pull-up until your chin clears the bar. 

By recognising and addressing these mistakes, you'll optimise your pull-up performance and prevent potential injuries.

 

Conclusion

Embrace the challenge of mastering pull-ups with perfect form. It's not just about physical strength; it's a journey of resilience and accomplishment. Enjoy every pull-up as a victory and a testament to your progress.

The equipment you use is dependent on your overall intention, whether that's to only perform pull-ups or whether its to upgrade the space in your gym and tick all the boxes of calisthenics and resistance training. Furthermore, when starting to incorporate pull-ups into your exercise programme, you shlould keep in mind the useful regressions and progressions to help you better adapt and perform to your best standard.

Browse our range of pull-up stations to add to your commercial gym, home gym, or spare room to regularly practice and perfect your pullup. If you have any enquiries please contact us.