Welcome to the Pull-up Motivational Month!
What's this about?
Last month we really did our best to stay upside down in the Handstand Motivational Month! If you missed it here goes a link!
This month is all about pull-ups!
Pull-ups are one of the most loved exercises out there. They are a compound move that develops a good deal of strength, an important foundation for calisthenics, a symbol of strength and all that while being really fun to do.
For the first week we'll go on about the basics about pull-ups and how to get started. The focus is to help you all who can't do a pull-up yet to attain it. For those who can do it you can use this opportunity to get even better! By the end of the month we hope most of you will have attained or improved your pull-ups and, most importantly, that you will have had a blast training this month!
Proper Form and Variations
General
- Straight arms at bottom!
- Try to drive your elbows down and back
- Chin over bar, but don't crane your neck to complete the reps!
- On rings get your elbows parallel to your torso or as close as possible
When hanging from a bar you can be in a dead hang, also called passive hang, or in an active hang. In the passive hang your shoulders are in a relaxed position, covering your ears, while in an active hang they're engaged and pressing down.
- You should go to dead hang as long as that causes no pain and you have no past history of shoulder issues. This is harder, but develops strength in the fullest possible ROM, which is what we usually want.
- In case you have a history of shoulder problems then talk to your doctor about i Only a proper assessment may determine if you can go deadhang or not.
- A common cue is to depress and retract the scapula. Click here if you're confused about what "depress", "retract" and some other words mean.
- Another often suggested cue is to "break the bar" or to try to pull your elbows inward/forward.
- Supinated grip (chin-ups) is easier for most people than pronated grip (pull-up). The difference is mainly the muscular activation in those movements. In a pronated position the biceps can't flex the elbow well and the weaker brachioradialis have to work more.
- When using rings your grip will naturally shift as you go through the movement. That's normal, let it happen!
- Wide grip is generally harder than close grip. With wide grips you use more of your lats and teres major because these are the muscles responsible for adduction, which is what you do more of in a wide grip pull up. Again, both are great.
- Pick whatever grip you want to choose as a goal. You can also go from easier to hard, attaining chin-ups before pull-ups or narrow grip before wide grip.
- Usually in Gymnastic Strength Training pull-ups are done in a hollow position. This helps build up core strength and endurance as well as drill the hollow position. Click here if you're confused about what "hollow" and some other words mean.
- When doing those your legs will naturally come up. That's fine, as long as you're not swinging on purpose.
- Bodybuilding style pull-ups allow the back to arch. This is usually a bit harder as you have more load on the arms and back.
- When doing those let the back arch naturally. Don't purposefully arch the back.
- As with grip, which one you do is up to you. We usually recommend GST style for beginners because it drills the hollow position and teaches you to not arch you back if you move to L-sit pull-ups (which is the progression after pull-ups in the Recommended Routine).
The Workout
P.s: Pick a suitable progression (one where you can work in the recommended rep range) and work from there. Those are all denoted as Sets x Reps, or Sets x Reps x Time when applicable.
Warm-up
Warming up when beginning you sessions is recommended. If you don't know what to do for your warm-ups then see the Recommended Routine's warm-up.
Pull-up Progression
Skip those if you can't do 3x8 horizontal rows yet!
- Pull-up negatives. 3x5 between 5 to 10 seconds.
- Try to do those slower each session.
- Even if you're going for chin-ups first you'll probably have no trouble doing those in a supinated (pull-up) grip.
- Pull-ups (or chin-ups) 3x5-8
- If you can't do many of those yet then you can try "filling" the set up with negatives. For example, doing 3 pull-ups followed by 2 negatives lowering sloowly.
- Achieving you first pull-up is a nice feat! Congratulations!
- After you've mastered pull-ups you can try harder variations, like L-sit pull-ups or weighted pull-ups.
Those will develop the basic strength you will need to start practising pull-ups
- Incline rows 3x5-8
- If you're just starting and need to do those in a near-vertical position then it's fine to use a higher rep range, like 8-12, and reduce to 5-8 as the incline decreases.
- Lower the bar and elevate the feet to make it harder when you hit 3x8.
- Horizontal rows 3x5-8
- When you're able to do 3x8 horizontal rows you can start training negative pull-ups!
- Wide rows 3x5-8
- Keep working on your rows even after starting with pull-ups. Do pull-ups first for greater pull-up gains, though.
Those aren't necessary, but they can be helpful.
- Hanging 2x10-20s
- Those are good if your grip is giving out on you. Can be done passively or actively, depending on your shoulder's situation.
- Scapular Pull-ups 2x5-8
- If you have trouble at the very start of a deadhang pull-up then this can help.
- Isometric holds at top position 2x10-20s
- Try it if you feel at the weakest in the top position of the pull-up. Shown here is a neutral grip, which is fine. Mixed grip also works well for those, but alternate hands accordingly.
Let's begin!
Now it's your turn! At what level are your pull-ups at? How long have you been training? What are your stats? Let us know!
For easier navigation, here goes the links to all the threads:
- Week 1 (you're here!)
- Week 2
- Week 3
- Week 4
- Final Thread
