If squats exercise is considered the King of Leg Exercises, then Pull-ups Exercise is the Queen of Upper Body Exercises, and please don’t take the word Queen lightly.
For most individuals pull-ups are not as easy to perform as the other back exercises; however, they are worth the time and effort to practice, and more practice must be done until this basic but effective upper body muscle builder exercise is mastered.
So what do I mean by mastering this upper body exercise? Here are some general guidelines…
1- Many health organizations, educational departments, and military sectors around the world require performing pull-ups or chin-ups exercises anywhere between 8-16 repetitions.
This is a physical test standard to measure your upper body strength. So being able to perform the above repetitions range is something you should pursue.
2-Mastering chin ups and its variations means performing with strict form (see the pull ups exercise instructions).
If you can do only one repetition don’t feel down and give up, but keep at it until you perform two repetitions and so on.
Please see the upper body strength for women and how to get over the hump of this excellent overall upper body exercise.
Why Pull ups Are Difficult To Do?
For several reasons pull-ups and its variations are more challenging than the cable pull-downs exercise and here are some:
- lifting your bodyweight upward in the air toward the bar makes your stabilizer muscles work harder while swinging your body back and forth.
Sitting or even standing while performing the pull-downs exercise determines you are stable and you are not going anywhere while pulling the bar towards you.
Our stabilizer muscles rarely do enough work to make them strong because of our lifestyles, therefore, working out and performing pull-ups exercise and asking your stabilizer muscles to be up to the task is not going to happen immediately
Many people when performing cable pull-downs cheat by leaning the upper body backwards for a quick thrust; that way the weight becomes easier to pull down.
If you work out in a gym, next time notice how they rock their upper bodies backward and forward like a happy child using a swing for the first time!
People also cheat while performing pull ups and chin ups, however, it makes it even harder when you start swinging in the air in all directions. And part of it is because you can’t create the same momentum when performing the cable pull-downs.
Pull-ups Exercise
• Hold the bar with palms facing away (forward) with a grip width from the shoulder a width apart and even wider.
The pull up exercise -hands facing out-
- Keep your arms and torso in a vertical position (perpendicular to the ground) as much as possible
- Lift your body as high as you can (chin higher than bar is the goal)
• And then stretch all the way down (arms in fully extended position) before you lift yourself up again to perform as many reps as you can.
I know many people won’t be able to perform the pull-ups exercise for now and that's okay, so here are other routes to take:
First try performing a chin up exercise where your hands are facing in.
Mixed grip,
The in-line grip and see which one is less challenging
Or
If you have the choice to use the assistant pull-up machine that’s a good start, but it will never be the same as performing free bodyweight pull ups and chin ups. So, make sure that you progress eventually to the free bodyweight pull ups.