Going to the Bar

One of the most difficult movements you will be asked to do in a gym is the dreaded pull-up. As a trainer I have seen almost every possible variety of pull-up performed in a gym. Some were beautiful to watch and others, well, beautiful would not be the word used to describe them. You could always tell someone who used pull-ups in their fitness routine by the size of their back and arms. The ideal physique has always been described as a V shape, where the shoulders are wide and the waist is small, and the taper from the shoulders to the waist forms an impressive V. Pull-ups contribute more to that illusion than any other exercise.

So how do you do a pull-up? First, let’s talk about the different variations of a pull-up: You have heard them often described as chin-ups. These, technically, are a pull-up with the palms facing the individual. A traditional pull-up is with the palms facing away from the body. Then there are wide-grip, narrow-grip, mixed-grip, strict, kipping and butterfly pull-ups. They all work to build your strength, so don’t mind the negative attitudes toward certain kinds of pull-ups.

Maybe you are ready to try a pull-up. Can you do one? Jump up, grab the bar, hang still below the bar and attempt to pull your chin over the bar. If you can, great. Your goal is now to do sets of as many as you can. I would vary the width of your grip to challenge yourself in different ways. If you cannot do one, which is the case with most people who make that attempt, then where do you start to be able to do one someday soon?

Most commercial gyms have assisted pull-up machines, where you kneel or stand on a pad, place a pin in a stack of weights, and let the weights help offset your body weight to help you pull yourself up. If one is available, great. A caution though: don’t use too much assistance/weight or it will slow your progress. If an assisted machine is not available to you, no worries; there is always a way.

Pulldown machines are also very common, and they will help you build the strength to perform a pull-up. It will take longer though, as the motion is not a great representation of an actual pull-up. On this apparatus, you sit on a seat, lock another pad over your knees, grab the bar hanging over head and pull it down to your collarbone or clavicle. Since you can set the weight you are pulling to a much smaller number than your body weight, this is a great place to start for someone who is a long way from getting a pull-up. I have used this machine many, many times over the years and I like the strength result. The idea is to use more and more weight over time; that is the only way to get stronger. If you work on either assisted pull-ups, or pulldowns, make sure you keep getting up on a pull-up bar and attempt them. Once you get a few, keep after it until you can do a few sets of a few. That time will come.

If you don’t have access to assisted pull-up or pulldown machines, and you only can get to a pull-up bar, don’t worry; here are a couple tips:

1. If the bar’s height is adjustable, lower it to 6 inches above your head. Grab the bar, jump up so your chin is above the bar, and lower slowly. Working the down, or negative, will build more strength than trying and failing to pull up. I would work these “jumping pull-ups” in sets of 5. Do 3-5 sets.

2. Lower the bar to between shoulder and waist height, stand under the bar, and lean back with a straight body. You will be at an angle, keeping your body straight, like during a push-up. Pull yourself up to the bar. I would work this for the same number of reps and sets. If you can’t lower your bar, you can get a set of handles that attaches to the bar and will hang down so you can do this same movement pulling up to the height of the handles that you hold on to; this is known as a ring row.

Keep with these tips to get started on learning the pull-up. They are a challenging movement and one of the best to build good upper body strength. If you work out for looks, and not necessarily for strength, the pull-up is one exercise that will give you a very nice aesthetic shape.