Who Should Do?
Strength And Power Athletes
Strength and power athletes tend to have similar goals. These include building upper-body strength, improving grip, and becoming better at overhead movements.
For powerlifters, having stronger lats and core muscles can help to improve performance in the big three lifts. Thus, pull-ups provide an excellent way to develop better strength when programmed alongside their main movements.
Bodybuilders
As a bodybuilder, your main goal is likely to improve your overall body composition and aesthetics. Pull-ups work a large proportion of your upper-body muscles. This makes them great for developing a wide upper body and great v-taper.
Better strength also allows you to move more weight. This can help to improve the intensity of training and enhance hypertrophy.
Functional Fitness Athletes
As a functional fitness athlete, most of your movements will involve your full body. CrossFitters regularly perform kipping pull-ups during training and competition. Rowers require a large amount of pulling strength over a long period.
In these cases, adding pull-ups into your training routine can help to improve strength and posture. Both of these should be beneficial for performance.
The General Population
One of the great things about pull-ups is that they can be performed by any ability level and regardless of available equipment. If you can’t do a normal pull-up, add a resistance band or use an assisted machine. If you can’t afford a gym membership or don’t have a bar, visit your local park.
Who Should Not Do?
People With Pre-Existing Injuries
If you have a pre-existing injury such as a shoulder impingement or bicep tear, performing pull-ups isn’t a good idea.
In this case, wait for the healing process to finish and consult a medical professional before performing pull-ups. We can apply this general rule to most resistance-based exercises.
People With A Lack Of Grip Strength
If you can’t maintain a strong grip, you likely won’t be able to focus on the right technique cues. Throughout the set, your grip shouldn’t move. Towards the end of the set you may need to readjust as you fatigue but it should be otherwise strong.
In this case, it might be a good idea to work on grip strength performing easier pulling exercises such as inverted rows.
Benefits Of The Pull-Up
Whatever your ability level and workout goals, the pull-up can make an excellent addition to your program. Here are just some of the awesome benefits:
Strengthens Upper Body Muscles
The pull-up is one of the most effective upper body exercises to build strength and power. They mainly involve your lats, traps, biceps, posterior deltoids, and forearms.
Proper pull-ups aren’t easy. Because of the compound movement pattern, they provide an intense stimulus to each of these upper-body muscles.
They are easy to scale and progress depending on your ability level, making them well-suited as a strength-building exercise.
When grasping the bar, your forearms and hands need to maintain a strong grip. Regular pull-ups can help to build grip strength, which can translate well to other lifts.
Improves Functional Movement
To complete a pull-up, your entire body needs to work together. Your lats need to be engaged and your core needs to brace to keep your body from moving.
With this, the pull-up has great carry-over applications into everyday movements and sporting events that also require full-body coordination. Whether you’re trying to climb onto a bunk bed or rock climb on a mountain, pull-ups can help.
Promotes Good Posture
When performing the pull-up, your chest needs to stay up with your head facing forward. Your core needs to brace to stop your body from moving.
Each of these technique cues can help promote good posture when applied to everyday life. This is especially true when sitting at work for long periods or driving a vehicle over long distances.
Accessible And Convenient
One of the best things about performing a pull-up is the ease of access and convenient nature. To start off, all you need is a suitable bar that’s higher than the length of your body. This can be a parking structure, football goal, or the pull-up bar at the top of the power rack.
With little equipment and just your body weight needed to start, the pull-up is accessible for all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pull-ups are a versatile exercise that can be adapted to any ability level. If a beginner already possesses good starting strength, they may be able to do a pull-up. If not, assisted methods can be used.
Before starting the pull-up, ensure you have a firm grip with your arms spaced at the correct width. Brace your core and keep a tight body position. Engage your lats to lift your body.
Pull-ups require you to lift your entire body with just your arms and shoulder muscles. They rely on combined effort between multiple muscle groups.
Resources
Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.
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