Part 2: Preparing your body
It’s all well and good knowing how to grip the bar, but if you lack in upper-body strength it can be hard to grind out that first elusive pull-up. Fear not as there are a few techniques you can use to gear your body up for all-out pull-up war.
Decide on a grip
For optimal back development it’s important to work the muscles from all angles, using different grips, rep ranges and tempos. But if you’re a beginner or find a single pull-up nigh on impossible, use one grip – whichever you feel strongest with – and stick with it. Let your body learn that movement specifically and complicate things later on by mixing it up.
Frequency
Your body will adapt more quickly if you stimulate if more often. Doing pull-ups once per week won’t bring the gains three sessions will. Train them every other day and early on in your workout, allowing plenty of recovery time between sets.
Preparation stage 1: Hanging
Grip strength is important - especially for those new to the movement. Hanging is a simple way to increase grip strength and prepare connective tissues such as ligaments and muscle fascia. You can’t expect to complete 10 full-range pull ups if you can’t spend the same length of time holding on to a bar.
Technique: Grab the bar and simply hang, letting go just a few seconds before failure. As mentioned in part 1, keep a rigid frame (so that your arms don’t feel like they are being yanked from their sockets) by pulling your shoulder blades directly down, away from your ears. Repeat this exercise four to six times allowing 60 seconds of recovery in between.
Target: One-minute controlled hang.
Preparation stage 2: Scapular pull-up
Excellent for activating the lats and traps, this move can help avoid an over-reliance on the elbow flexors.
Technique: From the hang position, slowly raise yourself an inch or two - without bending your arms. Lean back slightly and direct the top of your chest a towards the bar. The movement is subtle and should be controlled on both the way up and way down, concentrating on the quality of the exercise and correct muscle activation.
Target: Three sets of six reps, with two minutes of recovery in between.
Preparation stage 3: Straight arm plank
Use this to help develop the core strength needed to keep your body tight and controlled during pull-ups.
Technique: Position yourself on the floor at the top of the regular press-up position, with hands placed under the shoulders and legs straight. Keep your abs and glutes locked tight and hold until you feel your form is being compromised.
Target: One minute with good form
Preparation stage 4: Inverted row
This horizontal pull allows you to become familiar with managing more of your weight. Adopt a slightly wider grip for more lat and trap involvement than bicep.
Technique: Lay on your back under a fixed horizontal bar (Smith machines work well) positioned just over an arms-length away. Heels on the floor, body in a straight line, grip the bar, bring your shoulder blades together and pull your chest towards the bar by flexing at the elbow joint. You can increase the difficulty by elevating your feet on a bench.
Target: Three sets of eight with your feet on a bench and two minutes rest in between.
Keep your eyes peeled for The Ultimate Pull-Up Guide: Part 3, which looks at four more techniques to improve your pull-up game.
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