The Perfect Pull Up

Article by Chris

There isn’t much that works quite as well as the basics. If you’re here, you probably aren’t wondering, “What is a pull up,” but you may not know how to do one the right way, not many people do. The pull up is one of those basic workouts and can be a great part of any upper back, bicep, and abdominal routine, but here are a couple things you need to be wary of when you are considering adding the chin up into your workout routine:

1- Technique is key to the perfect pull up, work at it and don’t get sloppy2- The heavier you are the harder it will be, keep at it don’t get discouraged3- Hit the muscles you want to hit with different variations,don’t slack but don’t over do it

1- Doing sloppy pull ups won’t help you build muscle like controlled ones with good technique, it could even do harm to your body. This exercise, more then most, necessitates proper form to attain top results. Your body naturally wants to cheat by adding a swinging movement into the exercise but that movement makes the pull up a lot easier to do. It takes practice, but the following video is a good step towards understanding what a chin up is, and more specifically, understanding what a perfect pull up is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOrCzci0E2I

2- One of the reasons pull ups are a great add-on to a workout for even the most fit workout enthusiast is because your own weight is used against you. It’s very likely if you are lighter, you won’t be able to lift as much, and if you are heavier you are more likely to be able to lift heavier (as long as the weight doesn’t come solely from fat). If you need to add some pounds because your own body weight isn’t enough to make it a good workout (keeping good form!), then you can do that multiple different ways. This video will show you the right way to do this type of chin up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q1OsZglkeI

If you don’t have a belt like the one used in the video then a good way to do it is to put a free weight or dumbbell at your feet under the bar. hold onto the bar, and lift yourself just high enough to grab the weight with your feet. Hold the weight with your feet until you are done with your set and then let yourself down carefully so you don’t twist an ankle on the weight. You should start with lower weight on this because this exercise can easily hurt you if you do too much.

3- The muscles that you work out when you do chin ups can vary depending on how you do it. For example, you can focus upper or lower back by widening or shortening your hold on the bar, or you can also lift your body up to different sides in sequence to change the workout. I touch more on these at my website below.

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