This might not come as news flash by now, but I’ll go ahead and say it: I love going to the gym. It challenges me, it mentally relaxes me, it gives me energy and it definitely makes me proud and happy once I’ve finished my exercise routine… and once I put on my swimming suit ;)

As you know, I’m working on my 646 challenge – 6 months for a six-pack, however, aside from the abs exercises, I make sure I’m fully training the rest of my body as well. Thus, I’d be regularly training my upper body, my legs, my bottom, etc.

Most of the times, my cross fit and weight lifting schedule with Rick at Vondegym include some sets of pull-ups. But, mind this: I haven’t done pull-ups over night: it’s been 2 and a half years of regularly going to the gym, training, sweating (nobody wants to hear that ;)) and hard working. So, most probably, unless you are some nature-spoiled muscle man , you won’t be able to do a pull-up on your first attempt… mind my words: “a pull-up wasn’t built in a day” 

The evolution of your pull-ups can happen both in terms of quantity and in terms of quality or complexity. The more strength you have the lower you can go before pulling yourself up again. This is what I’ve tried to achieve in my video above – hanging all the way down (or as much as I felt I could) and pulling myself up until my chin was above the bar. I made slight pauses there and then lowered myself down again. I refrained from swinging and kipping – using a forceful initial movement of the legs in order to gain momentum.

So, enough about the theory and let’s see what muscles you should train and what exercises you should start doing in order to be able to do a few pull-ups:

1. Your Lats or, scientifically called, the latissimus dorsi

The lats are the larger, flat, dorso-lateral muscle on the trunk. If you want to train these muscles, you might consider the exercises below:

2. Your Biceps

I don’t think biceps need any description. We all know a thing or two about our biceps… and I’m pretty sure we all love walking around with some mean pack of “guns”  or, in ladies’ cases, some lean and nicely shaped biceps  Below you will find some inspiring exercises to help you work your biceps:

I’m also sharing an exercise to train both your Lats and your biceps:

3. Your grip

Mainly for the ladies, grip exercises are also important, so you might consider some before exercising your pull ups routine.

The coolest part of it all is that you can practice your pull-ups pretty much anywhere. And you can easily do it at the gym or at home. I’ve recently bought one pull up bar to exercise at home as well and I’m loving it!

In conclusion, I don’t expect this article will make you break the jaw dropping pull-ups world record of… 612 pull-ups … done by a… 70 year old Korean guy  But I am sure it can challenge you and might even inspire your training routine. Don’t forget to drop me a line if you liked this article and if you have any questions!

The pull-upper,

Manu

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