It's no secret that the pull up is one of the most powerful tools in your strength, back and grip development arsenal. If this is the case, then why can most people only do one, and most likely with a lot of strain? Why do most people avoid pull ups like the plague even though they know the benefits? Most trainees don't do pull ups because they are hard! If you are looking to gain strength, the question is not IF you should include pull ups in your training, but HOW MANY.
Performing strength exercises are like investing your money. You want to make your money work for you and the same goes for your workouts. You want an exercise that gives you the most bang for your buck. Why pick an exercise that only hits your upper back when a pull up hits everything. It works your grip and hand strength. Just hanging on the bar can do that. It works your arms and shoulders and of course it works your entire back. Not to mention the ab work from keeping your core from swaying.
So what if you can't even do one pull up? No problem! The great thing about doing an exercise that is extremely difficult for you is that there is tons of room for constant improvement. One of the best ways to get off the ground with a new exercise is called Greasing the Groove.
Pavel Tsatsouline, the Russian kettlebell instructor, teaches the Grease the Groove technique to rapidly increase your performance in any exercise. The concept is simple, throughout a long time period, say eight hours, you do as many pull ups as possible by doing numerous sets. So every time you pass the pull up bar throughout a day you do as many reps as you can without going to failure. By the end of the day, you'll have done at least 10 or more pull ups. That's Greasing the Groove.
You might say, that looks good in theory, but what if I don't have access to a pull up bar. The answer is to grease the groove during your workout. Let's assume that you are at the gym for about an hour. During that hour in between sets of other exercises, go to the pull up bar and just do a few pull ups, not to failure. Perform pull ups every 5 minutes or so. As the hour passes, you'll have done about 10-15 pull ups. So, start working on your pull ups and you'll be reaping the benefits of having a powerful upper body, ridiculous grip strength, and the impressive ability to lift yourself over and over in no time.
If you're looking to really get into training with pull ups, I recommend the Tactical Athlete Pull Up System produced and sold by TacticalAthlete.com. This solid piece of equipment can be used for pull ups and a variety of other methods of training, such as ring training.
What's great about the Tactical Athlete Pull up System (TAPS) is that it allows me to perform dead hang pull ups with my legs fully extended because the height is adjustable. One might be afraid of the stability of it since it's free-standing, but I have been able to perform weighted pull ups and hang rings off of it as well with absolutely no problem. Best of all is that since it is military grade, the thing can take a beating. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces of equipment. - 16463
Performing strength exercises are like investing your money. You want to make your money work for you and the same goes for your workouts. You want an exercise that gives you the most bang for your buck. Why pick an exercise that only hits your upper back when a pull up hits everything. It works your grip and hand strength. Just hanging on the bar can do that. It works your arms and shoulders and of course it works your entire back. Not to mention the ab work from keeping your core from swaying.
So what if you can't even do one pull up? No problem! The great thing about doing an exercise that is extremely difficult for you is that there is tons of room for constant improvement. One of the best ways to get off the ground with a new exercise is called Greasing the Groove.
Pavel Tsatsouline, the Russian kettlebell instructor, teaches the Grease the Groove technique to rapidly increase your performance in any exercise. The concept is simple, throughout a long time period, say eight hours, you do as many pull ups as possible by doing numerous sets. So every time you pass the pull up bar throughout a day you do as many reps as you can without going to failure. By the end of the day, you'll have done at least 10 or more pull ups. That's Greasing the Groove.
You might say, that looks good in theory, but what if I don't have access to a pull up bar. The answer is to grease the groove during your workout. Let's assume that you are at the gym for about an hour. During that hour in between sets of other exercises, go to the pull up bar and just do a few pull ups, not to failure. Perform pull ups every 5 minutes or so. As the hour passes, you'll have done about 10-15 pull ups. So, start working on your pull ups and you'll be reaping the benefits of having a powerful upper body, ridiculous grip strength, and the impressive ability to lift yourself over and over in no time.
If you're looking to really get into training with pull ups, I recommend the Tactical Athlete Pull Up System produced and sold by TacticalAthlete.com. This solid piece of equipment can be used for pull ups and a variety of other methods of training, such as ring training.
What's great about the Tactical Athlete Pull up System (TAPS) is that it allows me to perform dead hang pull ups with my legs fully extended because the height is adjustable. One might be afraid of the stability of it since it's free-standing, but I have been able to perform weighted pull ups and hang rings off of it as well with absolutely no problem. Best of all is that since it is military grade, the thing can take a beating. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces of equipment. - 16463
About the Author:
About the Author: Marcus Martinez can help you achieve your fitness goals. For fat loss information and tips for kettlebells visit his free exercise database.
