Somehow, the idea of moving your own body through space can be more intimidating than the thought of muscling a stack of weights around. This makes pull-ups just as mentally daunting as they are physically challenging. In spite of that, this classic exercise's many benefits make it worth including in your exercise routine, whether you're bodybuilding or just working out for fitness.
Muscles Worked
Although your latissimus dorsi are the primary movers behind every pull-up, the exercise also works your other back and arm muscles. They even give your chest a minor workout, too. Expect to feel the strain in your brachialis, brachioradialis, biceps, teres major, rhomboids, levator scapulae, lower trapezius and pectoralis major and minor. Pull-ups also build grip strength and challenge your abs to keep your body stable throughout the motion.
Posture
Because pull-ups work your rhomboids and lower trapezius---both muscles are responsible for shifting your shoulder blades down and back into "good posture" position---they can help correct the muscular laxity that's so common if you have the classic slumped-forward posture that comes from working at a computer or a desk.
Muscular Balance
Muscles are paired in push-pull, or agonist and antagonist, sets at every joint. Your pecs or chest muscles are responsible for pushing motions that involve the shoulder. Any of several back muscles, primarily the trapezius and lats, may oppose the chest for pulling motions. Developing your lats through such exercises as pull-ups helps counter the over-developed or overly tight chest muscles that develop when you do a lot of pushing, but little pulling, in your everyday or work activities.
Inexpensive
You don't have to join a gym to do pull-ups. You can purchase an inexpensive pull-up bar for use at home or even use the monkey bars in park or playground equipment to do pull-ups for free. Most outdoor fitness stations also provide pull-up bars for anyone to use.
Appearance
Consistently doing pull-ups helps build a V-shaped torso, the sign of a well-developed latissimus dorsi muscle. You can alter your pull-up grip to help shape how your lats develop. Standard-grip pull-ups, with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, will work the outer parts of your lats, while a very wide grip works the upper and inner muscle fibers.
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