Many fitness trainers consider pull-ups to be one of the most difficult exercises to perform by people beginning exercise programs. To do a pull-up, grab a sturdy, well-supported horizontal bar that is above your head with your palms facing away from you. Let your body hang, then try to pull your chin up above the level of the bar by using nothing but your arms. Drop down to the starting position and repeat until you are fatigued. Variations include using a chair to rest the legs or holding the hands very wide apart on the bar, among others. Pull-ups will strenuously work the arms, shoulder and back muscles and provide benefits to your overall fitness.
Muscular Strength and Development
The main benefit of doing pull-ups is the development of strength and muscles in the arms, shoulders and back. The muscles affected include the biceps, triceps, latissimus dorsi, deltoids and trapezius. Fitness expert Matt Furey says pull-ups also help to condition and develop the abdominal muscles. During pull-ups, you use your core muscles to provide the stabilization required to perform the pull-up. Another benefit is that pull-ups do not require any expensive exercise equipment. They can easily be done on monkey bars in playgrounds or with affordable pull-up bars that hang over a door frame.
Relative Strength Increase
According to Nathan Cragg with Red White and Blue Fitness, being able to do pull-ups or chins-ups means you will probably have better performance in other athletic endeavors such as running. Because pull-ups are one of the most difficult upper-body exercises to do, building up the strength to do them well means improvements in the rest of the muscles and overall performance. The ratio between your body weight and the amount of weight you can move is called relative strength; the greater your relative strength, the better you can perform athletically. Doing pull-ups will increase your relative strength and help you perform better in other areas.
Muscular Endurance
Resistance training exercises such as pull-ups have repercussions beyond the athletic field or body aesthetics. They also improve muscular endurance. Utah State University explains that “muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle to sustain or repeat contractions before becoming fatigued.” Muscular endurance translates into increased stamina for performing daily activities. Pull-ups therefore increase the ability to perform physical work thanks to the increase in muscular endurance.
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