Pullups are often used as a measure of upper body strength. Young schoolchildren are asked to perform pullups as part of the President's Challenge physical fitness testing. This exercise uses your arms and back as you hang from a bar and then pull the weight of your body up to the bar. Anytime you grip something in your hands, your forearms are activated.
Forearms
The muscles in your forearms are not large muscles like your back or your glutes. Even though you develop strength in the forearms when performing a pullup, the size of your forearms will be limited by the size of the muscle fibers. Your wrists, hands and fingers contain more than 30 muscles that work together to flex and extend your wrist. These muscles are not large in size, but you will see size increases from performing pullups.
Pullups
Pullups are performed when you grasp a bar with your palms facing away from body. Your hands are placed slightly wider than shoulder-distance apart. You begin by hanging from the bar and then bending your elbows to bring your chest toward the bar. The main muscle mover in this exercise is your back, but you are also contracting your forearms to maintain your grip on the bar.
Chinups
Chinups are another type of pullup. In a chinup your palms face away from your body and your hands are closer than shoulder-distance apart. As you bend your elbows to raise your chin over the bar, you use more of the muscles in the top of the arm than when performing a pullup. Your forearms are necessary for any pulling motions or when the weight of the body is supported by the hands.
Hanging
It may be a lack of strength in the forearms that prevents you from accomplishing pullups. Your forearms are used to support your body from a hanging position and to keep your hands grasping the bar. One way to develop forearm strength for a pullup is to hang from a bar until you fatigue the forearm muscles. As your forearm strength improves, your pullups will improve and vice versa.
References
- The American Council on Exercise: Pull-Ups
- "Manual of Structural Kinesiology"; Clem W. Thompson, Ph.D.; 1989
- Muscle Fitness Training: Forearm Exercises
- The President's Challenge: Physical Fitness Test
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