Pullups are an effective, if demanding, upper-body exercise. Performed with a underhand grip, this exercise is called a chinup. Pullups and chinups offer similar benefits and can be performed using any sturdy overhead bar or beam. There are also machines that offer assistance so that you can perform this effective exercise using less than your bodyweight. Advanced exercisers often perform pullups and chinups with a weight attached around their waists to make this already challenging exercise even harder.
Building Your Back Muscles
Pullups are primarily considered to be a back muscle-conditioning exercise. The main back muscles involved in pulling yourself up toward an overhead bar are your latissimus dorsi muscles, which are located below your armpits, and your trapezius muscles, located between and below your shoulder blades. If you perform low repetitions using a heavy weight, you will develop strength in these muscles, whereas if you preform higher repetitions, you will improve your muscular endurance. Bodybuilders favor pullups for their ability to increase back muscle size.
Developing Your Arms
Although not the target muscle when performing pullups, your arm muscles, specifically your biceps, get a good workout. Located on the front of your upper arms, your biceps must work very hard to assist your back muscles as you pull your chinup towards and over the bar. In actuality, despite pullups being a back exercise, most people tend to feel this exercise more in their arms. Underhand chinups place an increased demand on your biceps compared to overhand pullups.
Strengthening Your Grip
Whenever you perform pullups or chinups, you must grip the bar with sufficient strength to support your bodyweight. This requires strong forearm muscles. Initially, you may find that your grip is the weak link in your ability to perform pullups, but with practice, your gripping muscles will get stronger and become better able to support your bodyweight.
Once your hands are sufficiently strong, you can perform towel pullups. Loop a small towel over each end of your pullup bar and grasp the ends. Grip the towels as tightly as you can and perform pullups as normal. Gripping the towel will increase your hand strength more than using a standard bar. This is a popular pullup variation used by climbers and wrestlers.
Conditioning Your Core
Core is the term used to collectively describe your abdominal, waist and lower-back muscles. These muscles are very active when you perform pullups and have to work hard to support your spine. If you do not use your core muscles effectively, you will find that you swing back and forth on the bar as you attempt to perform your pullups. You can make this exercise more core-centric by flexing your hips and raising your bent legs to the front, or, if you want a more advanced core workout, lifting your straight legs to the front and maintaining a piked position. This variation is called an L-pullup.
References
- "Anatomy of Exercise: A Trainer's Inside Guide to Your Workout"; Pat Manocchia; 2009
- "Weight Training For Dummies"; Liz Neporent, et al.; 2006
- "Strength Training Anatomy"; Frederic Delavier; 2010
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