Pullups and chinups build the base muscle needed to build your arms, back and shoulders. They help in any sport involving gripping, grappling and pulling, including any type of fighting sport, swimming, sailing and rock climbing. Pullup strength carries over so you can become stronger in exercises using the opposite movements, for example, the military press and bench press. Add the fact that pullups protect your shoulders from injuries and you can understand why exercise experts agree that pullups and chinups are the best strength training exercises for the upper body.
Pullups and Chinups
Pullups force you to lift your own body weight. There are a variety of gripping positions, but two are most popular. Pullups are performed with your palms facing away. They focus more on the back than the biceps, and are very difficult to perform. Chinups are performed with the palms facing toward you. They use more of the biceps muscle and are easier to perform.
Men have approximately 25% more upper body muscle mass than women. A 20-year-old athletic male might be able to do a half-dozen pullups, but a 20-year-old athletic female may be able to perform one or two.
Starting Out
Your hands are your weakest link in the pullup. Use hand strength grippers and also practice hanging from a bar with your hands. There are wrist straps to assist your grip, but try not to use these assisting devices until you have perfected the basic technique. Begin in a dead hang while squeezing the bar. Breathe at the bottom. Lead with your chest up, shoulders back and eyes on the bar. Visualize driving your elbows through the floor; this will engage more of your strong back muscles. Placing your nose or forehead against the bar will pass in the beginning, but a full pullup requires your chin to go over the bar.
Progressions of Pullups
A spotter or chin assistance machine is necessary for novices building pullup strength. Spotters are preferred. On a machine you know it's always there; however, your spotter might decrease the assistance, or even abandon you, forcing you to perform under your own power. The first progression begins in a dead hang with knees bent. Your spotter should support you at the ankle. If more support is needed, you can straighten your legs against the spotter's base. Proceed with this progression until you can perform 12 repetitions with minimal assistance.
The second progression proceeds in the same fashion, but your spotter supports you on only one ankle. Once you can do 12 repetitions with minimal assistance, move on.
In the third and final progression, your spotter will hold you at the waist. As you increase in strength, the spotter may only need to assist you in clearing the bar. Once you can do this in 12 reps, you will be able to perform several unassisted full-range of motion pullups. From there, add reps, and perhaps at some point, add additional loads.
Improve Pullups with Pullups
There are lots of back exercises that bodybuilders may use to sculpt a rear view that looks like a topographical map of the Rocky Mountains. However, to build strength for pullups, do only pullups. They are hard. They hurt to perform. In the beginning, you will fail more times than you succeed to gain another inch of pull. Succeeding in this endeavor puts you in a league of athletes with elite physical prowess.
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