One of the most underestimated exercises for building a strong back is the pull up or chin up and why? Because truth be told it’s not easy pulling your body from a hanging position all the way up in a straight line which almost every time leads people to believe its ineffective… well they would be wrong…. very wrong.
Pull ups and chin ups are one of if not the most basic, versatile and important exercises you can do when it comes to back training but go unused in most gyms as it’s not seen as an ego boosting exercise, like a squat bench or deadlift. (don’t get me started on what I see people doing with those exercises in gyms …. that’s a whole other article)
Now most would assume that pulling your body weight up in a straight line would be an easy task to achieve based off the fact its only you involved in the movement and yes if you take a running jump off a box and pull with every sinew in your body swinging your legs and grunting like a blindfolded pig in a pen it probably is but my guess is you'll get laughed out the gym and make zero gains.
To be able to perform a very basic but effective exercise like a pull up you need to understand the movement pattern joints used and muscle groups you are trying to target.
A pull up starts from a controlled hanging position with your hands over the bar hand width and position can vary but will always end with your chin or chest at bar level.
Performing such a movement will mean having to use several different muscle groups across different parts of the body making it a multi joint movement (using more than one joint to perform the movement and in doing so engaging several muscle groups at the same time as shown in the diagram)
So now begs the question. how do I perform such a basic, versatile and important exercise?
Well it’s straight forward practice, practice and practice, now granted it can be quite demotivating trying to do an exercise of this nature and realising you can’t even move an inch but the first time you got taught how to count to 10 I'm sure you struggled with that but look at you now.
The amazing thing with this exercise is that there are regressions and progressions (ways to make it easier and ways to make it harder) in training your body to be able to make this movement possible.
Assisted Pull up machines.
Most gyms will have an assisted pull up machine and although I'm not a fan of them what they are very good at doing is making your body adapt to the way it feels to engage and pull your body weight upwards. Another plus from using the assisted pull machine is that you can adjust the weight to increase or decrease the amount of tension on the pad which in turn will allow you to pull up your body weight without the machine assisting.
Resistance bands ( progression)
A very good way to perform a chin up on a free-standing bar but allowing you to build your confidence in moving away from an assisted machine.
Resistance bands are a sure way of getting you under the bar in the correct position but taking the tension out of the eccentric part of the movement (the movement back down)
Lat pull down machine ( progression )
Now all though this is an isolation exercise (targeting specific muscles) this exercise is a great way to teach the body how to engage your back muscles before during and after the movement. Lat pull downs are a sure way to increase size and strength in the back and with the movement of the bar making the same movement pattern as a chin up will go a long way to help improve your unassisted pull ups.
Pull ups (progression)
The big daddy move. when the body is strong enough it really is as simple as pulling yourself up. Once the correct form and strength has been attained this exercise is without doubt one of the best ways to build a big strong back without using any heavy duty equipment. You will also have so much variety in hand grips ( wide, neutral, narrow, side grips, underhand, towels, belts the list is endless. As well as grips is the option to add weight to the movement making it harder to initiate the starting phase. All in all this is an exercise that will reap big rewards if you spend the time learning how to perform it correctly.
When it comes to pull ups the best way to learn is to jump in the deep end and just perform the movement no matter your level or choice of starting exercise but to assist in the build up of one day being able to perform these anyway you want incorporating a solid training routine that involves the major muscles across the the whole of your body will increase total body strength making a challenging exercise such as the pull up a little less challenging and more of a tool for better gains.
#makeithappen
