If squats are the foundation for your lower body, pull-ups are the foundation for upper body strength and fitness. Don't neglect these. If you pair these with push-ups, squats, and good mornings; then you have the makings of a great fitness program.
How to do a pull-up
Grasp the bar with both hands in your fingers rather than your palms (this will help you avoid painful callus tearing). You can wrap your thumbs around the bar or use a thumb-less grip like you are holding onto the top of a wall. (Note: hand away from you is called a pull-up, hands towards you is called a chin-up, hands opposite each other is called a mixed-grip pull-up.
Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Keep your shoulder blades pulled in so that your shoulders are flexed and bearing the weight of your body rather than your joints.
Look slightly up and pull like you want your elbows to touch your hips so that your chest touches the bar.
Lower yourself down.
That's one rep.
Progressing to pull-ups
You might be able to start with one rep. But there are better ways to start. You can start by doing body rows underneath a table, on a barbell in a power rack, or with a walker to develop your back strength. Choose a height that allows you to do 8-12 and do three sets of those twice a week for a couple of weeks and lower yourself down to make it more difficult. Once you can do 12 rows with your body near horizontal, then you can try pull-ups.
Another way to progress is to buy a resistance band or Pull-Up Revolution that assists you in doing pull-ups. Pick a level that allows you to do 8-12 and gradually decrease the help until you can do 8-12 without assistance.
Pull-up challenges
10 Pull-ups
20 Pull-ups
1-10-1 Pull-up ladder
5 towel-grip Pull-ups
Note: Sometimes you will hear about kipping Pull-ups, a kind of pull-up that uses swinging momentum to work on power and increased reps. Until you can do 10-12 dead-hang Pull-ups, save kips for later.
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