home Audience 5 What type of pull-ups on the horizontal bar should you choose? Types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar with different grips. Pull-up program

What type of pull-ups on the horizontal bar should you choose? Types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar with different grips. Pull-up program

In this article we will talk about one of the most difficult exercises, from a technical point of view, I will talk about pull-ups.

This exercise is very controversial, but in essence very simple. Pull-up is work or struggle against your own weight and the force of gravity of the earth. It can also be made more difficult by hanging additional weight from the body.

I’ll say right away that this exercise is not suitable for everyone, and it may be worth paying attention to alternative options. No matter how much you would like to pull yourself up to the bar, there are times when, due to anatomical, physiological, or maybe biomechanical reasons, this exercise may simply be too much for you to do. Pull-ups can be learned and you will do pull-ups, but it will not always be exactly the exercise that you need and that will give the desired result.

There are many types of this exercise, using different machines and different grips. But it is worth distinguishing between only two types of pull-ups:

Military pull-ups - the main goal is to throw your chin over the bar. They usually look terrible, like convulsions. In essence, this is work on the crossbar aimed at the maximum number of repetitions.
Pull-ups for training and working out the back muscles

There is a huge gap between these two types of pull-ups. In the sense that pulling up by quantity means neglecting the correct technique of performing the exercise. Military pull-ups or counting pull-ups are not technically compatible with back exercises. In them, the main work is performed by neuromuscular innervation, wave-like contraction of muscles on the body in order to give a force impulse, and inertial movements. This technique involves training the latissimus dorsi muscles and does not have trapezius muscles. They get involved in the work, but they don’t train as we need, that is, to develop these muscle groups.

Limiting factors when doing pull-ups

For many, banal things are contraindications to pull-ups:

1. Excess weight

Excess weight is a limitation in doing pull-ups, especially for people who have never done pull-ups and decided to learn. If your body fat percentage is more than 20% and you cannot do pull-ups normally, then you should avoid the horizontal bar until you lose excess fat weight. This is caused by the strength balance between body weight and the strength capabilities of the muscles of the back and arms. In this exercise, the body is also the weight. I think you have noticed more than once that thin people can often do 10 pull-ups without preparation. It’s simple, the heavier a person becomes, the more difficult it is for him to do pull-ups. Excess weight is a burden. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said: “Fat doesn’t stretch.” I do not recommend training on the horizontal bar with excess weight, if only because there is a risk of damaging the shoulder joints, which are not yet ready for such loads.

2. Physiology and anatomy

Another determining factor whether you are able to do a technically perfect pull-up or not is your anatomy, your biomechanics (roughly speaking, the location of the shoulder joints relative to the chest), the convexity or depression of the chest, which directly depends on the condition of your back. That is, pull-ups are affected by the condition of the spine. If you have not taken care of your posture since childhood and have even become a little hunchbacked, then this imposes a limitation on the range of movement and contraction of the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles. This hump at the back will no longer allow the chest to expand normally, because it is already quite rigid. In this case, the pull-ups can only be partially correct.

3. Mobility of the shoulder joint

Shoulder mobility plays an important role in pull-ups. But if there are problems with mobility, then they can be corrected.

4. Capable of independently learning pull-ups

The ability to help yourself in learning pull-ups plays a role. That is, a person weighing 60 kg can independently learn to do pull-ups on a horizontal bar, according to the diagram below. But a person weighing 80 kg or more already needs the help of a partner. I will tell you below how to properly assist with pull-ups.

How to learn to do pull-ups

To learn how to do pull-ups, you first need to lose weight, that is, lose excess weight to make the task easier for our muscles.

How should you learn to do pull-ups? We just take it and start doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar (if we don’t have excess weight). There is no need to chase results, there is no need to try to create quantity - do quality.

The simplest program to learn how to do pull-ups on the bar

Approach the horizontal bar and try to do one pull-up with perfect technique and sit down to rest. Then again once with the correct technique and this can be done ad infinitum. And you can do this for 10-20-30 approaches until your arms start to get tired. And over time, you will be able to do 2 times in a set, then 3, and so you can learn to do pull-ups.

How to properly help your partner learn to do pull-ups

When you weigh 80 kg or more, you need help or use a gravitron, a weight-bearing simulator that helps us partially reduce body weight, it pushes us up and helps us pull ourselves up. But if it's not there.

The easiest way is to hire an assistant. You can often see in the hall when an assistant tries to help a person pull himself up and begins to push the one who is studying in the back. And this is a grave mistake.

Why can’t you help pull yourself up by leaning on your back?

When you push into the back of someone who is doing a pull-up, you confuse their nervous system. When the person has already prepared, tensed his muscles and began to pull the horizontal bar towards him, you begin to push him in the back. At this moment, the brain automatically removes part of the impulse from the back, that is, it begins to work less intensely. Because external interference begins, which should not exist. Roughly speaking, we are distracted from the exercise, although we do not want this. The legs are not used during pull-ups, and so they can be used to help pull yourself up to the bar.

What muscles work when doing a pull-up?

Only the upper part of the body, the torso, is active in pulling up. During pull-ups, only the muscles of the upper body work:

Back
Pectoral muscles
Shoulders

The legs do not work in this exercise, and you step like weights that pull us down.

Correct pull-up technique for working your back muscles

Pull-ups are the same vertical row, but here it’s not the handle that comes towards us, but we pull ourselves up to the horizontal bar. And the basic rule is that the load vector must pass through the chest. Not along, but through the chest. How to achieve this?

A mental principle can help you. Someone mentally reaches for the horizontal bar, that is, tries to pull their body towards the crossbar, while someone mentally pulls the horizontal bar towards themselves. If you imagine, hanging on the horizontal bar, these two moments in turn, then you will notice a difference in the actual mood for pulling up. This method helps to set up the correct motivation of the nervous system to perform the exercise. Therefore, you need to choose your own way of imagining what exactly you are doing, pulling yourself up to the horizontal bar or pulling the horizontal bar towards you.

Head position in pull-ups

In order for the back and arms to receive the maximum possible neuromuscular impulse, all unused muscles must be disconnected from the efforts of the nervous system. The position of the head in this exercise depends on the condition of the neck. When doing pull-ups, you need to relax your neck as much as possible so that your head leans back. You should not look at the horizontal bar while doing pull-ups. And you need to throw your head back and look at the ceiling.

Leg position for pull-ups

You don’t need to move your legs forward or keep them straight. The legs need to be bent at the knees back and crossed to create a rigid structure.

When we pull ourselves up, we do not pull our chin toward the horizontal bar, but rather pull our chest toward the horizontal bar or pull the horizontal bar toward our chest (it all depends on which imaginative option you have chosen for yourself). During pull-ups, you need to protrude your chest as much as possible in the direction of the horizontal bar (this is very important).

The perfect pull-up is not at all like the usual pulling of the chin over the bar.

Perfect Pull-Ups should look like a vertical pull in the block. You should eventually bring the bar to the lower or upper part of the pectoral muscles. It all depends on the grip you choose: reverse or forward grip. That is, you need to try to pull the thoracic part of the body towards the horizontal bar, and the rest of the body should just hang.

What to do if it never works out well?

We use a strength method called “rest-pause,” which will help increase your own strength resources even between approaches within the same workout.

We do one pull-up, even with an assistant, and rest while standing on the floor, not hanging, for 10 seconds. Then we hang on the horizontal bar again, pull ourselves up once again with the help of an assistant, and rest again. And thus we do 6-8 repetitions. Several cycles of such pull-ups over 1-2 months and you will be able to do pull-ups on your own. Just keep in mind that this is possible if your weight is normal and there is no excess fat mass, that is, no more than 15%. Then this will guarantee you results, and if you have a lot of fat, then you need to lose weight.

Grip

Let's start with the fact that people with naturally large biceps and a narrow back should not do pull-ups with a reverse or parallel narrow grip. Because such a person will still not load his back, and his body weight will be pulled by his biceps. Therefore, a person gifted with large arms and a depressed back needs to pull himself up with a wide overhand grip.

If everything seems to be fine with your back, but your arms are lagging behind, then you need to use the opposite strategy. To learn how to pull yourself up effectively, you need to use your hands to help your back. This way the arms can develop together with the back, in a balanced way. There is no risk that the arms will take the entire load on themselves and will not allow the back to work, because such a person’s arms are genetically weak.

Interesting to know: pull-ups are one of the best exercises for training your biceps. As proof, look at the gymnasts who perform on the rings and uneven bars, these guys just have colossal arms.

Pull-ups with weights

When you have already learned and it becomes a question of making this exercise heavier, you can use additional weight. When doing pull-ups with weights, it is better to hang the weight from behind, so that the weight does not throw off your balance. When using the correct pull-up technique (where the chest is pulled up to the bar, not the chin), the weight suspended in front will greatly interfere. He will put pressure on his legs and try to twist his body into a vertical position. Therefore, it is better to hang weights for pull-ups from behind, so it will hang parallel to your legs and will not interfere with your workout.

Some nuances in pull-ups

When you use a pull-down block to learn how to do a pull-up, you need to work it up to a working weight that equals 80-90% of your body weight. This will lay a good foundation so that you can begin to improve later.

The more an athlete weighs, the more pull-ups shift towards strength exercises. Some may think that an athlete with more muscles should do more pull-ups. But the entire mass of his body is made up not only of muscle groups that take part in pull-ups. And also muscles that act as ballast that needs to be pulled along. Because as body weight increases, the balance in strength potential changes. And the heavier we get, the more powerful pull-ups become for our back. And at some point, this exercise for the athlete goes beyond the category of training with his own weight, because his own weight is already too heavy for this exercise. Because of this excess weight, too many fast fibers begin to be activated and the muscles begin to become very acidic. In such conditions it is very difficult to develop strength endurance. And when the weight exceeds 100 kg, it becomes difficult for a person to pull himself up even more than 10 repetitions. If you chase the number of pull-ups with a large weight, you can injure the shoulder joints and you can say goodbye to pull-ups for a couple of months.

Conclusion: when you already weigh more than 100 kg, you won’t be able to use pull-ups in the pump period, when you need to pump up, when the number of repetitions in the approach went beyond 12-15. That is, pull-ups are best used during strength training.

Another important point in pull-ups

When doing pull-ups, many athletes suffer from shoulder joints that begin to ache and ache. To avoid this, you cannot allow the arms to be pulled out of the shoulder joint at the lowest point (when hanging on the horizontal bar) of the humerus. You cannot let go of your hand from the shoulder joint, that is, your shoulders must be rigid, even at the lowest point. You can relax your pectoral muscles and stretch. Stretching the shoulder joint at the lowest point of amplitude will lead to only one effect - a chronic injury, at least a sprain. Which will then lead to loss of joints and discomfort in other exercises.

As practice shows, pulling up is a very simple exercise, which is still not so easy to perform. And this is more good than bad: if you are not able to perform a single pull-up, there is no need to worry, there are a lot of people like you.

Of course, it will take some time to make progress, but if you have a clear plan of action, very soon you will be able to perform set after set on the bar, instead of stupidly hanging on the pull-up bar and trying in vain to do at least one pull-up.

(and you need to!) see detailed instructions on how to do pull-ups correctly. True, the text is poorly designed, but Zozhnik undertakes to make everything beautiful.

Pull-ups are proof of your strength

Before moving on to practice (and improving the technique), let's take a better look at what this exercise, familiar to everyone from childhood, is. The first thing we need to ask is why are we so obsessed with these stupid pull-ups and constantly harp on the importance of this exercise? Why not forget about the bar and concentrate on, say, push-ups?

The difference between these two basic exercises is not that they use different muscle groups - in fact, both push-ups and pull-ups work the same muscles (mainly the upper back muscles, chest, shoulders and biceps), but that how they load these same muscles. In short, push-ups build strength (the ability to lift more weight), while pull-ups build stability and balance (the ability to perform specific movements in a given plane).

And in general, working with a vertical block is much less fun than learning to perform various “tricks” on the horizontal bar (a person who spends a lot of time on the horizontal bar will have nothing to fear if he suddenly finds himself hanging on the edge of a ledge). The research revealed that there is no clear analogy between pull-ups and vertical block rows, so they cannot serve as a replacement for each other during training.

Simply put, there is a difference between lifting weights on a machine (like doing an upright row) and lifting your own weight on a bar (like doing pull-ups). The fact is that muscles and the movements performed with their help are closely related. When the brain sends signals, the central nervous system and muscles begin to work. As a result, we have the following result: the muscles contract, energy is generated and movement occurs.

If we talk specifically about strength training, the effect of training can be achieved in two ways: through exercises with closed and open kinetic chains. Machine enthusiasts tend to work with a vertical pulley to the chest (open kinetic chain), moving an object towards and away from the body. In this case, the exercise involves only one joint and one muscle group. People who are trying to perfect their pull-up technique try to use a closed kinetic chain, moving their body to and from a stationary bar. This type of movement involves various joints and muscle groups.

It must be emphasized that both methods have a right to exist. Any exercise is good (only the lack of it is bad). However, depending on your goals, some exercises will be more beneficial than others. In most cases, closed-chain exercises such as pull-ups are the winner. And this is confirmed by scientific research. When scientists recruited two groups of adult athletes, one focusing on closed-chain exercises and the other on open-chain exercises, the people who did the closed-chain exercises performed significantly better over 6 weeks of training.

Higher and higher

I have been convinced a hundred times of the truth of the following fact: only practice makes it possible to achieve perfection. However, trying to do pull-ups without proper physical condition can even be harmful, so those who want to finally start doing pull-ups should first improve their physical condition.

Only after a certain time will you be able to move on to honing the technique of the pull-up itself.

How to Achieve Perfect Pull-Up Technique: Straight Grip

1. Straight grip

Stand under the bar and grab it with both hands. Your palms should be facing forward, your hands shoulder-width apart. If you cannot reach the bar, use a stand or chair. Use a standard overhead grip, with your thumb wrapped around the bar and almost reaching the ends of your fingers.

2. Hang from the bar

Before starting pull-ups, you need to hang on the bar with your arms straight. As you hang from the bar, your arms should be fully extended, your shoulders should be back, and your core should be tense. It is necessary to keep the body tense, this will help to avoid swaying, since this is a condition that the lifting will be carried out only due to the work of the muscles, and not inertia.

3. Stretch up

Begin the pull-up by gripping the bar tightly with your hands while squeezing your upper body and core muscles. Imagine your elbows dropping to your sides as your body rises toward the bar. Don't let your neck stretch towards the bar. Continue the movement until your chin is above the bar, at which point the first phase of the pull-up is complete.

4. Downward movement

Congratulations! Half the work is already done. However, you have a return trip ahead of you. The difficulty is that returning to the starting position must be done slowly. Hold the bar tightly and slowly straighten your arms, lowering your body down. Once your arms are fully straightened, you can consider your first pull-up complete. You can congratulate yourself. Shout “Hurray! I did it!”, raise your hands in the air, celebrating victory, etc.

Working on technology

Knowing how to do a pull-up is one thing, but actually doing a pull-up is another thing entirely. It takes time (and practice and desire) to achieve this. Instead of giving up trying to do a pull-up forever, use the exercises above to achieve optimal form that will help you perform a perfect pull-up.

1. Pull-ups on a low bar

Like a regular pull-up, the low bar pull-up is a closed kinetic chain exercise. However, in this case, the athlete lies under the crossbar, and does not hang, clinging to it with his hands. Using a Smith machine or power rack, position the barbell so that you can reach the bar used as a bar while lying on the floor. Grab the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart, palms facing to the side, thumb gripping the bar. Press your heels into the floor and then pull your chest toward the bar, keeping your elbows close to your body. This exercise can also be performed on rings. In any case, if the exercise is difficult to perform, place a bench on the floor and adjust the bar so that your body is positioned at a more acute angle relative to the floor. As your shape grows, you can decrease the degree of angle.

2. Bent-over dumbbell row

To perform this free weight exercise, use a set of dumbbells. Bend your back at the waist and grab the dumbbells with both hands, wider than your knees (palms facing each other). Bend your knees slightly, straighten your back, and your chest should be parallel to the floor. Then move your elbows back and up towards the floor, lifting the dumbbells and exhaling. At the highest point of the elbow movement, you need to tense your back muscles, stop for a second and only then lower the dumbbells down.

3. Pull-ups with decreasing load

Practicing pull-ups can be a challenge. Just hanging on the bar, trying to do at least one pull-up, is useless. There are usually two reasons that prevent you from performing pull-ups: the first is the lack of necessary strength training of the body muscles (here, standing dumbbells and barbells with an incline will come in handy more than ever, which will allow you to develop the muscles of the shoulders and arms), the second is the insufficient development of muscles that are not in able to lift your body weight. Either your muscles are too weak or your mass is too large. Fortunately, there are methods that allow you to practice pull-ups without any difficulty.

4. Help from a friend

Your friend at the gym grabs your legs and gently pushes you up, so that it takes less force from you to do a pull-up. Grab the bar with your arms outstretched, but this time cross your legs. It is with your crossed legs that your assistant will push you up, helping you do a pull-up. Well, has it become easier?

5. Pull-ups on a special simulator

Most gyms have machines that help you perform pull-ups (in fact, they serve the same role as your buddy pushing you up by your legs), supporting your body and reducing stress on your arms. Start by setting the weight using a pin on the machine (most machines allow you to set the weight that will push you upward, but there are also machines that allow you to set the weight you will have to lift). After setting the desired weight, stand on the platform with your knees and grab the bar and do a pull-up. As you perform the exercise, the platform will move upward with you, acting as a counterweight and supporting you on your upward path.

6. Elastic belt

Large rubber elastic straps can be used in a variety of ways to perform a variety of exercises. If you want to perfect your pull-up technique, loop the strap around the bar. Step on the part of the belt that hangs down with your foot. Grab the bar and start doing the exercise. Do you feel how the belt helps you, reducing the strain on your hands? This solution is much more effective than a special pull-up machine, since in this case the movement you perform is more like a real pull-up, allowing you to engage the core muscles and the muscles that stabilize the body position in the air (be careful when you step off the belt, make sure that so that it does not jump back sharply and hit you).

7. Downward movement

When we talk about the pull-up, most of the attention is drawn to the upward movement part of it, although this is incorrect. The ability to slowly lower your body down during the final part of a pull-up is a great way to develop muscles that will help you do pull-ups without any difficulty in the future. Grab the bar as if you had already pulled yourself up, and begin to slowly straighten your elbows and lower yourself down, engaging your back muscles and biceps, as well as tensing your core muscles. You may not be able to do a full pull-up yet, but you should definitely be able to lower yourself down under the influence of gravity. And this, as we remember, is already half the battle.

Various pull-ups

1. Reverse Grip Pull-Up

Above, we told you how to build up the form for doing a regular pull-up with a wide, shoulder-width grip. However, if you grab the bar with a reverse grip, with the palms of your hands facing you, the situation will change a little. This type of pull-up is called a reverse-grip pull-up. Of course, a regular pull-up is not much different from a reverse-grip pull-up, but there is still a difference. With a reverse grip, the biceps are more heavily loaded, so in this case the load is distributed more evenly and it is a little easier to perform such a pull-up. That is why we boldly advise all beginning athletes to use a reverse grip when practicing pull-up techniques.

2. Wide grip pull-ups

How much does the placement of your hands on the bar affect the load when performing a pull-up? Much stronger than you think. If you place your hands wider than shoulder-width apart on the bar, the load increases significantly, and if you can barely do a pull-up with a regular grip, then you don’t even have to think about a wide grip. Of course, such a grip is quite possible for people with good physical shape, but that’s why they are athletes, to perform such tricks. A wide grip implies good preparation of the latissimus dorsi muscles, and in this case the biceps, chest and shoulders are less loaded. You can move on to pull-ups with a wide grip only after you have mastered pull-ups with a direct and reverse grip.

3. Speed pull-ups

This variation of pull-ups became popular with the advent of CrossFit, and is somewhere in the middle between gymnastics and weightlifting. The typical motion of this type of pull-up allows you to use the inertia of the body, helping you perform more repetitions at an unprecedented speed. As with the wide grip, speed pull-ups will be available to you only after you have mastered the basic types of pull-ups well.

4. Weighted pull-ups

Once you've mastered your pull-up technique and are able to perform large numbers of reps with a variety of grips without issue, you may want to do something more. Once your body weight is no longer a major burden, try adding a weight belt to add some dynamism to your workout. If your gym has special belts with chains attached to them, put them on and try hanging a weight, etc. on the chain. The exercise technique remains the same when using additional weights (except that it will be more difficult for you to lift your weight along with the weight of the kettlebell).

(2 ratings, average: 5,00 out of 5)

Pull-ups on a horizontal bar are probably the most popular type of exercise, for which you only need your own weight and a bar. It can be performed not only in the gym, but also at home.

A horizontal bar is a projectile that does not require special material costs and a lot of space. You can exercise in this way without any problems at home, on the street or in the gym, the main thing is that there is a horizontal bar itself or a place to secure it.

They help develop many groups of the back, shoulders, chest and arms; this particular exercise has established itself as unique in this regard and its effectiveness can only be compared with some in bodybuilding. But it is worth remembering that when performing this exercise, familiar to everyone from childhood, the correct technique plays an important role. It is the technique that will help you avoid injuries and get the most positive result.

Types of grips on the horizontal bar

Straight, medium grip, this is the most classic option. It is performed according to the following principle: shoulder-width apart, hands are placed palms forward, and the thumb forms a “lock.” When performing the exercise, the legs should be in a straightened position and brought together. During the training, they should work exactly; movements should not be sharp or jerky, which should be taken into account when performing all grips. To avoid injuring your hands when moving down, you should not relax them as much as possible. Many experts believe that the biceps works much more efficiently when moving down, and therefore recommend moving up much faster than moving down. If the technique is correct, then at the top point the chest should touch, and at the bottom the arms should be completely straight. When performing this exercise, the following are involved in the work: forearms, trapezius, shoulder girdle, triceps, lats, biceps. How to position your hands correctly with this grip can be seen in picture A.
Reverse narrow grip, this type is similar to the direct one, the only difference is that when performing it, the palms are facing the athlete, as shown in picture B. There is one more nuance that is worth considering, this is the lower part of the chest must necessarily touch the horizontal bar and at the same time The shoulder blades should be brought together. In this case, the muscles that work are the biceps and the lower part of the lats.
Parallel close grip. In this case, the palms are parallel to each other, as indicated in picture D. With this grip, the biceps and the lower part of the lats actively work.

Classic

Many experts call these types a direct grip. But in fact, this is a classic that is familiar to many from physical education lessons at school.

The fact is that this particular execution of this exercise gives a very diverse load on different groups, arms, forearms. The triceps are also involved in the work, but the biceps do not work very well with this arrangement of the arms, it follows that the training works mostly on the general physical condition of the entire shoulder girdle.

The classic position is considered not very comfortable for the athlete, if we take for comparison, for example: the placement of the palms in one’s direction. A similar exercise in bodybuilding can be considered the biceps barbell press, but here the back muscles are not involved in the work.

The following conclusions can be drawn about the work of muscles in this training:

Back, if you make the grip narrower, then the main load is taken by those located below;
Biceps, the lateral part most often works, and which is located inside;
Triceps remains in secondary roles;
Shoulder, before training on the horizontal bar, this part of the body should not be loaded, otherwise there will be no result;
Forearm, the same advice as for the shoulder, since with exhausted muscles it will not be possible to do it technically correctly and the required number of repetitions.

It is worth especially noting that all of the above applies to exercises on the horizontal bar with a straight grip with your hands shoulder-width apart.

Neutral

This exercise is very helpful for working out, especially the lower parts. Many athletes believe that this training, on its own, is ineffective. Therefore, in many recommendations they are advised to be performed in combination.

You can do this on uneven bars, just a crossbar and with handles. There should be about four approaches with repetitions until failure, that is, as long as you have the strength. This will help prevent you from developing tolerance.

Correct technique:

Place your arms straight and hang;
Do this until your arms are completely bent, while moving your head in different directions alternately. When performing an exercise on the uneven bars, the head remains motionless.
Movements should have maximum amplitude.

What muscles are being worked on?

Biceps, their work begins at the dead zone point;
The lats begin to work actively at the lower and upper points, when the main load is already left behind;
The round and large ones are treated like the lats;
Deltoids, work during the entire training;
Toothed ones also actively work not far from dead spots.

Read other blog articles.

Pull-ups are a popular exercise for working the muscles of the arms and back, allowing you to improve strength and endurance. Despite all its obviousness, the correct technique for pulling up on a horizontal bar involves a number of nuances on which effectiveness and safety depend. Let's look at everything you need to know to learn how to do pull-ups correctly.

Learning how to do pull-ups on a horizontal bar is not that difficult. If you succeed, you will be able to effectively work out different muscle groups, in particular the muscles of the back and shoulder girdle. The latissimus, teres, and trapezius muscles work on the back. The chest is fully involved, as well as the biceps, triceps, deltoids, and forearms. Even the press is involved in the work, which acts as a stabilizer, fixing the static position of the torso.

Correct pull-ups on the horizontal bar require the following: nuances:

You must control your body fully. You need to pull yourself up using the strength of your muscles, without helping yourself by swinging or kicking.
You need to lift your body smoothly, avoiding jerks and abrupt movements.
During the exercise you need pull your chin. If a full pull-up is done rather than a partial pull-up, it should rise above the bar.
After pulling up, there is no need to sharply lower your body down. You must do everything smoothly. The descent should take the same amount of time as the ascent.
Very important correct breathing when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar, the basics of which we will look at below.
Hold the bar firmly.
The body should not hang crookedly. It should be straight, like a string. A slight arch in the back is allowed.

These are just general rules, and for each type of pull-up there are a number of recommendations. Next, let's look at what types of pull-ups there are.

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar: types of grips

Almost all types of pull-ups require a standard hang as the starting position. The back is slightly arched, the legs are tucked and crossed. The following grip options are available:

Straight narrow grip. Hands are slightly less than shoulder-width apart (narrow grip). When pulling up, try to touch the bar with your lower thoracic region. Let your gaze fall on your fingers.
Straight medium grip. The hands are at a distance of shoulder width from each other. The shoulder blades should point towards each other when lifting. At the peak, you need to touch the bar with your upper chest. To increase the effectiveness of the exercise when descending, try to extend your arms completely.
Reverse medium grip. Performed in the same way as the previous exercise, however, your shoulders should be pulled back and not raised when starting.
Neutral grip. It is worth doing pull-ups with a neutral grip only when you have already mastered other techniques, since the grip will change during execution. For example, during the first approach, the left hand will be in front, then the right one. You need to touch the bar with your lower chest. You must firmly grasp the horizontal bar and place your fists one in front of the other. As you rise up, arch your back slightly.
Wide grip chest pull-ups. With this type of exercise, the work occurs through the back muscles, not the biceps. You need to grab the bar from above with your thumbs, and spread your arms wide. When pulling up, the upper part of the chest should touch the bar, the elbows should be directed downward, and the eyes should look above the horizontal bar.
Wide grip head pull-ups. This is a fairly effective, but at the same time very traumatic technique, so before you start doing the exercise, be sure to warm up and stretch your muscles. Grasp the bar with a wide grip and lower your elbows down. When pulling up, tilt your body forward slightly, trying to maintain a horizontal position. Thanks to this exercise, the round muscles of the back are perfectly worked out, which are almost not used in other types of exercises.

Of all the types of pull-ups, the exercise with a wide grip is considered the most difficult. Therefore, first, it is recommended to master a straight medium grip, and only then other types of exercises.

Wanting to learn how to properly do pull-ups, many athletes want to achieve multiple repetitions of the exercise. But you need to understand that gradualism is important with everything. The longer and more often you exercise, the more your body gets used to the stress. If you realize that you can no longer do more repetitions, reduce the frequency of training. You can’t exercise every day, because the muscles need time to recover, and during the resting process they also increase. The optimal training frequency is three times a week. It is recommended to do pull-ups in three sets with the maximum possible number of repetitions.

How to learn to do pull-ups on the horizontal bar: the correct technique

Before you learn how to do a pull-up correctly, you need to learn how to hang from a bar. For at least a week, do this for a few minutes. This is important so that your palms get used to the load and do not slip. When you are sure that your grip is strong and reliable, you can begin to perform the exercise itself.

Now about the pull-up technique. Firmly grasp the bar using a straight, medium grip. Gradually begin to pull your body towards the bar. The elbows should move slightly to the sides. To prevent your body from swaying, tense your abdominal muscles. At the maximum point, the chin should be higher than the horizontal bar. Now smoothly and gradually straighten your arms, slowly lowering your body.

Common mistakes beginners make when doing pull-ups

You know how to do pull-ups on the horizontal bar for beginners, and you can start training. However, it is worth considering common mistakes that beginners often make in their first lessons.

Basics of proper breathing when doing pull-ups

It is very important to know how to breathe correctly when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Thanks to the correct breathing technique, you will be able to get less tired during physical activity, in addition, your muscles, like the body as a whole, will receive a sufficient amount of oxygen. Breathing should be even and deep, you should not hold it.

For any type of physical activity, the general rule applies: the main effort is performed on exhalation, relaxation - on inhalation.

To understand how to breathe correctly when doing pull-ups, follow a certain algorithm that will help you adjust your breathing in the right way and make it easier to perform the exercise:

Hang on the horizontal bar, bend your legs slightly at the knees and take them back.
Squeeze your shoulder blades to the maximum point of tension while inhaling deeply through your nose.
Slowly lift your body up while exhaling smoothly. It should continue until you reach the top peak point.
Without fixing the body at the top point, begin to slowly descend, accompanying the descent with a smooth exhalation through the nose.
Repeat the exercise again in the same sequence.

Anyone can learn to do pull-ups. To do this, you only need regular training and knowledge of some basic rules. We invite you to watch a video on how to properly do pull-ups on a horizontal bar, which will also help you master this exercise.

Useful video about proper pull-ups

Pull-ups have always been considered a difficult strength exercise. The ability to do 8-10 pull-ups is required when joining the armed forces of various countries, including the United States. Physical fitness tests always include pull-ups. This is the standard for all power forces. Therefore, many people want to know: ?

How to do pull-ups correctly - basic theory

The inability to do pull-ups is associated with the scattering of one’s attention and the lack of a clear vision of the physiological and anatomical picture of this movement. The exercise is multi-joint and basic, and it is impossible to learn it in a barbaric way. This requires an understanding of the basic theory.

There are only two effective options for pull-ups: for fitness and for quantity (military). The technique of execution is different, as are the goals that these variations of pull-ups pursue. Within the framework of today's topic, we will note only the main differences:

Pull-ups for fitness specifically load the muscles of the back and arms. The emphasis is on stimulating muscle fibers and developing strength. The movement is performed purely in full amplitude.

Military pull-ups are used for a different task - the development of speed-strength characteristics of muscles due to a large number of repetitions and the appropriate execution technique. Such pull-ups are usually called “quantity”, since here the final number of repetitions will be greater than in the fitness version.

Now, knowing the classification of pull-ups, you need to determine which option is right for you. Let us note right away that you cannot chase two birds with one stone. Either you work the muscle segments of your back with perfect form, or you use tricks and nuances to increase the number of repetitions. By combining two goals into one, you risk getting zero productivity, which is what we see in most fitness centers where beginners cannot learn how to do pull-ups for years.

What you need to know about pull-ups?

The stereotype that exercises with body weight cannot be called purely strength exercises breaks down under the pressure of your own body weight in pull-ups. Your weight serves as a burden, and its coefficient is often excessively large.

The heavier a person is, the more difficult it is to perform pull-ups. The percentage of fat and muscle mass does not play a significant role. It is quite possible to do pull-ups up to 75-80 kg a couple of dozen times, especially with regular training. More body weight leads to a decrease in the total number of repetitions in this exercise.

If you don't know how to do pull-ups, the reason most likely lies in excess weight. The presence of fat deposits is a significant obstacle to learning how to do proper pull-ups. First, you will have to lose weight by replacing the exercise with analogues, for example, pulling a vertical cable block to the chest.

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar: correct technique

Because there are two types of pull-ups, there is no single correct technique. Take a look at individual articles that cover this process in detail. Within the framework of this topic, we will list the mistakes inherent in any pull-ups. Avoiding them will teach you how to do pull-ups safely and productively.

Relaxation of muscles at the lowest point

The starting position of hanging on the bar for the vast majority of beginners involves with a serious biomechanical error - complete relaxation of the shoulder girdle. Without special controlled tension, the shoulder bag stretches beyond normal. The humerus goes up, and this injures the ligaments and joints.

Regular repetition of such a mistake will lead to atrophy of the rotator cuffs, and under negative conditions - to habitual shoulder dislocation. Readers may object, because an effective exercise for the back muscles involves full stretching. That's right, but to stretch the back muscles, it is not necessary to bring the shoulder up through relaxation. This can be done easily and with a tense shoulder girdle. Mentally focus your attention on moving your shoulder blades away from each other.

The risk of injury to the deltoid muscles and related joints is not the only disadvantage of this technical error. The biomechanics of the exercise changes noticeably. A completely relaxed shoulder girdle creates an uncomfortable position for the back muscles.

In this case, it is impossible to innervate the posterior delta, teres major and minor muscles 100%, since the position is anatomically inconvenient for the muscular system, even taking into account the naturalness of pull-ups for the body. In ancient times, when our ancestors climbed onto ledges or tree branches, the starting position involved slightly bent arms and shoulder activation. Either by jumping or by using a low obstacle height.

Therefore, when doing pull-ups, you should never relax at the bottom. Stretch your back, but don't overdo it.

Psychological nuances

The human central nervous system influences the possible strength potential. Muscles and joints do not determine strength in the same way as the central nervous system. Beginners focus their attention in pull-ups on bending their arms at the elbow joints. Mental concentration on this element of technique helps to redirect neuromuscular signals mainly to the muscles of the arms and forearms.

The problem is that the strength and energy resources of your arms are not enough to lift a weight as heavy as you. Pull-ups are an exercise for the back, and it needs to be emphasized. But how?

Standard recommendations: squeeze your shoulder blades together and don’t think about your arms. They help few people, since they do not significantly affect the functioning of the central nervous system. There is a more effective and simpler technique. Think for a second, what are you thinking about while doing them?

Most people think of the torso reaching towards the bar. Try reverse thinking. Imagine yourself pulling the horizontal bar towards your chest., as if you were doing a barbell row or a lat pull-down.

This little psychological trick redirects neuromuscular signals to the desired target muscle groups, in particular to.

Abs and leg muscles

The leg muscles are the main burden. More than half of your body weight is in your legs, which are not involved in pull-ups. Beginners relax them, which automatically leads to loss of innervation of the abdominal muscles. This negatively affects the overall performance of the exercise. The domino principle applies here too. Following the press, the posterior and anterior serratus muscles are disabled, and they entail a weakening of the posterior delta and even biceps.

During pull-ups, tense your abdominal muscles statically. It is advisable to bend your legs at the knees or at least “squeeze” your buttocks to impart innervation.

Style Summary

Pull-ups are the best exercise for the back, this is an indisputable fact, but there is also a flip side to the “coin”. They are difficult for most people to do due to excess weight. Incorrect pull-ups lead to injuries, and persistent fanatical training takes away all the restorative resources and strength from the central nervous system.

Focusing on learning to do pull-ups will interfere with the harmonious development of the back, because the load will have to be reduced and attention should be paid only to this process.

Therefore, pull-ups should not be placed on a pedestal. Yes, this is the leader, but there are a number of other strength exercises that are only slightly inferior to the productivity of pull-ups. To summarize, pull-ups are not a movement for everyone, and you shouldn’t bother with them too much, especially in the context of fitness goals and improving physical fitness.