4 Ways I Followed for Improving Pull-Ups
“You can do 10 pull-ups without going to the gym.”
Pull-ups are the best exercises you can learn for building muscle without going to the gym. I heard the same thing too when I was too lazy to hit the gym. And it’s 100% true.
Unfortunately, there’s a catch in it. It’s actually hard to do a single rep strictly, especially beginners. But that doesn’t mean you’ll stay behind, will you?
So just like everything, I started it from a scratch. But before I share it with you, I suggest you read the whole article. I’ll break it into the skills you need for a pull-up and the tips I followed to get from 0–10 reps.
What is a Pull Up?
Before I go deeper, I just want to give a short idea of what pull-up is and how you do it.
A pull-up uses your both-hand grip to hang on a bar or a ledge and pull your chest toward the bar or ledge using back muscles. Sounds hard?
Basically, a pull-up is using both hands to lift yourself a few feet in the air. You use your latissimus, scapula, biceps, and core muscles to lift yourself in this move.
So now that we know how a pull-up is done, it’s time to go for it.
How to Train
To put it simply, you need to acquire some basic skills before you can move onto a pull-up rep.
So basically, you need to do these few things that’ll make your first pull up a piece of cake.
Here is the list:
● Do Dead Hangs
Simply just hold onto the bar or the ledge and hang. I’ll suggest that you start from hanging by 10 seconds at first and increasing time as you go.
So, for example, you can do 5 sets of hanging. First, hang for 10 seconds, then 20 secs, then 30, and decrease it to 10 secs on the last set.
● Improve your Grip
A strong grip is the most essential part of a pull-up. A strong grip allows you to perform more pull-ups at ease.
You can start by hanging on a ledge at first. But as you go, you’ll get stronger and used to it.
So, what you can do is just try to pull yourself.
I mean you don’t actually have to do a pull-up, just try to feel the move.
● Do Scapular Pull-Ups.
As I said before, you actually put stress on your scapular muscle when you do a pull-up.
So to perform your first pull-up, you need to stretch and prepare your scapula that.
To do a scapular pull-up, you just need to hang down from a bar or ledge in a passive form (Shrugged Shoulder). After that, you just retract your scapula which will raise your body slightly upward.
There you go, you nailed it. Now try to do this more often to make your scapular muscles stronger.
● Do Feet Assisted Pull-ups
So, to perform an assisted pull-up, ask someone to grab your feet and help you balance while doing a pull-up.
The assisted pull-up is actually a pull-up with someone assisting you. By doing this more often, you’ll fully acknowledge the movement of pull up which will help you progress faster.
If you ask me why you should do these to do a pull-up, well it’s because a pull-up consists of all of these movements. So, I suggest that it’s best to learn these for a better pull-up experience.
Make it to the first rep
Congratulations on getting this far on your own. You’re getting much stronger. Now it’s time for your very first pull-up.
I assume that you’ve done all the previous things before actually going for a pull-up.
So, when I did my first pull-up, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to move up. But when I pulled my body, I easily got up and made my first pull-up ever.
So, if you think you’re ready, go for your first pull-up in a month, maybe a year. Just do it.
Getting Improved
Well done for your doing your first pull-up. If you are this far by now, your body is much stronger.
Honestly, after my first pull-up, I really wished that I would do more. So, after some work, I made that possible.
Guess what, it’s time for you to pump up your pull-up strength. Here are tips I followed for getting 10 reps in pull up:
- Train more often
Assuming that you’re doing it at home, I suggest that you try to do pull-ups more often. Success is in hard work.
I used to train (I still train like that now) to improve my pull-ups about
● 1 hour a day and
● 4–5 day a week
In my opinion, it’s enough to get you to 10 reps in about 5 months. So, train hard and more often. I’ll say whenever you get a chance at home, do a pull-up or two.
2. Do Negative Pull-ups and Isometric holds
One of the best tips I can give is to do more negative pull-ups and static holds.
Now it does sound hard but it’s as simple as that.
The negative pull-up is doing a normal pull-up but descending slower, keeping control of your back muscles.
The isometric or static hold is holding your body at the top position while doing a pull-up. It’s good for engaging proper muscles and increasing strength.
That’s all for it. I know that it’s very little and simple tips but believe me, these are the actual tips which I followed and you can too for getting improved at pull-ups.
Success depends on your hard work and passion.
Before I Go
So before wrapping up today’s topic, I just want to thank you for reading this article and congratulations on any of your efforts. I’m sure you can and will do better.
Let’s summarize all the tips I shared today. First, you start with increasing grip strength and improving your grip. After that, you go for your first pull-up.
After doing that, you improve your skill by training more often and keeping more control. If you are reading the conclusion first, I suggest you read the article after that.
So, stay fit and healthy and remember,
“Success depends on your hard work, passion, and the second letter.”
