It's no secret that the pull up is one of the most powerful tools in your strength, back and grip development arsenal. If this is the case, then why can most people only do one, and most likely with a lot of strain? Why do most people avoid pull ups like the plague even though they know the benefits? Most trainees don't do pull ups because they are hard! If you are looking to gain strength, the question is not IF you should include pull ups in your training, but HOW MANY.
Like many body weight training exercises, pull ups are an efficient exercise that incorporates a multitude of muscles during each rep. Few other workouts can hit your upper body and grip strength the way that pull ups can. Try busting a few and you'll find that your arms, shoulders, back, and abs all get hit at once.
So what if you can't even do one pull up? No problem! The great thing about doing an exercise that is extremely difficult for you is that there is tons of room for constant improvement. One of the best ways to get off the ground with a new exercise is called Greasing the Groove.
Kettlebell guru Pavel Tsatsouline teaches the Grease the Groove technique to show people how to increase their ability to perform an exercise. Here's how it works: over a long period (1 to 8 hours), you do as many reps as you can of an exercise. So for pull ups, you would do at least one rep every time you walk by a pull up bar. If you do it throughout the day, even if you're only able to do one rep at a time you'll still have done a number of reps and have built the strength needed to eventually do multiple reps during one set.
You might say, that looks good in theory, but what if I don't have access to a pull up bar. The answer is to grease the groove during your workout. Let's assume that you are at the gym for about an hour. During that hour in between sets of other exercises, go to the pull up bar and just do a few pull ups, not to failure. Perform pull ups every 5 minutes or so. As the hour passes, you'll have done about 10-15 pull ups. So, start working on your pull ups and you'll be reaping the benefits of having a powerful upper body, ridiculous grip strength, and the impressive ability to lift yourself over and over in no time.
One piece of equipment that gave me the ability to do pull ups at home or anywhere I wanted was the Tactical Athlete Pull up System (TAPS). It assembles to become a free-standing pull up system. I use it at home or take it with me. It assembles in about 15 minutes and is perfect for group training or outdoor training.
Unlike pull up bars that go in a door way, the Tactical Athlete Pull Up System allows your legs to be full extended, and since the height is adjustable, it's great for everyone no matter how tall you are. Even though it's portable, it's still stable enough for ring training and weighted pull ups. The Pull Up System is also very tough, and I have to say that it's one of my favorite pieces of workout equipment. - 16004
Like many body weight training exercises, pull ups are an efficient exercise that incorporates a multitude of muscles during each rep. Few other workouts can hit your upper body and grip strength the way that pull ups can. Try busting a few and you'll find that your arms, shoulders, back, and abs all get hit at once.
So what if you can't even do one pull up? No problem! The great thing about doing an exercise that is extremely difficult for you is that there is tons of room for constant improvement. One of the best ways to get off the ground with a new exercise is called Greasing the Groove.
Kettlebell guru Pavel Tsatsouline teaches the Grease the Groove technique to show people how to increase their ability to perform an exercise. Here's how it works: over a long period (1 to 8 hours), you do as many reps as you can of an exercise. So for pull ups, you would do at least one rep every time you walk by a pull up bar. If you do it throughout the day, even if you're only able to do one rep at a time you'll still have done a number of reps and have built the strength needed to eventually do multiple reps during one set.
You might say, that looks good in theory, but what if I don't have access to a pull up bar. The answer is to grease the groove during your workout. Let's assume that you are at the gym for about an hour. During that hour in between sets of other exercises, go to the pull up bar and just do a few pull ups, not to failure. Perform pull ups every 5 minutes or so. As the hour passes, you'll have done about 10-15 pull ups. So, start working on your pull ups and you'll be reaping the benefits of having a powerful upper body, ridiculous grip strength, and the impressive ability to lift yourself over and over in no time.
One piece of equipment that gave me the ability to do pull ups at home or anywhere I wanted was the Tactical Athlete Pull up System (TAPS). It assembles to become a free-standing pull up system. I use it at home or take it with me. It assembles in about 15 minutes and is perfect for group training or outdoor training.
Unlike pull up bars that go in a door way, the Tactical Athlete Pull Up System allows your legs to be full extended, and since the height is adjustable, it's great for everyone no matter how tall you are. Even though it's portable, it's still stable enough for ring training and weighted pull ups. The Pull Up System is also very tough, and I have to say that it's one of my favorite pieces of workout equipment. - 16004
About the Author:
About the Author: Marcus Martinez can assist you in reaching your fitness goals. For fat loss articles and tips for kettlebells see his free exercise database.
