A Pull-up or Pullup is a conditioning exercise. It is very helpful in Parkour and Freerunning training, as it is an excellent way to build upper body strength (this is especially useful for climb ups and muscle ups). This exercise primarily works the latissimus, biceps, deltoids, rhomboid muscles, trapezius and forearm muscles. A common variant is the chin-up, which is mostly the same except the palms face towards the body.
Technique[]
- Grab a bar over your head, with the palms facing away from the body (reverse if doing a chin-up) and hands a little wider than shoulder width apart.
- Look at the bar and have your chest up.
- Cross the legs and bend the knees, squeezing the glutes together. Make sure your arms are fully extended.
- Pull your chin up towards the bar. Imagine pushing your elbows down.
- While exhaling, bring your chin up as high as possible. Try to go up as quickly as possible.
- Inhale as you come down, doing so slowly.
- Repeat.
Variants[]
- Pullup Performed with the palms facing away from the body.
- Chin-up Performed with the palms facing towards the body.
- Neutral grip pullup Performed with the palms facing each other.
- Mixed grip pullup Performed with one palm facing towards and the other facing away from the body.
- Cliffhanger pullup The bars is held perpendicular to the body, with the hands touching each other, one of them supinated and one pronated. The body is pulled up until one shoulder touches the bar.
- Muscle up A pullup that transitions into a dip for a complete range of motion, bringing the bar from an overhead position to the waist.
Tips[]
- If a pull-up is too difficult, try starting with chin-ups. If this is still difficult, you can use a bench or stool to bring your chin up to the bar and slowly let yourself down.
- Don't pull the bar behind your neck. While this was once considered an advanced form of the exercise, it is now known that it is very bad for the shoulders.