<– 5 Steps To Mastering The Pull Up (Part 1)
Step 3: Negative pull up
Negatives are great even for those who have already achieved their goal of mastering pull ups. Jump up to the bar instead of pulling yourself up. From here, with your chin over the bar, slowly lower yourself down in a controlled manner.
Control being the key word. You don’t have to lift yourself up, so don’t cheat yourself by lowering down too quickly.
Aim for 3 sets of 10 reps with each rep taking you 3 seconds to lower yourself down.
Step 4: Chin ups
I thought these were the same thing! Nope, chin ups are apparently “easier” than pull-ups. With a chin up, your biceps can assist more with the pulling movement and since more muscles are being used it makes the movement (slightly) easier.
Start with an underhand grip/your palms facing towards you, ensuring that you pull your shoulder blades back as you pull yourself up and remember to keep your core tight and your glutes tensed for greater stability.
Imagine you are pulling the bar down, rather than yourself up. Try to get your chin above the bar, but don’t cheat by stretching your neck in order to wriggle your nose over the bar. It’s called a chin up remember and not a nose up!
Step 5: The Pull Up!
Grip strength, check. Full range of movement, check. Not it’s time to try the real thing. Place your hands shoulder width apart with your palms facing away from you as you grip the bar. One rep is completed when your chin reaches above the bar.
Done! Told you it was simple.
Still not convinced? Try out some other exercises that will help get you pull up ready,
The TRX cable row and the single arm dumbbell row are the two exercises with the best carryover to the pullup and chin up.
Pull ups are quite the intimidating exercise, but we can make small changes and improvements over time that will result in the ultimate goal:
One. Freaking. Pull Up.
Gay Personal Trainers
If you would still like some extra help achieving this or anything else, why not get in touch with one of our fabulous gay personal trainers. They can design you a training and nutrition program to suit your individual needs.