The correct pull-up develops back strength. Your biceps also help with the movement as well. Back strength is especially important for people to provide added support.
Unfortunately, many people lack the upper-body strength required to perform them with proper form. This can be discouraging and can cause many men and women to leave the exercise out of their program entirely. However, there are ways of incorporating the pullup into your workout routine even if you lack the upper-body strength to perform traditional pullups.
How to do a correct Pull-up:
The correct pullup exercise requires a long bar suspended several feet above the ground. You should use a step or chair to mount the bar.
1. Grab the bar with an overhand grip so that your hands are spaced no more than shoulder-width apart.
2. Allow your body to hang until it is completely straight, and then lift your body by bending at your elbows. Continue pulling until your chin is above the bar and then relax until your body is completely straight.
Tips:
1. If you are a beginner, modified pullups are a way to get many of the benefits of the traditional pullup without it being as difficult. For this exercise, use a suspended bar that is about 2 to 3 feet off the ground. Again, grab the bar with an overhand grip and walk underneath so that your chest is directly until the center of the bar. The rest of your body should be fully extended and form a straight line that is angled toward the floor.
Allow your arms to fully extend, and then pull your body upward until your chest touches the bar. After your chest touches the bar, allow your arms to reach full extension and then repeat.
2. Extremely overweight or regularly inactive people should start with modified pullups to develop the back strength required to perform traditional pullups. Also, men and women with poor grip strength should start with modified pullups as well. The correct pullup requires strict form so that the proper muscles are targeted. Do not swing your legs or rock your hips upward to assist with the lift. This rocking motion can put increased strain on your lat muscles and can injury.
3. A correct negative pullup is an adaptation of the regular pull-up.
Negatives can be used both to increase the intensity of a regular pullup routine or by people who cannot do a full pullup. Stand on a chair in the pullup position, grasping the bar in an overhand grip. Use the support of the chair to get yourself into the finished pullup position with your chin above the bar. Move your feet off the chair, losing that support. Remain in the same position, holding yourself up and lower your body down as slowly as you can until your arms are extended straight up. Repeat for a low number of repetitions.
