How many of you can do a pull up ? How many of you want to be able to do one ??
In today’s post I want to share the technique of a pull up (or chin up in this case) and how you can work your way up to perfecting your own. Now disclaimer before we begin I can’t do a full unassisted pull or chin up yet it is a goal I am working towards, meaning I am using a resistance band in the pictures and do so in my training. However the technique used is still the same, the band just offers that little bit of help and assistance to get the full range of movement.
Once the band is looped over and secure you want to place your knee in it – only one – as it will offer that extra support but you will still have to use your muscles. This is why I favour this way over the assisted pull up machine. Palms facing each other, keep the shoulders down and rolled back.
With a slight jump to get you started you want to begin the retract the shoulder blades, engage the lats and begin the pull up.
Make sure you bring your leg to join the other and hold yourself straight, try not to let your body swing which is where making sure you are using your core comes into play.
The pull up ends when you get the chin over the bar. Again the shoulders need to be relaxed and back, you almost want to imagine that you are trying to get your shoulder blades to touch each other.
Once you have reached this position you want to lower yourself down just before your arms straighten to start the movement again. Keep doing this until you can’t do any more and rest. After about 1-2 minutes rest go for another 2 or 3 attempts seeing if you can get just 1 more rep.
The more you practice like this the closer you will be to getting the unassisted one. If these are something you want to do then I would advise practicing at least twice a week, more is even better just add them at the start of sessions. Once a week challenge yourself and try getting one without the band, you might surprise yourself!
A couple of other ways you can work on your pull up progression is to train the muscles during your upper body day so don’t neglect your back as it needs to be strong to be able to help pull your body weight. You can also give negatives a go which is where you use a box to get yourself into the top pulled up to position then lower yourself down and repeat.
See how you get on – make it your end of year or New Year challenge 🙂
Love Vicki xxx
