How to do a pull-up:

• Grab the bar with an overhand grip
• Hang from the bar with your arms fully extended
• Pull yourself high enough to where your chin is over the bar and your chest comes close to touching the bar
• Slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position and repeat

Benefit #1: Pull-ups Work Several Muscle Groups At Once

The primary muscle group worked are your Lats. But you will also engage your biceps, shoulders, core and forearms as well. It is a compound movement where you get the most bang for your buck.

Benefit #2: A Strong Back

One of the most common injuries seen in the gym is a back injury. Training your posterior chain the proper way will not only reduce your risk of injury, but also make your body a machine. Along with pull-ups, you should incorporate Deadlifts, Reverse Hyper Extensions & Rows.

Benefit #3: Stronger Grip Strength

Athletes of many different sports can benefit from a stronger grip. Whether you are a mountain climber, Obstacle Course Race Athlete, Football Player, Jiu-Jitsu Competitor, Wrestler or just trying to walk your giant dog or open the pickle jar, pull-ups are one of the most effective exercises for getting your grip stronger.

Benefit #4: There Are Many Variations

The same workout and lifts can often get boring, even when you are seeing results. You can do several variations to not only keep you from getting bored but to engage your back in a different way. You can use a belt with weight to add resistance, use bands to make it easier, change how wide or narrow your grip is, and do knee raises while executing a pull-up to work your core even more.

Benefit #5: It’s A Challenging Movement

Let’s face it, most people avoid pull-ups because they are “too hard”. It seems many people avoid exercises they are not good at. More than 75% of people in the gym cannot do more than 10 pull-ups at a time without stopping. Not only are they challenging, but they are also impressive to do and put you in the top 25%.

Conclusion

If you aren’t good at pull-ups, it’s okay, but you should get on it sooner than later. If you can’t do a single pull-up, start off using bands or a machine to give you the extra boost. If you are great at pull-ups and want to challenge yourself even more, aim to do 50-100 pull-ups 3x per week with weight!

Best of luck and get those reps in!