How to Get Your First Pull-up

When I was a kid, I would dread fitness testing in gym class testing every year. One test in particular test made me most nervous: the pull-up test. Each time around, I'd think, "this is gonna be the year I do my first pull-up!" I would hang from the pull-up bar and try with every ounce of might I had, but I could barely get my elbows to bend.

It wasn't until college, after working out out consistently, that I was able to do my first pull-up or two. The task that had eluded me for over 20 years suddenly became easier, and now I would consider pull-ups to be one of my strongest movements.

If you're one of those people who's frustrated with your pull-up progress, you've clicked on the right article!

As with any movement, we always have to think about what's happening in the core first. I often see a lot of people who are tight in the upper body during the movement, but the core and lower body are flimsy like Gumby. Maintaining a "hollow body position," as seen in the photo of Carl Paoli on the right, is crucial to getting a stronger pull. Why? It is ideal to keep as much tension in the body as possible for big lifts and calisthenic movements. This rigidity ultimately gives us more control and allows us to generate more force. In a back squat, for instance, if your torso is loose, the bar will likely roll up onto your neck resulting in a potentially dangerous scenario. Keeping the upper back tight is equally as important as getting a good leg drive out of the hole. Note Carl's neck position and lumbar position in particular. On the left, his ribs are drawn in towards his hips with a neutral gaze, activating the rectus abdominis, while on the left, he's hyperextended in both the cervical and lumbar spine. In short, more tension = more muscles recruited.

The hardest part of the pull-up, for many people I've worked with, is the initiation of the lats. What I mean by this is that the first 2-3 inches of movement are generally the biggest struggle. "In the upper-back the pull-up movement is focused around downward rotation and depression of the scapulae, as well as the upward rotation and elevation of the scapulae," notes Tom Bumgardner, CSCS in his Pull-up Manifesto. To dissect the anatomical jargon here, take a look at the diagram below. This image briefly explains scapular movement. Now, applying this to the pull-up, the scapulae start in an upwardly rotated and elevated position. As you pull your chin towards the bar, they have to downwardly rotate and depress. If you don't understand how to properly move your shoulder blades, scapular pull-ups are a great exercise to help you better grasp this concept. I usually have my clients do 2-3 sets of 10 repetitions.

From there, I will normally progress someone to the inverted row. This exercise mirrors the pull-up, but isn't nearly as demanding in that you're supporting less of your bodyweight. You should try these for 3 sets of as many repetitions as possible, and hold for one second at the top of the movement. Focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together as your chest touches the bar or rings. I'm not a huge fan of banded or machine-assisted pull-ups, as they forbid you from activating the gluteal and core musculature that is incredibly important in building pulling strength. The inverted row allows you to modify the movement while still learning to maintain tension in the trunk.

In any movement, there are three phases: the concentric (contracting) phase, the isometric (holding) phase, and the eccentric (lengthening) phase. Your body can support about 1.75x more weight eccentrically than concentrically. In this case, this means that strengthening the lowering phase of the pull-up will have an immense impact on the concentric phase! Try doing 3-4 sets of 4-6 repetitions. Jump to the top of the pull-up bar with the help of a box, then lower yourself down as slowly as possible.

The chin-up (supinated grip) is easier to master, as it is more biceps dominant, whereas the pull-up (pronated grip) is more lat dominant. Strengthening the chin-up, however, will undoubtedly help you progress to a more proficient pull-up. Once you've mastered the aforementioned progressions, try doing some chin-ups. As with the inverted rows, go to failure for a few sets.

Now, the last thing missing in the pull-up equation, sometimes, is frequency! If you really want to be a pull-up guru, you're gonna have to work on them more than once per week. Buy a cheap pull-up bar for your bedroom, and work on them every other day. The more often you do them, the better you'll get!

Don't Use Machines, Become One

"The human body is a machine which winds its own springs."

-Julien Offray

You've taken the first step and bought yourself a gym membership. Now you think to yourself, "okay, what the heck do I do with all of this equipment??" Some of the machines in there look like Medieval torture devices. It's easy to lose yourself in the rows of fancy gadgets in there, but in reality, all you need to achieve your fitness goals is your own bodyweight and some free weights.

Regardless on your fitness goals (increase in strength, increase in size, fat loss, etc.), I recommend you avoid the weight machines at all costs. (Okay, if you REALLY want to use the cardio machines, fine. That's a little bit different.)

Here's why:

1. Stability- Try something for me: stand on one leg and try to balance yourself for as long as you can. Now try to balance yourself while you're laying on a leg press machine. It is quite obvious that you do not need to create any stability for yourself when you're in a fixed or seated position predetermined by a machine. Your smaller stabilizing muscles, which I continually talk about, turn off when you use a machine, simply because they don't need to fire. There's a reason why you can leg press 2-3 times what you can back squat. Our bodies only like to use muscles that are absolutely necessary in an effort to conserve energy, so it will stop firing any muscles that don't need to fire. Those ever-important glutes that I wrote about will most likely not fire on a leg press they way they will on a squat or a lunge, just as those shoulder stabilizers won't fire on a chest press or a lateral shoulder raise machine.
2. Range of motion- No matter what the exercise, it is important to use a full range of motion for each repetition. When we are strapped into a machine, the machine chooses our range of motion for us, and rarely does it take you through the full range of those muscles in any given movement.
3. Joint stress- Certain machines can place tremendous stress on your joints and connective tissues. For example, the leg extension machine stresses the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the other ligaments and tendons that hold your kneecap in place. Open chain exercises (isolations) can irritate those tissues more than closed chain (compound) exercises.
4. Functionality- The word "functional" is thrown around a lot. Here, I use "functional" to relate to the transfer to our day-to-day movement patterns. How will machines or open chain exercises carry over to your ability to play sports, pick up your kids, or go run a 5k? It won't. However, a deadlift has a direct transfer to picking up heavy furniture, and a squat has a direct transfer to standing up from your desk chair correctly. Using machines will train your body to adapt to isolating one muscle at a time, and of course we never want that! We want to train movement, not muscles!

This machine makes me cringe every time I see someone use it!

Although fancy new machines can be enticing, I urge you to step away from the Smith machine and try a back squat (or better yet, a front squat or an overhead squat). Back off of that silly crunch machine and try some hollow rocks or weighted planks. You will save yourself from injury and ultimately build a stronger, more stable body, ready for any task you ask of it! Channel your own inner Terminator and turn your body into a machine.

Perfecting Your Push-up

On paper, the push-up seems like a very simple exercise. Surely we've perfected it after all of those years of high school gym class, right? Truth be told, I see a lot of people who execute this exercise incorrectly and inefficiently.

While it may seem self-explanatory, there are actually a lot of little nuances to executing a correct push-
up that many people do not realize. This movement is truly underrated, in that it requires a lot more shoulder strength and core stability than we may think at first glance. While watching someone perform a push-up, I can pinpoint just where their weaknesses are. If someone has a limited range of motion, unstable or weak shoulders, or poor core control, it will be apparent after just a few repetitions.

What does the perfect push-up look like? Here are a few cues:

1. Start with your palms a little wider than shoulder width and fingers spread
2. Rotate your elbows so that your biceps are facing forward
3. Squeeze your butt and tighten your core
4. Lower your body until your chest touches the ground
5. Keep your elbows at a 45 degree angle (do not let your elbows cave inward)
6. Make sure your shoulders do not collapse
7. Fully extend your elbows at the top

As always, we want a full range of motion. If you do not have the strength to do a push-up, use your knees. It is better to use a full range of motion on your knees than try to attempt a partial range of motion without them. There is no need to move quickly here--in fact, push-ups are harder if you do them at a slow and controlled pace.

Once you have mastered the standard push-up, you can move on to more advanced variations: pike push-ups (in which your legs are elevated), handstand push-ups (against a wall or freestanding if you feel so daring), one-handed push-ups, clapping push-ups, one-legged push-ups, diamond push-ups, etc. I could go on and on. There are a seemingly infinite number of push-up progressions, so you will never get bored with them!

The push-up is truly unparralled in developing strong shoulders and solid core control. This fundamental gymnastics movement is a great exercise and provides no equipment but yields superior results. Personally, I like to do 20 push-ups every morning when I wake up, and maybe another 20 before I go to bed! Give that a try. You may choose to start with fewer or more repetitions depending on your level of strength. Enjoy!