CategoriesProgram Design Strength Training

3 Unique Drills to Help You Conquer Your First Pull-up and Then Some

When you see the name Elon Musk it’s a safe bet adjectives like “smart,” “intelligent,” and “revolutionary” come to mind. Jason Bourne? “Badass,” or maybe “guy I wouldn’t want to pick a fight with.”

Meghan Callaway?

Well, if you ask me, when I see the name Meghan Callaway I think “amazing coach and the World’s #1 ranked pull-up connoisseur.”

Copyright: korarkar / 123RF Stock Photo

 

To put it lightly: Meghan likes pull-ups.

She likes them a lot.

via GIPHY

 

And, to speak truthfully, there aren’t many coaches I’d tip the hat to when it comes to pull-up mastery and programming than Meghan. She consistently impresses me with her content and knowledge on the topic, and as it happens she just released her latest resource, The Ultimate Pull-Up Program, today.

If you struggle with the pull-up and/or are looking for a little direction on how to become more proficient with them (not to mention learning a TON of awesome variations) than I can’t recommend this resource enough. It’s on sale this week at $50 off the regular price for this week only.

3 Unique Drills to Help You Conquer Your First Pullup

Performing your first pull-up is a unique experience.

In fact, when many people conquer their first pull-up and get their chin over the bar (of course without straining their neck to do so), they often experience far greater feelings of empowerment, accomplishment, and downright badassery than when they hit PR’s on max deadlifts, squats, and other heavy meat and potatoes exercises.

Meghan showing off.

Maybe I’m a little biased, but with pull-ups it is just different.

When it comes to tackling pull-ups, many people quit long before they’ve achieved their first rep. Others hit their first rep but are never able to string together multiple reps and become frustrated.

Let me tell you, it does not have to be this way.

In most cases, people fail to reach their pull-up goals not because they are weak, but because they are not training for the exercise the right way.

Many people possess enough upper body strength that they should be able to do pull-ups, but they often suffer from technical deficiencies. Other people know what to do but they do not possess the requisite levels of lumbo-pelvic stability or the ability to control the movement of their shoulder blades.

So essentially, instead of moving a stable object to and from the bar in a shorter and more efficient straight line, they are forced to move a heavy, floppy and limp body to and from the bar and in a longer and inefficient arc. Kind of like Erick here. Tony likes cats so I know he understands.

In this article I will provide some of my favorite exercises that address various areas that are holding many people back from performing their first pull-up ever, or from performing multiple reps and feeling like a total badass, or perhaps Wonder Woman.

Without further ado, here are some of my go-to exercises for conquering the pull-up.

1) Scapula Pull-Ups

If you cannot hang from the bar or control the movement of your shoulder blades, you will not be able to perform a pull-up.

This exercise will help lead you to your first pull-up as it develops grip strength, scapular and shoulder controlled mobility, and lumbo-pelvic stability.

While this is a pull-up regression, it is a definite stepping stone towards doing your first pull-up. If you are performing this exercise correctly, the muscles in your mid and upper back, not your arms, should be doing the majority of the work.

 

Key Coaching Cues:

  • Grab onto the bar so your palms are facing away from you and are slightly greater than shoulder width apart.

 

  • Before you perform your first rep, make your body as stable as possible by bracing your core, tucking your ribs towards your hips (closing the space in your midsection), squeezing your glutes, straightening your knees/flexing your quads and hamstrings, and dorsiflexing your feet. This will stabilize your pelvis, spine, and legs, and will prevent your body from swinging.

 

  • In terms of the pull-up, without bending your elbows or initiating the movement with your arms, use the muscles in your shoulder blade area and draw your shoulder blades together and down (bring each shoulder blade in towards your spine and down towards your opposite hip), and lift your body a few inches. Pause in the top position, really contract these muscles, and lower yourself to the starting position in a controlled manner. Fully extend, but do not hyperextend your elbows.

 

  • On the lowering portion of this movement, your shoulder blades will perform the reverse movements as they did on the way up.

 

  • Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or ribcage to flare. Keep your chin tucked and neck in a neutral position.

 

  • As for your breathing, exhale just after you have initiated the scapular movement and have drawn your shoulder blades together and down; inhale and “reset” as you are descending, or do a full reset when you are in the bottom position.

2) Pull-Up Regression: Eccentric Pull-Ups (from a bench)

Many people falsely assume that when they have accomplished the awesome task of “pulling” their body to the bar their job is done, and they allow their body to free-fall to the bottom position with reckless abandon.

This exercise will help you improve your pull-up technique (lowering component), and develops upper body strength, grip strength, scapular and shoulder controlled mobility, and lumbo-pelvic stability.

Owning the ability to lower your body with control and ease will make your transition into the next rep much more seamless, and will thus improve your ability to perform multiple reps.

 

Key Coaching Cues:

  • Grab onto the bar so your palms are facing away from you and are slightly greater than shoulder width apart.

 

  • Stand on a bench or box so your chin is already at (or close to) the height of the bar. Or if you are already able to, jump from the floor and pull yourself up the rest of the way by using the muscles in your mid and upper back and drawing your shoulder blades together and down (bring each shoulder blade in towards your spine and down towards your opposite hip). Do not initiate the movement with your arms.

 

  • When your reach the top position, it is important that you stabilize your body as quickly as possible as this will prevent your body from swinging back and forth and will allow you to focus on the lowering portion of the exercise. You will achieve this full body stability by taking a deep breath in through your nose (360 degrees of air around your spine), bracing your core, tucking your ribs towards your hips, squeezing your glutes, straightening your knees/flexing your quads and hamstrings, and dorsiflexing your feet.

 

  • Repeat the breathing, bracing, and rib tuck that I described above; now perform the eccentric movement and slowly lower yourself down to the bottom position in 3-5 seconds. Use the muscles in your mid and upper back, anterior core, glutes, and legs to control the movement. Your shoulder blades should move in a controlled manner. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or ribcage to flare. Keep your chin tucked and neck in a neutral position.

 

  • Let me reiterate that this exercise is not for the arms. The muscles in your mid and upper back should be performing the vast majority of the work, and the muscles of your anterior core, glutes and legs will help keep your body in a stable position.

3) Dead Bugs With Double Kettlebell Resistance

A huge number of people fail to excel at the pull-up because they treat it like an upper body exercise when in fact it is a full body exercise that demands a lot of lumbo-pelvic stability.

This bang for your buck dead bug variation accomplishes just that, and helps you develop the necessary level of tension that is requisite to optimal pull-up performance. This exercise also develops scapular and shoulder controlled mobility.

 

Key Coaching Tips: 

  • Lie on the floor. Grab onto two kettlebells or dumbbells, and extend your arms so they are in a vertical position, and so your hands are above your chest.

 

  • Lift up your legs so they are in a vertical position, straighten your knees, and point your feet toward you (dorsiflex). Keep your chin tucked and neck in a neutral position.

 

  • Before you go, take a deep breath in through your nose (360 degrees of air around your spine), and tuck your ribs towards your hips. Now forcefully exhale through your teeth, contract your anterior core muscles as hard as you can (10), and slowly lower the kettlebells and one leg towards the floor and to a range where you can maintain proper form. Return to the starting position. Reset and repeat with the opposite leg.

 

  • Make sure you don’t allow your ribcage to flare or lower back to hyperextend.

 

  • Keep your legs relaxed so they do not dominate.

 

  • Make sure that your knee remains in a fixed position and that the movement occurs from your hip.

 

  • One key I like to look for is that if your shirt is wrinkled it likely means your ribs are in the right position. If your shirt suddenly becomes smooth, you have likely disengaged the muscles in your anterior core and have flared your ribcage. This defeats the purpose of the exercise.

Now that I have given you some extremely useful exercises that will help you accomplish your first pull-up ever, or several consecutive reps, it’s time to let the cat out of the bag and get started on achieving this amazing goal. Apologies for the cat references, but my cat is snoring while I’m trying to write this.

The Ultimate Pull-Up Program

Whether you’re male, female, Klingon, whatever….getter better at pull-ups is never a bad option and will almost always carryover to other endeavors you pursue inside the weight room (and out).

  • Improved ability to squat and deadlift a metric shit-ton of weight? Check.
  • Improved body composition? Check.
  • Harder to kill as a whole, especially during the impending zombie apocalypse? Check.

This is undoubtedly one of the best resources on the topic I have ever come across. If you’re looking to up your pull-up game you’d be hard pressed to find a more thorough resource.

—> Save Yourself $50 and Get to Work <—-

CategoriesExercise Technique Female Training personal training Program Design Strength Training

How To Improve Chin-Ups and Pull-Ups From the Ground

Excuse my language: but fuck what the scale says.

I hate that the scale is often deemed the end-all, be-all measure of progress; the litmus test innumerable people gravitate towards to gauge their success when it comes to their health and well-being (or worse, self worth).

I’ve written on this topic before – Should You Use Scale Weight As a Measure of Success? – so I won’t go too off tangent here. Besides, if I do I’ll get all worked up, emotional, and inevitably end up having to resist the urge to Sparta kick a random wall in my apartment.

But in case you’re too cool for school to read the article it can be summed up as follows:

  1. See that scale in your bathroom?
  2. Toss it out the window.
  3. But be sure no one is standing underneath it.
  4. Because, you know, you run the risk of someone wanting to fight you. Or, you’ll kill them. Which would suck.
  5. Just read the article will ya?

Why Performance Based Goals Matter

Whenever I start working with a client (male or female) I almost always “nudge” them towards a performance based goal, rather than something arbitrary like:

“I want to lose 10 lbs.”

Or

“I’d like to look like Hugh Jackman when he’s Wolverine.”

Or

“I want to lose fat here (<— points to body part).”

Or

“I want to mud wrestle Rhonda Rousey.”

Save for the last one, which is creepy as hell[footnote]Or awesome, I’m not here to judge[/footnote], none of these “goals” speak to anything concrete or quantifiable.

It amazes me how often the magic number is “10 lbs” whenever someone refers to losing weight, as if that number really means anything. Likewise, will looking like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine make you a better human being?

Yep, probably

This isn’t to belittle these goals or begrudge the people who make them. Honestly, if either of them are what helps keep people motivated to train and to stay consistent with their training I’m all for it.

I just feel these types of goals pale in comparison to setting concrete, measurable, performance-based goals. Goals like deadlifting 1x, 1x5x, or 2x bodyweight, or bench pressing bodyweight for reps, or being able to bang out a clean, full ROM, bodyweight chin-up/pull-up.

THESE are the markers of true progress IMO.

Here’s a video of Lisa hitting 5-reps during one of the 17,942[footnote]Standard Deviation of 17,934 +/- 2[/footnote] snow storms we had last winter in Boston.

I feel it’s these types of goals which give people more intent and purpose in their training. Moreover, from my own experience as a coach, it’s these types of goals which (almost always) result in people attaining their aesthetic goals as well.

And, as an added benefit: more often than not, the whole notion that “scale weight” means anything is tossed to the curb (especially as it relates to the toxic mindset and environment that many women impose on themselves).

I dig that.

The sooner I can get them to say “sayonara” to the scale, the better.

So, Speaking of Chin-Ups/Pull-Ups

I work with a lot of women as a coach, and it’s not uncommon for many to express how they’d love to eventually be able to perform a chin-up/pull-up.

Unfortunately, for some, the negative self-talk takes over.

Whether because they’ve been programmed to think otherwise from magazines which tell them that lifting 3-5 lb dumbbells is what they’re supposed to be doing, or from ill-informed and ill-intentioned trainers in the past who bought into the bullshit and “vomited” said bullshit in their direction …many are left thinking themselves:

“I’ll never be able to do that!”

With that mindset: you’re 100% correct.

However, with the right information, support, and plan…it is possible.

[The video below highlights a 6-Week Chin-Up Challenge I wrote for Women’s Health back in 2013, where a number of the participants succeeded].

I’ve had a slight change in strategy of late, though. My initial “step” to training the chin-up/pull-up with the bulk of my female clients[footnote]Male clients too. I have many who are in the same boat and can’t perform a chin-up/pull-up. Additionally this isn’t to insinuate that they wouldn’t benefit from these drills too.[/footnote] starts from the floor and not from the chin-up/pull-up bar.

Say Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Much of the credit goes to Artemis Scantalides. It’s been the information I’ve gleaned from her that’s been the main influence on my revamped approach.

The biggest “take home” point is allowing people to understand and respect the importance of getting and maintaining full-body tension, and then taking that tension and applying it to the bar.

Many are unable to grasp this concept and frankly, until they do, aren’t ready to hang from a bar.

This can be done in several ways, and it doesn’t require anything elaborate or fancy.

1. Push-Ups

Yep, plain ol’ vanilla-flavored push-ups.

Improve someone’s ability to perform a push-up, and inevitably you’ll see improvements in the sexier lifts like deadlifts, squats, and chin-ups/pull-ups.

Why?

Better lumbo-pelvic-hip control and a better understanding of core tension (specifically: Anterior core control).

The sooner one learns to “own” the push-up, the sooner he or she will own the weight room. And I don’t mean “girl push-ups” either. You know, the ones that girls are supposed to perform with their knees on the ground.

I think those a stupid and set a dangerous precedent.

Girls can (and will) do push-ups. We just may need to augment them to better set them up for success.

Elevated Push-Up

 

Band Assisted Push-Up

 

One variation a really like that better emulates carry-over to the chin-up/pull-up is:

Push-Up Walkout to Plank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2DzjiJsllc

 

2. Rollout Variations

Along the same lines as the push-up, I also find a ton of validity in rollout variations. Many of the same benefits apply: cuing of bodily tension (brace abs, squeeze glutes), better anterior core activation, and improved lumbo-pelvic-hip control.

What’s more: the rollout – from the extended position back to an upright position – very much “copies” the pulling motion akin to the chin-up/pull-up.

 

Both exercises are crucial in introducing tension and bodily awareness and help to build context in a more “user friendly” manner. It’s not uncommon for me to program one or the other – choosing from a wide array of variations – every training session for some trainees.

Another teaching tool I’ve been using a lot of late (thanks to Artemis and other coaches like Karen Smith) is something called the Hollow Position.

The Hollow Position (w/ Stick)

 

This move has been a game changer for me as a coach, and something I’ve been incorporating into many of the programs of my new clients in Boston, like Alex in the video above.

The Key Points to Remember

  1. They must press both the ankles and hands together. This will create TENSION.
  2. The legs and upper torso must move simultaneously (the spine needs to stay in a anatomically neutral position).
  3. The objective, to start, is to build-up time under tension. For many, 5 seconds will be challenging. It may be best to perform 3-5 repetitions of 5s holds (with 5-10s rest in between), and build up from there. With Alex I’m working up to one, strict 30s hold. She loves it/hates my guts.
  4. Adding the stick helps to build context even more, which will translate nicely once someone “graduates” to the bar.
  5. Once they do progress to hanging from a bar, the hollow position is still paramount. From there we can train both the bottom and top of the chin-up/pull-up with hanging leg raise variations and flexed-arm hang variations (ensuring maintenance of hollow position and “sucking” the shoulder blades into the sockets).

And Most Important Of All….

Once I clicked “publish” on this article: there are 30 Days, 8 Hours, and 43 Minutes until Star Wars Episode VII premiers.

Not that I’m keeping track or anything…..