About Pull-Ups

Pull-ups are an exercise that work the biceps and back muscles. They use a stable overhead bar and a person's own body weight for resistance. Essentially you grab the overhead bar with both hands and pull your body up with your arms. There are several variations of the pull-up involving different placements of the hands. Pull-ups are a difficult but incredibly effective exercise for strengthening the upper body.

Function

Basic pull-ups involve grabbing an overhead bar with your hands slightly more than shoulder width apart. From a dead hang, pull your body up until your chin is above the bar. Lower your body in a controlled fashion. This is one pull up.

Effects

Pull-ups are a compound exercise that work multiple muscle groups. The latissimus dorsi of the upper back do most of the pulling. These are the wide muscles that give the torso the "V" shape. Pull-ups also work the deltoid muscles in the shoulders, trapezius muscles in the neck and biceps muscles in the arms.

Types

There are many types of pull-ups. The basic pull up uses an overhand grip with arms held straight up. When the hands are moved further apart, the wider part of the back is forced to work harder. When the hands are moved closer together, the muscles closer to the spine do more work. A pull-up with an underhand grip is called a chin-up. These allow the biceps to do more of the pulling so are much easier. Hybrid pull-ups can also be done with one hand in an overhand grip and the other in an underhand grip. Pull-ups performed on parallel bars turn the palms inward so they face each other. These also work the biceps more than the back muscles.

Features

Pull-ups are hard. Many very strong people cannot do them because their body weight is high compared to their upper body strength. Many gyms have machines that assist with pull-ups by using a counter weight to give you a lift. These can help people who have trouble doing free standing pull-ups. Some people with a lot of upper body strength compared to their body weight need more resistance to make pull-ups challenging. Weight belts can be fitted with weight plates to make the person doing pull-ups heavier.

Misconceptions

Do not swing your body or perform a kicking motion to help you do pull-ups. Also do not jump up to raise your body or do partial pull-ups. This is cheating and will not work your biceps or back muscles. The quality of your work out depends on the amount your muscles work not the number of pull-ups you do. Perform all pull-ups from a dead hang and pull yourself all the way up until your chin is above the bar. It is better to do a few with perfect form than many with bad form.