How to Do a Weighted Pull Up

A pull up is a terrific exercise to build up the arms, shoulders and chest. To continue to get the benefit from this exercise once you have reached the point where you can perform them repeatedly, you need to increase the effort required by adding weight. Adding weight to your body will make the muscles continue to grow and strengthen.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Position yourself under the pull up bar. You need to make sure that you have a bar that is just above the reach of your extended arms. This will allow your body to hang down and bring the full weight of your body into the exercise.
2. Find a weight, usually a barbell plate, which you can use to add to your own body weight while performing the movement. There are two methods of holding the weight while you do the pull ups. You can wear a weight belt that has a chain hanging down from it. Wrap the chain through the center of the plate and hook it to the upper part of the chain. This will allow it to hang from your body while you do your pull ups. The other method is to use your knees to grasp the plate by pressing them together. The second method has the further benefit that once you reach the maximum number of reps that you can do, you can drop the plate to the floor and do a few more reps until your arms fatigue.
3. Choose whether you want to perform underhand pull ups or overhand pull ups. Each of the two movements will work slightly different muscles and it certainly would be advisable to perform some of each to build your body evenly.