The complete guide to bodybuilding pull-ups

The bodybuilding traction is an excellent exercise for building upper-body strength. However, it's a movement that can be difficult to get to grips with, especially if you're a beginner. Many exercisers overlook it, despite its many benefits. In this article, I reveal the keys to learning how to do it. your first pullthen to make lasting progress.

What is a pull-up in bodybuilding?

The pull-up is undoubtedly one of the best bodybuilding movements for sculpting the upper body. It mainly works the back and arm muscles.

The aim of the exercise is to lift your body weight by pulling yourself upwards, using your arms and back.

All in all, the traction movement has many benefits: 

• It's a complete exercise, involving many muscles.
• It contributes to the proper development of the basic musculature, which is essential for more advanced movements (front lift, muscle-up).
• It also makes it possible to gain strength.
• It helps improve grip.

But should you do pull-ups every day?

Whatever your objective, such a pace is not necessarily recommended. As with all strength exerciseIf you're training a single muscle group, it's best to allow sufficient recovery time between workouts.

That way, you'll have every chance of improving your performance the next time.

The different types of pull-ups

If the pronation traction is the most common version, there are in fact a number of different pull-ups, which I'd like to introduce to you. These allow you to diversify your workouts according to the muscle groups involved.

Pronation pull-up

The pronated grip pull is the basic version of this exercise.

To make pull-upsIn this case, your palms should simply face forward. This type of pull promotes back work.

Chin-up traction

Known as chin-up, this other variant consists in seizing the drawbar with palms facing you.

In addition to the back muscles, this movement primarily targets the biceps.

Wide-grip traction

The aim of this variant is to ensure that the space between your hands is greater than the width of your shoulders.

Wide-grip pull-ups are ideal for obtaining a V-shaped silhouette and develop the width of your back.

Tight grip traction

Unlike wide-grip pull-ups, the positioning of the hands on tight-grip pull-ups is less than shoulder-width apart.

Performed on a classic pull-up bar or on parallel bars in a neutral grip, this exercise helps to develop the body's ability to resist stress.back thickness.

Mixed grip traction

To perform this type of pull, one of your hands should be pronated, the other supinated.

Inspired by deadliftThis hybrid plug improves your grip.

Traction control

Assisted pull-outs are more suitable for beginners who want to progress.

They can be carried out on a traction machine dedicated to the gym, or with an elastic band.

Ballasted traction

Conversely weighted pull-ups are aimed at people who already have a certain level of pull-ups.

In addition to your body weight, simply add weight on yourself (weighted vest, weight belt, etc.) to do this type of pull-up.

Once again, this exercise is reserved for experienced athletes.

The muscle up

The muscle up combines two bodybuilding movements: pull-ups and dips. The aim is to do a pull-up, then lift yourself until your arms are stretched over the bar.

Widely used in cross-training and in street workoutThis is a difficult but effective exercise.

Single-arm traction

The one-armed pull-ups are undoubtedly the most difficult.

They require a lot of strength to lift your weight with one hand on the bar.

Australian traction (or reverse traction)

For Australian pull-upsYou'll need to stand under a barbell, with your body horizontal and your heels on the floor.

Which muscles are involved in pull-ups?

Now let's take a look at the muscles involved in pull-ups.

You get the idea, several muscle groups are targeted: biceps, triceps, trapezius, deltoids, back, torso and abdominals.

In this sense, pull-ups are considered to be basic exercise (or polyarticular).

Despite the fact that pull-ups help develop the whole upper body, they can still be difficult to perform. They require a minimum of arm strength to be performed correctly.

To help you in this endeavor, let's take a look at how to train for pull-ups.

How do you achieve your first pull?

If you are unable to do pull-ups here's how.

If you're overweight, the first step is to try and lose a few kilos of fat. The drier your physique, the easier it will be to pull yourself up the bar.

Discover in this article how to make an effective blow-dry in 7 steps.

Next, you'll need to strengthen your backyour arms and shoulders. The aim is to gain strength so you can progress to pull-ups. Here are a few exercises to add to your routine: 

• Reverse pull-ups
• Vertical pulling
• Horizontal pulling (feel free to use different grips)
• Leaning chest rowing
• Military development
• The biceps curl

Successful pulling is also a question of grip. You can improve your grip by incorporating exercises such as the deadlift or the sit-up. the farmer walk in your training program. You can also train by hanging from a pull-up bar for several seconds.

Once this muscle strengthening If you've already done this, start working specifically on pull-ups. Initially, you can use a guided traction machine, if your gym has one. 

But the ideal is to do high-bar pull-ups using a elastic to assist you. This will enable you to reduce the body weight to be lifted. The principle is simple: you attach the elastic band to the bar, grasp it and move your shins or feet over the band. Thanks to this technique, you'll be able to pull yourself up to do your pull-ups.

At the same time, I recommend that you negative traction or eccentric. The latter involves jumping onto the bar to get into the final position, with your chin above the bar (you can also use a step or jump box to climb up). Then descend as slowly as possible, for at least 5 seconds, to return to the starting position, arms outstretchedas you can see in the video below.

Perform these pull-ups 2 or 3 times a week. By adopting a traction program You'll be able to improve your technique and make real progress in just a few weeks.

How to improve traction?

Here we are! Congratulations, you've successfully performed your first pull-ups.

After a while, it's only logical that you should stagnate and fail to increase your number of repetitions.

Here again, by adopting specific pull-up training, you'll have no trouble unlocking this plateau. 

This work is not very different from that required for a beginner.

To make progress, do pull-ups several times a week. You can, for example, conclude each of your sessions at the gym with 2 or 3 sets at body weight.

Also continue to make eccentric pull-ups.

Finally, adding weight, via a weighted vest or belt, is also an excellent way of increasing your number of repetitions.

Conclusion

You now know how to do pull-ups and how to train to progress. Whatever your goal, this exercise is ideal for developing upper-body muscles. Whether you use bodyweight or ballast, don't hesitate to make it a basic movement in your workout. your training program.