How to easily achieve zero to one with pull up?

For adults who seldom exercise at ordinary times, pull-up is a difficult action. Even many people find it difficult to hang on the horizontal bar, let alone pull up their body. In the strength training area of the gym, you can see that all kinds of strength training actions are practiced. All kinds of heavy weights are dizzying, but few people arrange pull-up exercise. Why is it so difficult to pull up?

Reason 1: pull up is the most difficult "opportunistic" strength training action.

"Opportunism" in strength training is to consciously or unconsciously use relevant muscles to replace or compensate for the lack of muscle strength in the stressed parts, or rely on the inertia formed in the process of action, so as to reduce the difficulty of action or the weight that should be borne when you can't complete a certain action in a standard or standardized posture. For example, lift the hips high in the flat support in an inverted V shape, take off and fall quickly when rolling the abdomen, or reduce the range of action when pushing or squatting.

However, it is difficult to have "little trick" to reduce the weight and movement difficulty. The strength of the main force generating muscles in the back is insufficient, and it is difficult to complete the pull-out through the compensation of arm strength. Perhaps the swing pull-out can take advantage of some inertia, but it is impossible for people without a certain strength foundation to do the swing pull-out. Therefore, if you want to complete the pull-up in a standardized way, you must overcome the pull-up of all your weight, and the muscles at the force producing part must be strong enough.

When the pull-up adopts different grip distance and hand position (forehand, backhand or relative grip), there will also be some differences in the stimulated muscle parts. When holding the pull-up, in addition to the lower part of the latissimus dorsi, teres major and trapezius muscles on the back, the biceps brachii, brachioradialis and pectoralis major muscles on the arm need to work together. The reverse grip pull-up will be relatively easier because the biceps and brachial muscles can play a better role.

Reason 2: weight

Two people who don't do strength training very much, one is heavy and the other is light. The light one can complete the pull-up more smoothly, and the number of pull-out will be relatively more, but the strength of the power generating muscle group is not necessarily stronger than the heavy one, which is mainly related to the weight difference between the two people. Therefore, in the muscle strengthening stage, although the muscle strength of the back and upper limbs related to the pull-out increases, the number of pull-up does not necessarily increase due to the increase of body weight.
For people who are just beginning to practice pull-up, if they are heavy, overweight or obese, losing weight first will help to improve the pull-up level.

Reason 3: grip strength

At the beginning of training, due to insufficient grip strength and large body weight, it is often difficult to hang on the horizontal bar. A common situation is that only one or two groups of pull ups have been practiced, and the forearm has been congested due to hanging grip and force. It feels tight and has a strong sense of acid swelling. At this time, the strength of grasping the horizontal bar or handle becomes very weak, and it is almost impossible to continue to practice pull-up. The grip strength is insufficient and can only be improved slowly through long-term training.

Tip: one way is to use auxiliary grip gloves. Wrap the auxiliary belt around the horizontal bar and the gloves are fixed. When the grip is insufficient and the hand tends to loosen and slide, the auxiliary belt can bear force and prevent slipping.

Reason 4: the strength of the power generating muscle group is insufficient, mainly the latissimus dorsi.

Among the large muscle groups most commonly used in our daily life, the back muscle group is the one with the lowest utilization rate. Back stiffness, pain and bad posture (such as head extension and hunchback) are all closely related to the weakness of back muscles. Since there is no "opportunistic" way to pull up, we can only exercise and strengthen the strength of back muscles honestly. Once you can do five or six or more standard pull ups in each group, you will find that the power of the forearm (grip strength) and biceps brachii is not a problem, and the back related power generating muscle group dominated by the broad back is the focus, which will have a good sense of congestion after exercise. The muscle soreness in the next few days also occurs in these parts, not the forearm and biceps brachii.

How to achieve pull-up from zero to one?

So how do novices achieve pull-up from zero to one? Mr. Yuxing summarized a few points for your reference:

1. Step by step. Starting from the simplest pull-up posture with feet on the ground (see points 3 to 6 below), gradually improve the strength of latissimus dorsi, teres major and other back muscles.

2. Cultivate the sense of strength of back muscles when pulling up. At the beginning, the back muscles are small and weak, so it is difficult to find a sense of strength, but in the process of pull-out, you must focus on the strength muscles. Even if you don't feel the strength of the back muscles, you should think and imagine that these back muscles are driving your body upward. The sense of strength also needs to be formed through long-term training.

3. Supine pull out. On the squatting rack of the gym, put the barbell bar at almost waist level, then hold the bar with both hands, and walk with both feet forward until you look up (obliquely upward), you can pull up. At this time, you can adjust the difficulty through the position of your feet and front and rear. This movement can also be practiced with TRX training rope.

4. Elastic band (resistance band). Generally, there are elastic resistance bands of different thickness in the gym. Resistance bands of different thickness provide resistance of different strength. At the beginning, of course, a thicker resistance band is used. Hang the resistance band on the horizontal bar, and then step on it with one foot or a friend's foot to complete the pull-up.

5. Use a pad or barbell bar. Place a pad (such as a jump box) or barbell bar under your feet, and then step on it to pull up. At this time, we should still focus on the back strength muscles and use them as much as possible. Leg strength is only an aid. In contrast, yuxingjun recommends using strong resistance to bring practice.

6. Sit down. That is, using the sitting down training equipment in the gym to exercise is a good way to improve the strength of latissimus dorsi and other back muscles for people who are just beginning to exercise.