The struggle with pull-ups and chin-ups is definitely real.
Even people who are very strong in other exercises can find pull-up progress frustratingly slow.
I know how dispiriting it can be – I was stuck on assisted versions (with my foot in a band) for ages. The leap between those and full-unassisted reps seemed gigantic.
But, I got past it and I’m here to share what I learned so you can too.
Now, you know I talk straight, so I’ll tell you right from the start, the tips I’m going to give you aren’t going to make it an easy ride. We’re talking about lugging your whole bodyweight from the floor – that’s no mean feat, so be ready to work for it. But, let me tell you, when you break through that barrier and find you’re able to do those first couple of “proper” pull-up reps it’s so worth it.
Pulls vs Chins
Before we get stuck in, let’s just define what we’re talking about here.
A pull-up is where your hands are placed on the bar just outside shoulder width apart, palms facing away from you.
For a chin-up your hands are placed shoulder width apart on the bar, palms facing you.
For quickness, I’ll mostly use the term pull-up in this post, but the tips apply to both moves.
They’re similar exercises, but the pull-up works the muscles of back more and chin-ups work the biceps harder. But those are just the areas where you’ll feel the burn the most, both moves work the entire upper body – arms, shoulders, back, core, even the glutes.
Weight is a Factor
Because they fire up so many muscles and make them work super-hard, these exercises torch calories and are great for building true functional, athletic strength.
Of course, how challenging they are for you is going to depend on the balance between the weight of your body and how strong you are.
One of the things I really love about pull-ups is they help reveal what the weighing scale can’t tell us… If find you’ve gained a little weight, but at the same time you’re seeing good progress in your pull-ups that’s a strong sign that the extra weight is actually lean muscle growth.
So, if you’re stepping on the scale hoping it’ll tell you you’re leaner, in that situation you can celebrate your progress, knowing that added muscle gain will help you burn off fat.
Pulling Power
Pulling muscles get neglected in many workout programmes, which is really bad news. If you don’t balance pushing exercises (press-ups, shoulder press, chest press, dips, etc.) with pulling exercises your posture will suffer and you’re more likely to get an aching and/or damaged back and shoulder injuries. Ouch!
The pull-up is a very natural movement pattern. Our bodies are well designed for this kind of move. If a strength exercise requires a machine or rack in order for you to do it safely (or at all), it’s worth questioning how functional it actually is. With pull-ups it’s just you and the bar, or tree branch if you really want to get primal!
For me personally, I also love the body shape this exercise sculpts. I have what 90’s women’s mags regularly informed me is a “pear shaped” body – i.e. I tend to store more fat around my hips, bum and thighs than in my upper body. I’ll never be an “hour glass”, but pull-ups help build and define my shoulders and back muscles for a more balanced silhouette.
But that’s just gravy really. Once you get into an exercise like this and start feeling the benefits, the aesthetics become a happy side-effect of your ambition to perform better and progress in the move.
It’s Not Normal
Progression is the key mindset here.
Please don’t expect to be able to do pull-ups and chin-ups the first time you try.
(If you’re thinking that’s ridiculously obvious, you’d be amazed at how many people fully expect to be able to smash out reps on their shiny new pull-up bar straight out of the box!)
Always remember, this is an advanced exercise. Sure, pics and vids of people doing pull-ups are splattered everywhere online, but out in the real world very few people can do them. It’s an especially rare ability among women.
Please respect that… And, as you make progress, appreciate what an exceptional ability you’re gaining.
Be ready to be tenacious, yet humble, yet strong minded, yet unafraid to confront your weaknesses.
Pull-ups at Home
Any decent gym will have a pull-up bar of some kind, outdoor gyms usually have them, and kids playgrounds usually have a climbing frame or bars you can use (when not packed with kiddies!).
But pull-ups are great for home training, that’s certainly where I do them.
Home pull-up bars have come on leaps and bounds over the last few years.
If you want invest in a fancy pull-up station the options are endless.
I started with an over-the-door frame, which served me well for ages. These are very inexpensive (under £20).
The only problem I found with these was my door frames are quite low so it was tricky to get full range of movement and the door in my training area wasn’t suitable so I had to go to another room. (Wasn’t a big deal, we can always work around these things.)
However, I recently got a Pull-up Mate pull-up bar which I love!
It’s a sturdy freestanding frame which you can assemble and disassemble in just 5 minutes. It all packs up into a big holdall which I store under the spare bed. It has more height that my old door frame bar so now I don’t have to leave my training space to do my pull-up training.
There’ll be No Closure
Nailing your first rep is going to take time and hard training, but my advice is not think of it in terms of “it only counts once I can do full pull-ups”.
By all means, leverage your desire to do this bad-ass move to keep you motivated, just don’t get so hung up on that goal that you forget you’re getting all the benefits of increased strength, better posture and muscle balance, torching calories, etc. as you take all the steps I’m about to outline on your road to being able to do unassisted reps.
Spoiler alert: All that’s going to happen when you nail that first rep is you’ll start focussing on doing two, then three, and so on.
What I’m saying is, it’s a journey, not a destination.
So enjoy the ride.