There are numerous variations of doing a pull-up. To clarify, a pull-up is hands over the bar. Hands under is a chin-up and both are awesome. There are some people that will argue one is superior to the other, but if you can do either of them keep up the good work. This quick video offers a few cues that can work similarly for both styles of getting above the bar.
Stay Tight:
Letting your body dangle loosely under the bar is similar to carrying a wet towel vs carrying a solid object of the same weight. The more solid you can make your body the better. This should involve keeping your abs tight, glutes engaged and sometimes squeezing your legs if necessary.
Pull the bar down/don’t pull your body up:
This cue helped me tremendously when trying to master the pull-up. Ripping the bar down really gives a different perspective of the movement, and really helps people that are struggling to get their first rep. It mentally takes your body weight out of the though process and gives you a different target. This cue works wonders for some people!
Keep Elbows Close to your body, grip shoulder width, and drive the elbows back behind you!
There are a few different styles of Pull-ups. If you are a body builder looking to develop your lats for mass and width, going wide with your grip and keeping elbows wider may be a better position. If you are looking to gain strength and increase reps try keep your hand position at shoulder width, elbows close to your body, and drive them down and back behind you explosively on the way up. Also keep your body as close the bar as possible!
Enjoy, and let me know how these work out!If you’re looking for help getting stronger, improving your technique, or you’d like to meet with one of our instructors for a free consultation, please give us a call at (520)445-6800 today and we’ll be happy to help. OR, fill out the information below and we can reach out to you.