How to Do Your First Pull-Up (Video)

Even if you don’t have the strength to do a regular unassisted pull-up, there are certain exercises you can begin doing right now to help build up strength in your upper body and get you that much closer to doing a full blown pull-up!

Here are my top five exercise you should be practicing each week if doing a pull-up is a serious goal of yours.

1. A WG pulldown

• Feet flat on floor

• Cushion positioned right on top of thighs

• Hands do not need to be on grips but should be aligned with elbows. Hand positioning on bar should be comfortable for you.

• Keep scapula pulled down and retracted the entire move

• Keep elbows pointing down to side of ribcage

2. Dead Hang

• Either jump or assist yourself up to a bar high enough off the ground to allow your entire body to just hang.

• Time yourself and try to beat your hang time each week.

• Do this 2-3x a week for best results

3. Dead hang with retraction

• Either jump or assist yourself up to a bar high enough off the ground to allow your entire body to just hang

• Allow the scapula to elevate up as you hang without touching the ground. Drop them back down in depression. Repeat this 5-15x

• Time yourself and try to beat your hang time each week

4. Assisted pull-up with band

Find a medium/heavy band for assistance to help you bust out at least 5 reps of an almost real pull-up.

I like these bands you can purchase off amazon HERE.

5. Negatives

• Jump up to a pull-up bar (assistance with a chair or bench is OK) and try to hold yourself up with your chin over the bar for at least 5 seconds. Then allow yourself to drop down into full extension VERY slowly for at least 5-10 seconds until the scapula is fully retracted.

• Repeat this 5-8x

If you need help designing a progressive strength training program for yourself but don’t know where to start, get in touch with me HERE. I am taking on new one on one clients now who are looking to get serious about building STRENGTH.