Hey, there Readers! Pull-ups might be one of the most underutilized exercises for size and strength. But they are as important to your upper body as squats are to your lower body. Although pull-ups might be one of the most challenging exercises, their benefits are sky high! In this article, we will tell you why you should make pull-ups part of your exercise routine. Not just that, we will also talk about which muscles are worked during pull-ups workout.
Before we get into the actual benefits of doing pull-ups, it is important for you to know how to do a classic pullup properly.
How to do a classic pullup properly
- Firstly, make sure the pullup bar that you are using is at a height that requires you to jump up to grab it and your feet should hang free.
- Next, stand below the bar with your feet shoulder-width apart. Jump up and grip the bar with an overhand grip about shoulder-width apart.
- Fully extend your arms so you are in a dead hang. Bend your knees and cross your ankles for a balanced position. Take a breath at the bottom.
- Exhale while pulling yourself up so your chin is level with the bar. Ensure you pull yourself with your chest and keep your shoulders down and back.
- As you pull up, push your stomach forward and keep your chest high to strengthen your back muscles. Pause at the top. Then lower yourself, inhaling as you go down until your elbows are straight.
- Repeat the movement without touching the floor. Repeat the process and continue until you can’t tolerate it anymore.
Now that you know how to do a proper pull-up, let us get into what muscles are worked by doing it.
What muscles do pull-ups work?
When you do a pull, you work out several muscle groups at once.
They efficiently build your:
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Wrist muscles
- Forearm muscles
- Shoulder
- Back muscles
- Core muscles, and
- Muscles of your hand.
There are no exercises that work as many muscle groups as pull-ups. You would need to do about 7 non-compound exercises to work for as many muscle groups, but a pull up would do this at once.
Ok, now let’s get into the benefits of doing pull-ups everyday:
Benefits of Pull-ups
1. Increased Grip Strength
From opening a jar of jam to carrying groceries – you need a strong grip for most things in life. You surely don’t want to struggle to do everyday chores. Here comes the pull-up.
As you do more pull-up reps your grip will be doing most of the work to lift your body weight. So your grip strength will increase as the days pass. It also works on those forearm muscles simultaneously. This is how your grip gets the pull-up advantages.
2. Pull-ups helps you with weight Loss
A pull-up is a high-intensity exercise that burns calories, although in smaller amounts compared to aerobic exercises such as cycling, running on a treadmill, and running.
If what you want is to shed more weight, you may step up the intensity of the pull-ups by doing more sets, doing them faster, and taking less of rest in between. This will get your heart pumping faster and your metabolic rate higher.
As your body’s metabolic rate increases, more fat is burned to produce glucose which fuels your exercising muscles and other tissues.
3. Better Mood
Another thing you stand to gain when you do pull-ups consistently is a better mood. Doing any form of exercise causes the release of chemicals called endorphins which make you feel good. You will notice that any time you do exercise, you feel happier afterward.
The levels of serotonin in your brain are also boosted when you exercise, making pull-ups and other forms of exercise a good supportive treatment for anxiety, depression, and mood swings.
Another chemical that is released when you exercise is an endocannabinoid, another feel-good chemical. Endocannabinoid makes you feel relaxed, and happier after a pull-up.
4. Doing pull-ups regularly you will become stronger
Pull-ups are known as being a closed kinetic chain exercise, which basically means they work muscles that are used in daily activities. After doing pull-ups for some time, you’ll be able to carry heavy bags and lift items from those high kitchen shelves with ease.
Closed kinetic chain exercises are also safer to do because they allow your body’s natural structure to determine how your joints move, creating a more natural range of motion.
5. Pull-ups strengthens Your Back
Our backs are often the most unjustly overlooked muscle group when it comes to working out, as many gym rats would rather focus on the bicep exercises instead. But, the strength of your back is crucial no matter if you’re an athlete or an office worker.
Pull-ups are one of the best exercises for your back as they stimulate all the important core and back muscles. Just a couple of them a day is sure to strengthen your back significantly over a fairly short period of time.
Also, it’s always a good idea to train your back if you have a desk job, as regular workouts that affect this area can prevent injuries in the future!
6. Increases Your Stamina
As you consistently exercise, your body’s stamina will also increase meaning that you will become more resistant to your workouts whether it’s running or lifting weights.
Keeping your stamina up during each workout session is important because you want to be able to do more and reach your health goals. Pull-ups benefit and impact your body’s stamina through each pull due to its physical challenge.
It might look simple but there is a good amount of pressure that is put on your upper body. Pull-ups are a great way to make your heart stronger and as it becomes stronger, your stamina increases.
Your heart is the root to all physical strength as it paces your breathing and gives you the oxygen flow your muscles need.
7. Reverses Muscular Imbalance
It’s pretty important to make exercise a focus as it helps all of your muscles grow and prevents pain or injury. If you are new at this regime, figuring out which exercises to do can be tricky.
There might be times when a muscle is being overworked and you might not know it. When it comes to working the upper body, pull and push movements are key. If you are doing too many workouts that require you to push, it can result in posture problems due to a weak back.
Pull-ups are perfect to reverse this issue where it focuses on strengthening your back to reduce the chances of you getting injured.
8. Doing Pull-ups improves Your Posture
During pulling movements one of the most common cues is to depress and retract your shoulder blades or pull your shoulders down and back like you’re squeezing a vertical pencil with your back muscles. Pulling your shoulders down and back in itself will help you to have better posture.
Now, you can’t just go around depressing and retracting your shoulders all day. Well, you could but it wouldn’t be very comfortable or realistic. This is why doing pull-ups can be so beneficial for correcting and maintaining good posture.
When you do a pull-up and continue to do them regularly, you’re training your muscles to get used to pulling your shoulders back and down. That way as you progress and improve your performance during the pull-up, you’re also improving your awareness of which muscles are tightening and preventing your shoulders from rounding forward.
9. Prepares you for advanced training
Another key benefit of doing pull-up workouts is that they essentially prepare you for taking more advanced pull-up exercises that require serious upper-body and grip strength.
This could be one of the goals if you are looking to build serious muscle. Start out with regular sets of pull-ups and gradually build your way to more advanced workouts that are more demanding. Taking on too much too early comes with risk so be safe and start slow.
10. Gets you the V shape
V shape is something that we all admire and pull-ups can get you a step closer to your dream body. Shaping a perfect V requires a lot of effort on the entire trunk; especially the abs and lats.
Pull-ups will do half the work. It is a well-known back exercise, so getting some work done on your lower back can be best achieved by pursuing a pull-up routine.
Pull-ups variations
Here are a few variations of Pull-Ups that you can try:
- Weighted Pull Up
- Muscle Ups
- Around the World Pull Up
- Close Grip Pull Up
- Wide Grip Pull up
Do you do Pull-ups regularly? Do you use any variations? Let us know in the comments section below! Hope you guys enjoyed reading this article.
