Pullups

George Corso Al Kavadlo Tree Hang

A basketball coach walks into the gym and witnesses one of his athletes shooting free throws. He makes 1 out of 50 shots. The coach asks the athlete what he’s doing and the athlete replies “practicing free throws.” The coach then asks him a simple question: “Are you practicing making them or are you practicing missing them?”

Pull-ups are kind of like free throws. They take practice, but you have to make sure you are practicing the right way. Though many people feel that they would have an easier time climbing Mount Everest than accomplishing even one pull-up, I hope to show you a different approach that will not only help with your pull-ups, but many other bar exercises as well.

When I started my own practice in calisthenics I was able to get my chin above the bar, but it really was far from a perfect pull-up. I sensed that something was off so I began to film myself doing pull-ups. It’s not always easy to be critical of yourself but I knew that this was an essential element of perfecting this exercise. I broke it down step by step from the first pull to the middle section and then to the top of the bar. Then I studied it in reverse while lowering myself. I found that I was a complete mess!

It made me think back to the story about the free throws. I applied that coach’s criticism to my situation and realized that I was practicing my pull-ups without much regard for quality. It was obvious that I had to make corrections. I started with the initial pull. To my surprise, I found that I was pulling more from my biceps, which caused me to round my shoulders too much. A lack of strength in my scapulae was a real issue. I also discovered a lack of grip strength. In order to fix this problem I decided to scale back and dedicate my pull-up practice to different variations of hanging on the bar in order to work my way back up with proper technique.

Here’s what I did:

Dead Hangs
I started with the basic dead hang. The dead hang is such a great introduction to calisthenics bar training. It not only preps the hands but also decompresses the spine. Plus it opens up the chest so you can gain better shoulder mobility.

Start out with 10-30 seconds at a time. From there you can build to longer hangs. I recommend playing with different grips on the bar as well: Supinated, pronated and alternated grips are all fair game. I also suggest using a variety of different hand widths to add to the benefits of the dead hang. Using different grips will work the body in different ways, which can help you discover where your individual strengths and weakness lie.

George Corso Dead Hang Bar Hang Grip Variations

Active Hangs
The active hang is the next progression. In this variation, you’ll still be hanging with your arms completely straight, but your lats and shoulder blades will be engaged to “pack” the shoulders into their sockets. Adding this move into my programing leveled up my strength more than I could imagine. Active hangs helped me understand the proper muscle sequence in the motion of the pull-up, with scapula depression being first and foremost of the movements. As with dead hangs, I encourage you to explore and play with different grips.

Al Danny Kavadlo Active Hangs

Active Arch Hangs
These are one of my favorites! The active arch hang is one of the most challenging due the the body position needed. The goal is to hang with an arched back, while actively depressing and retracting the shoulder blades. It’s almost like a back bridge combined with an active hang. This will not only increase one’s strength in pull-ups, but will also aid you in someday catching the extremely challenging front lever.

George Corso Active Arch Hangs

Ape Swings
This exercise requires stamina, strength, control and mobility in order to accomplish. Start off in a dead hang with a mixed grip (one palm facing away and the other facing towards you). From here, release the palm that is facing you and rotate your body beneath the bar, switching your grip for the other side. Continue moving across the bar in this fashion, then reverse direction. What I love about this exercise is the control and scapular strength needed in order to bring yourself up enough to grab the bar. Each rep is almost like a one arm scapula pull-up.

George Corso Ape Swings

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George Corso is a PCC, RKC, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, Certified Animal Flow instructor and the co-owner of FORZA in Millbrook, NY. For more information, connect with George on Facebook.

Al Kavadlo Pull Up

Pull-ups are my favorite exercise. I started practicing them at age 13 and throughout my lifetime I’ve pulled my chin over a horizontal bar more times than I can count. That’s probably why I’m good at them.

But that’s not the case for everyone. In fact, for many PCC candidates, the pull-up is the most difficult and intimidating part of the Century Test. Its placement at the end of the 100 rep sequence only adds to the challenge, but this is no accident. If you want to be a PCC instructor, you must be able to perform 10 proper pull-ups even when you are fatigued.

While there are no secrets or shortcuts in the world of calisthenics, if you feel like you’ve plateaued on pull-ups, there are certain techniques and training methods that may help you blast through those barriers and take your pull-up game to new heights. I’ll share a few ideas with you below, but before we move on, let’s be clear about how the PCC defines a proper pull-up:

The classic overhand grip is encouraged, though the underhand or “chin-up” grip is allowed during Century testing.
The shoulders may be relaxed at the bottom of the rep when the elbows are fully extended, but the scapulae should retract and depress as the rep begins.
The chin must fully clear the bar at the top, and a full extension of the elbows is required at the bottom. The body must also remain relatively straight throughout, with minimal hip or knee flexion.
Though you obviously have to lean back a bit to avoid hitting your head on the bar at the top of your pull-up, your torso should not travel very far forward or backward.

Tighten Up
One of the biggest mistakes people make when performing pull-ups is thinking of the movement purely as an arms exercise. Of course you involve your arms to a great degree when performing any type of pull-up, but the muscles of your back, shoulders, chest, abs and more all play their part. As such, it can help to focus on maintaining tension throughout your entire body as you pull your chin over the bar. Grip tightly with your hands, tense your abs, squeeze your glutes and flex your quads as your drive your elbows toward your hips to fully utilize your lats during the pull. Focus on maintaining total body tension during the descent as well in order to avoid picking up unwanted momentum.

Hang On
The “rest/pause method” is an old-school technique to increase your reps on just about any exercise, and it can be especially useful for pull-ups, particularly once you can do several in a row. After a brief warm-up, simply do as many proper pull-ups as you can, then continue to hang on the bar for a few seconds. After you catch your breath, try to squeeze out one more pull-up, then hang on for a bit longer, take a few more breaths, and try for one more. You might be surprised at how many extra reps you can manage this way, plus you will get additional grip work from all the extra hanging.

Al Kavadlo Pull Up

Pull-Up Pyramid
Implementing a pyramid protocol is a fun way to incorporate a fairly high volume of pull-ups without sacrificing proper technique. The idea is to gradually increase, and then gradually decrease the amount of reps you perform in each of several consecutive sets.

Begin by doing one pull-up, then come off the bar and take a short break. Next, perform two pull-ups, then after another break, do three. As the sets get longer, the breaks between them should get longer, too. Continue this pattern until you reach the point where you can no longer add another rep with proper form, then start working your way back down.

Pull-up Superset
A superset involves taking two exercises and performing them back-to-back with little to no rest in between. Typically the harder exercise goes first and when fatigue is reached, you switch to the less difficult exercise.

A great way to apply this concept toward improving your pull-ups is to perform a set of Australian pull-ups (aka bodyweight rows) immediately following a set of standard pull-ups. Take a long break, then repeat the superset again.

This method allows you to continue to work your pulling muscles once you can no longer perform any more pull-ups. You can do this 3-4 times in a single workout, but you’ll probably want to give your upper-body a day or two of rest afterward.

Learn To Love It
More than any specific training template or method, consistency and effort will always be the two primary factors that determine success. You have to spend a lot of time doing pull-ups in order to get good at them. There’s no substitute for hard work. Learn to embrace your pull-up practice and in time you may even learn to love doing pull-ups as much as I do.

Al Kavadlo Pull Up