Both pull-ups and chin-ups are excellent upper body exercises (pull-ups are where your palms face away from you, chin-ups are where your palms point towards you). Pull-ups are one of the best exercises for developing upper body strength, as they target multiple muscle groups, including your back, biceps, and forearms. Not only do they build strength, but they also improve your posture, increase grip strength, and promote fat loss.
They are body weight exercises so your challenge is the number repetitions, speed and technique.
During a randomised trial of healthy individuals, it was discovered that:
- After 6 weeks of training twice a week, participants improved by 39%
- Subjects increased performance by 65% after 12 weeks of pull-ups done twice a week
Pull-ups are good for your physique and strength because:
- They train your grip to be stronger as you need to be able to support 100% of your body weight, and more if you wear weights
- It challenges your core muscles as you need to stabilise your body as you through the up and down motions
- It is transferable strength, which means the upper body strength developed can be used to make other exercises easier or everyday tasks a breeze
- It builds muscle endurance – the more you do it, means increasing the number you’ll be able to do
- You get the highly-coveted v-shape as they target the biggest muscle of the back
- It reduces back pain
Health benefits of pull-ups
Studies on the effect on health are scarce, but as a type of resistance training, it can have some positive effects on your overall health.
Based on several reviews on the effects of resistance training, it was stated that 10 weeks of strength training can:
- Increase resting metabolic rate by 7%
- Increase HDL cholesterol by 8 to 21%
- Decrease LDL by 13-23%
- Reduce triglycerides by 11 to 18%
- Lower resting systolic blood pressure by 3.2 to 4.6 mmHg
- Reduce diastolic blood pressure by 1.4 to 2.2 mmHg
- Increase bone mass density by 2.7 to 7.7%
- Improve insulin sensitivity by 16%
- Reduce depression by 80%
Pull-ups as part of a workout routine can:
- Reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular health problems in the future
- Improve bone density
- Lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
Can beginners do pull-ups?
Yes, beginners can do them but may only be able to complete less than 10 on the first try. Fitness professionals recommend starting with 5 pull-ups during the first week, then increase the numbers each week. As for the frequency, you can do it twice a week at the beginning.
You can also do other upper body exercises like lifting weights to help with grip strength and strengthening muscles. Otherwise, using an assisted machine can benefit you greatly by significantly lowering the weight you need to lift.
We have a number of different products that can let you do these exercises at home. We have a power tower station or my particular favourite – the door gym.
Using the door gym for pull-ups and other workouts at home
The door gym is an incredibly versatile and useful bit of home gym gear.
Its most obvious use is for various forms of pull-up. Hardly any exercise is as efficient and demanding for the entire back musculature as pull-ups: Especially the large and small teres muscle as well as the large and small rhomboid muscle are stressed. The upper arm and forearm muscles are also challenged.
It can be taken put up and taken down in seconds and easily stored away in a corner. So far so good. By now you hopefully agree it is suitable as a piece of home gym equipment, what can you do with it and how can it improve your strength and fitness.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-doing-pull-ups-6389082/
Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-and-woman-doing-pull-ups-at-the-gym-4944432/
