Progressing Towards Your 1st Pull-Up

So you have a goal to be able to do a bodyweight pull up, but you are not sure where to begin. I am going to quickly walk you through 3 useful tips to get you on your way towards performing your first pull up.

Tip #1: if you are on the heavier side, and you know you could lose a few pounds, prioritize losing weight. While strength is absolutely necessary to be able to do a pull up, increasing your strength takes much longer than decreasing your weight. So, rather than trying to build enough strength to be able to do a pull-up with your current bodyweight, focus on losing weight while strength training. This will quicken your progress towards doing your first pull up. 

Tip #2: Build strength in your vertical pulling muscles. Your lats, rhomboids, lower traps, biceps, and rear delts are all primary vertical pulling muscles. Selecting resistance exercises that target these muscles is key. The lat pull down, assisted pull up machine, cable rows, and bent rows, will be your best friends.

Tip #3:  Training frequency and intensity. You want to be training these muscles at least twice a week, with an intensity such that these muscles get sore after every workout, but recover by the next workout. Recovery means these muscles are no longer sore. Importantly, we do not want to train muscles when they are sore because you disrupt your body’s recovery process and expose yourself to greater risk of injury. Expect some trial and error finding that sweet spot between minimum effective training volume that gets you sore, and the maximum recoverable training volume that your body can recover from by the next workout. If you have the capability, this is where hiring a strength coach can really help out.