It doesn’t matter how many pullups you can do, whether it is 25 unbroken or you struggle to get even one, I have one tip that is going to make doing pull ups easy. With just one simple body hack, doing pull-ups will become a heck of a lot easier than they were before.
The first thing you want to do when trying to make pullups easier is to pay attention to how you set up. Too often, I see people in the gym getting ready to do their pull-ups and they get the set up wrong almost every single time. It doesn’t matter how strong they are, when they get this wrong, they are sacrificing the number of the pull ups they can do significantly.
The part of the setup that I see people in the gym get wrong all the time is that they simply just grab the bar and pull straight up. Now, this might not seem like anything to worry about, however, this could be shortchanging the number of reps you can do.
What is happening here? The shoulders are unpacked, the lats are not pre-set, and the beginning pull is initiated by the arms. This means that the lats are not taking on the brunt of the work to start the pullup. By not setting the lats and not packing the shoulders, you are requiring greater effort and energy in order to initiate the pull up. The extra requirement will lead to fatigue quicker than necessary and will leave you performing less pull-ups than you are actually capable of.
How do we fix it? Simple.
When you grip the bar, lean back slightly. This will automatically pack your shoulders and engage your lats. Presetting the lats will ensure that they are taking on the brunt of the work as compared to your arms if you didn’t. To do more pullups, you need to make sure the right muscles are performing their job at the right time. That means getting the lats set and using them to initiate the pull-up instead of the arms. Remember, your arms will fatigue faster than your lats, so let’s make sure that the lats are doing the work so you can get more unbroken pullups in a single set.
Remember, it’s not just what exercises you choose, but how you do them that matters the most. If you don’t pay attention to the nuances of the exercise, you might not be getting the full potential available from that specific exercise. The details matter when you are trying to build as much muscle as possible or you are trying to perform at the very best of your abilities.
For more ways to make sure that you are getting every exercise right with proper form, be sure to stay tuned to this channel are remember to subscribe so that you never miss another video from a physical therapist with a pro sports background as a PT and strength coach.
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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).