BURN Fitness 101: Strength Training – Building a Better Back with Pull-ups!
There’s no better exercise for building a better looking back than pull-ups! But for so many people, they don’t have the power-to-weight strength to do enough pull-ups to really help… if they can do any at all!
For years, the replacement for pull-ups has been cable lat pull-downs. Lat pull-downs are good… but only if you’re doing them right! Tucking your feet forward under the knee pad reinforces the same poor posture we spend all day in, sitting! It engages your hip flexors, abs, and even chest muscles to assist in the pull. Since I’m trying to RETRAIN my clients to relax and lengthen those very muscles to improve their posture, cheating with them while trying to train your back just makes them worse! Also, if your goal is doing “real pull-ups”, doing your lat pull-downs wrong does little to get you there. To build pull-up ability, you need to do lat pull-downs in the same position as your pull-ups, basically hanging from the bar! I’m currently changing all of my clients over to a newer technique that I’ve been using myself.
Instead of sitting on the seat, knees forward (or worse tucked under the pad)… straddle the seat more like a saddle, and bend your knees tucking your feet BEHIND you. Think of the position you’re in while doing a pull-up. Your hips are straight, and your thighs hang straight down. Your feet are behind you as you pull your chest up to the bar. With your lat pull-downs, imagine “lifting your chest to the bar”, instead of pulling the bar to you. Focus on pulling your arms in tightly to the FRONT of your ribcage, instead of sticking your elbows out to the rear.
Never “kip”!!! Kipping is using momentum to lift your legs upward, and then with the weight of your legs effectively removed from the pull-up, you pull toward the bar. This can get you more reps, but effectively kills the results for you back.
The lat pull-down works well as a “drop-set” for pull-ups, when used right. Pick a weight on the lat pull-down that you could do 15-18 reps with (pretty light). Star with true body-weight pull-ups and do as many as you can do, even if it’s only 2-3. As soon as you can’t finish a full rep, move quickly to the lat pull-down and keep going! Get as many as you can, mimicking your perfect pull-up form.
Within a few weeks, you’ll get more and more “real” pull-ups!
Eventually, you’ll be cranking out 12-15 pull-ups with your body weight. Now is the time to ADD weight (with a dip belt)!
For more advice on getting more results in less time… come see a BURN Fitness Trainer!
There’s no better exercise for building a better looking back than pull-ups! But for so many people, they don’t have the power-to-weight strength to do enough pull-ups to really help… if they can do any at all!
For years, the replacement for pull-ups has been cable lat pull-downs. Lat pull-downs are good… but only if you’re doing them right! Tucking your feet forward under the knee pad reinforces the same poor posture we spend all day in, sitting! It engages your hip flexors, abs, and even chest muscles to assist in the pull. Since I’m trying to RETRAIN my clients to relax and lengthen those very muscles to improve their posture, cheating with them while trying to train your back just makes them worse! Also, if your goal is doing “real pull-ups”, doing your lat pull-downs wrong does little to get you there. To build pull-up ability, you need to do lat pull-downs in the same position as your pull-ups, basically hanging from the bar! I’m currently changing all of my clients over to a newer technique that I’ve been using myself.
Instead of sitting on the seat, knees forward (or worse tucked under the pad)… straddle the seat more like a saddle, and bend your knees tucking your feet BEHIND you. Think of the position you’re in while doing a pull-up. Your hips are straight, and your thighs hang straight down. Your feet are behind you as you pull your chest up to the bar. With your lat pull-downs, imagine “lifting your chest to the bar”, instead of pulling the bar to you. Focus on pulling your arms in tightly to the FRONT of your ribcage, instead of sticking your elbows out to the rear.
Never “kip”!!! Kipping is using momentum to lift your legs upward, and then with the weight of your legs effectively removed from the pull-up, you pull toward the bar. This can get you more reps, but effectively kills the results for you back.
The lat pull-down works well as a “drop-set” for pull-ups, when used right. Pick a weight on the lat pull-down that you could do 15-18 reps with (pretty light). Star with true body-weight pull-ups and do as many as you can do, even if it’s only 2-3. As soon as you can’t finish a full rep, move quickly to the lat pull-down and keep going! Get as many as you can, mimicking your perfect pull-up form.
Within a few weeks, you’ll get more and more “real” pull-ups!
Eventually, you’ll be cranking out 12-15 pull-ups with your body weight. Now is the time to ADD weight (with a dip belt)!
For more advice on getting more results in less time… come see a BURN Fitness Trainer!