8 benefits of pull-ups

Pull-ups are one of the most effective bodyweight exercises that can be done at home. It’s also the first step toward the pursuit of a lean, toned upper body.

There are absolutely NO precautions that one should take while doing pull-ups. The only precaution one should take is to perform pull-ups at their own pace to avoid injuries. The best way to go about doing this is to start off small and work your way up to the bigger sets.

Here are 8 benefits of doing pull-ups:

1. Stronger Back:

Pull-ups and chin-ups target your latissimus dorsi, which is one of the largest muscles in your body. Developed lats, or "wings," are indicators of upper body strength and are essential for everyday activities like reaching high cabinets or carrying grocery bags.

2. Improves Posture:

When you do pull-ups, your body works to hold itself in place, so over time, this posture exercise will help strengthen the back muscles that help you stand up straight.

3. Improves Flexibility:

The simple act of pulling up your own body weight is, well, not so simple. But it's an exercise that requires incredible strength. It's also an amazing workout for your back, arms, shoulders, and core muscles, improving strength and flexibility. Now, before you do any pull-ups make sure you have a sturdy bar and a good grip on the bar (one palm facing forward, one facing back).

4. Weight-Loss:

Pull-ups are great for weight loss. Doing pull-ups forces your body to use fat as an energy source. You can lose up to 20 pounds of fat in one year by doing 5-10 minutes every day, only 5-7 days a week of high-intensity exercises.

5. Tones Your Muscles:

Pull-ups are the most common exercises in which you have to use your own body weight to move your body against gravity. These help in burning calories, strengthening muscles, and improving your overall fitness. With pull-ups, you can also work on specific muscle groups like the biceps, triceps, and shoulders.

6. Improves Mental Health:

Strength or resistance training is also beneficial for mental health. A study revealed a positive correlation between strength training and the following:

Improving cognitive thinking
Reducing anxiety symptoms
Reducing depression
Reducing fatigue
& improving self-esteem

7. Improves Grip Strength:

Pull-ups also help improve grip strength and performance in many sports including golf, tennis, rock climbing, and bowling. In our everyday life, strong grip strength is extremely important for performing activities like opening jars, walking our pets on a leash, carrying groceries, etc.

8. Increases Intensity:

Pull-ups are an easy way to increase the intensity. Even if you are a beginner or simply have not ever tried doing them, in that case, a few normal pull-ups will be more than enough to make you sweat. However, as you progress you can simply do more reps each time and do more sets too.

Will pull-ups make you bigger?

Over time, resistance exercises like pull-ups can cause your muscle size to increase, provided you’re consuming at a calorie surplus and having adequate protein intake.

This impact takes much more time than the movement, strength, and endurance gains, as your body needs to make new muscle fibres from the amino acids you have in your food.

However, the increases in muscle size will likely be less than what you would face if you had sufficient recovery time as this process of muscle protein synthesis happens at rest as opposed to during the workout itself.

Are pull-ups good for men?

Strength or resistance training can really help increase your overall fitness level. When you do a pullup, you’re lifting your whole body mass with the movement. This can greatly enhance your body strength and even boost your overall health.

Studies show that strength training is necessary for promoting bone development and improving cardiovascular health.

Strength train yourself with exercises like pull-ups 2-3 times a week for best outcomes.

How many pull-ups should a man do a day?

An average untrained individual may well not be able to do even a single pull-up. While the average (who is not overweight) man should be able to do around 5-8, for women it is 1-3.

Once an individual is able to do 15+ without stopping, or 5+ for a woman, it is considered quite good. With regular and good training, doing 20, 30, or even 50 pull-ups or more is also possible.

Chin-ups vs pull-ups

Chin-ups and pull-ups both are highly beneficial for bodyweight exercises that specifically target your entire upper body. And while you may use both of these terms interchangeably at your convenience, these two moves are actually quite distinct from one another.

The big difference comes in when you grip the bar. Putting it more simply, chin-ups are usually performed with your palms facing completely toward your body, and on the other hand, pull-ups are performed with your palms facing completely away from your body.

The change in your grip position directly results in a big difference in targeting the muscle activation and the strength of the grip.

A chin-up is also a popular strength training exercise that uses your full body weight, with a prime focus on your upper body parts and the core.

While it requires great strength to perform such exercises, the move to perform these exercises is rather straightforward

Chin-ups work with your upper back parts and the arm muscles, specifically your forearms, biceps, shoulders, and lats. Just like the pull-ups, chin-ups also fully engage your abdominal muscles throughout the performance of these moves.

Doing a pull-up is very similar to doing a chin-up exercise. But besides having slight variations in your stance and grip, there are also major differences in how your body responds in return to such moves.

Pull-ups target your whole back muscles primarily, but specifically your lats muscles, but also your shoulders and chest muscles. Compared to doing a chin-up, pull-ups far better engage your lower trapezius muscles present in your back portion between the shoulder blades.

How to Master the Pull-Up?

Pull-ups and chin-ups build some of the most important muscles: the latissimus dorsi (lats, for short). Lats are broad muscles that run from your lower back to your armpits; they help you pull, support, and stabilize your shoulders during many everyday activities. To keep your lats strong and healthy, add these exercises to your workout routine.

While pull-ups are one of the oldest exercises in existence, it is also one of the most effective. Pull-ups compress the shoulder, which is where the rotator cuff lies. The rotator cuff muscles are responsible for keeping the shoulder joint stable, thus making them an essential part of injury prevention. Besides working your lats, pull-ups also target the lower back, biceps, forearms, and even grip strength.

So, how to do a perfect pull-up? Here is a step-by-step guide for you:

Leap up and grip the bar with your hands keeping your shoulder-width apart and your palms facing away from you. Hang with your arms fully extended and you can bend your legs at the knee if they are dragging on the ground.
Keep your shoulders back and engage your core throughout and then slowly pull up. Focus on enlisting every upper body muscle to aid your upward movements.
Keep moving until your chin is above the bar, then equally slowly downward until your arms are extended again. Aim for 10 pull-ups but be prepared to fall short.

Take Away

Machines are handy when you are unable to do pull-ups on your own. But when it comes to building muscles, you should avoid relying on machines, as they don't provide resistance equal to body weight. The only exception is the assisted pull-up, in which resistance is provided by a machine.

However, in case you want to proceed with pull-ups without the assistance of machines, take the help of a spotter. If you are unable to complete ten pull-ups in one go, ask your spotter to help you with partial reps.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What happens if you do pull-ups every day?

Pull Ups helps you to train your biceps and upper back. While these are some of the major muscles that you want to train, you do not want anytime that any of your muscle groups disproportionately become strong when compared with the rest of your body. If you only do the pull-ups exercise, you will definitely have a muscular imbalance.

2. Do pull-ups build muscle?

Pull-ups are quite a good strength training exercise that can help you in building your muscle, with nothing more than requiring your own body weight and a sturdy bar in doing so. While they need good upper body strength, high core stability, and greater coordination, even beginners can do the full pull-ups greatly with ease, according to many fitness experts.

3. Do pull-ups give you a six-pack?

No, pull-ups are not at all an abs-specific exercise. When you perform these pull-up exercises, your whole body is in working, beginning with your hands and ending with your calves muscles. Nevertheless, it is recommended that during pull-up exercises you can isolate your core muscles which is why you put less pressure on your legs, hands, and chest.

References

Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health