How To Get MORE Gains From Pull-Ups (4 Mistakes You Need To Fix)
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- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
- Want to do better pull ups? Want to increase reps on pull ups? You’ve clicked on the right video. Pull-ups are one of the oldest yet most widely used back exercise out there - and for good reason. They’re convenient to do and very effective at growing and strengthening your mid and upper back muscles. But, despite how simple this exercise may seem, the truth is that most lifters screw this movement up with a few common pull up mistakes that take away from the effectiveness of this exercise. In this video I’ll cover exactly what those errors are so that you can instantly build MORE muscle with pullups - in turn, helping you increase pullup strength. And get more pullups.
The first mistake has to do with grip width. Gripping the bat too wide makes pull-ups less effective for two reasons. One is that it shortens the range of motion of the movement which may enable you to do more reps can compromise growth due to the limited range of motion your back muscles will experience each rep. And second, is that it puts your shoulders in a more compromised position. Which can obviously be detrimental for your gains in the event that you do actually end up harming your shoulder. You also don’t want to grip the bar too narrow. This can not only shift some of the tension away from your back muscles, but can also make your forearm muscles now the limiting factor in your pull-up. So, what you want to do for better pull ups is grip the bar not too wide and not too narrow. Use a grip that’s slightly outside of shoulder width.
The second mistake you’re making is failing to properly engage your core during the exercise. Now although this isn’t necessarily “bad”, it does create a great deal of instability and wasted energy during the pull-up which can negatively affect your strength in the movement. So instead, before you even go into your pull-up, start with your legs straight if possible and then crunch yourself into this “C” position by engaging your abs. Then from here, keep your core engaged and maintain that position as you perform each rep. This will not only instantly provide a ton more stability into your pull-ups, but by setting your lower back in this more stable position it can also enable your lats to pull with more force because they attach into the low back.
The next mistake is losing form at the top of the pull-up. Usually, they do so by letting the shoulders shrug up to the ears and roll forward as they struggle to get above the bar. This not only puts the shoulders in a compromised position but also disengages the back muscles that we’re trying to target. Instead, to build more muscle with pullups, we want to keep the shoulders back and externally rotated and chest upright even as we get to the top. To do so, before you initiate the pull, first set your shoulders by pulling your shoulder blades down and back so that your shoulders move down away from your ears. Then, as you’re pulling, simply think about pulling yourself up by leading with your chest and trying to get your upper chest or collar bone to the bar.
The last mistake you want to fix so you can get more pullups is you’re simply not doing enough volume for your pull-ups. Focus on doing more total pull-up volume, instead of the lat pulldown, as this will better transfer to your pulling strength. And there’s a variety of different ways you can achieve this. So, if you’re currently stuck, then add in some additional sets of pull-up negatives after you’ve fatigued yourself during your normal pull-up sets. Or, if you can only do let’s say 5 or so pull-ups in a row, then just perform more sets but with less reps per set.
So, to sum the video up, here’s a quick recap of the main points that’ll help you increase reps on pull ups:
First, use a proper grip of about 1.5x shoulder width.
Second, keep your core engaged before and during the movement.
Third, don’t lose form and roll your shoulders forward at the top.
And lastly, ensure you’re doing enough pull-up volume as that’s key to improving your strength with this movement.
So hopefully you were able to see that although yes choosing the right exercises is important, executing these exercises in the right manner is really what’s key to maximizing the growth you experience from them. And for a step-by-step program that uses science to not only show you what to workout week after week, but then shows you exactly how to perform each and every exercise for maximal activation and growth while pairing this with a nutrition plan to support your recovery, then take the analysis quiz to discover which science-based program would be best for you and where your body is currently at below:
builtwithscience.com/bws-free...
Filmed by: Bruno Martin Del Campo
MUSIC:
Music by Ryan Little - Body Language - thmatc.co/?l=A37F6F3E
GUESS TO WIN! My back is still sore… How many pull-ups did I have to do to get all the shots for this video? Comment below and the first 10 people to guess the right number (or the closest ones to it) will get enrolled into a BWS program for free! Winners will be chosen tomorrow!
You've helped me immensely
❤️
100 weighted pull ups 💯
How to reduce fat plsss
A solid 34
30
7:02 quick recap of the entire video!
👍
Thanks!
Thank you sir, you are a legend
Yhn
0:30 Grip of about 1.5x shoulder width
2:37 Core engaged before and during the movement
3:48 Don't lose form and roll your shoulders at the top
4:57 Do enough pull-up volume
Dope. I had jusr typed this comment for myself
@@musclegaining2058 great minds think alike
Thank u so much
Hi Jeremy, following your pullup tutorial video, after ~8 weeks of practice, I just did a real pullup (no assistance) last week!! Thank you so much. I'll keep practicing using your tips in both videos and improve pullup game. Grateful for the amazing videos - I've watched lots of tutorials before but wasn't able to form a workout plan to actually work on it, but with your pullup workout plan, I succeeded! :D
Good shit bro 💪🏽
Did you really came here after 8 weeks
@@reinaldomartinez13 its a girl lol. Brahette
@@b0leg23bro can be for both genders
Damn 8 weeks? pull-ups really are hard for girls lol, good job though
By far one of the best fitness channels in CZcams. Always on point, no unnecessary talking, actual research and no BS or overselling. Great job Jeremy!
Exactly, its why i subscribed
Man i'm impressed not only by the production of this video but it's also so well explained AND he's not like 'trust me on this' but backs this all up with scientific data! Well done and thank you for this.
thank you so much for this video!! i didn't know what was wrong with my pullups but could tell they looked bad. Turns out I was just losing form at the top. I've been waitnig for something like this soooo long, thank you again! Your videos are so helpful!
The most valuable and informative at the same time simple and reliable video regarding pull-ups I have found on the youtube so far. Thanks.
Jeremy always posts when I need it the most! I was doing these today
I increased my pull ups from 12 to 19 by simply dedicate a whole day to pull ups and do about 100 in total, using three different grips and not maxing up each set. Did it for a month a couple days a week and boom, i got 19!
Thanks, I'll try it out too maybe. Been stuck at 12 - 9 - 6 (3 sets) for months!
Duc97 with max of 12 in the beginning, I did 10, 8, 6 and then 5 or 6 every other set. Don’t max it up. You can do even 2-4 but don’t rest too much. Change grips will help too
@@AlexAlex-uq2lh are able to perform muscle ups now?
Duc97 no I can’t. And it’s strange. I think I need to work on my technic. Anyone who does 12-14 pull-ups should be able to do at least one muscle up. Are you?
The most valuable advice in these pro trainer pull up vids is to not go to failure so you can increase your reps. I would have had NO idea to do this.
Jeremy’s videos always make me think 👌🏼. Appreciate the research-based perspective!
Your videos are awesome. The info, the pace, the editing, everything. Thanks for these
didacticely well structured and evidence-based recommendations! you tackled actually all the important points, esp the last one regarding ppl struggling to only manage 3-5 reps. Recap at the end is cherry on top! well done!
Back Guy should watch this video
lol
Ouch
Then make a basically videoxabout jeremy? 😅
back guy doesn't need to do pullups
Perfect timing for this video thank you Jeremy !!!
Agreed
You took the words right out of my mouth
same
Jeremy doesn't know your life, man!
today is my Day 1 of this i will come back in 30 days Subb of you wil see prog.
Wow your videos are not even filled with BS and straight to the point. You got yourself a new follower!! Thank you!
Thanks for those very clear tips followed by a good summary. Very nicely and clearly delivered without the hype and shouting.
Uploaded before I did my back workout. Helped a lot thx
1) Grip slightly outside of shoulder width
2) Engage core by starting with legs straight as possible and crunch urself into this C-position (3:20) to engage your abs
3) keep shoulders back and rotated(4:30) think of getting upper chest to the bar. Dont try to lean your head forward
4)not enough volume or practice.
This is the most helpful pull up video tutorial I've seen on youtube so far ..
1. Use proper grip width(slightly wider then shoulder width)
2. Keep core engaged before and during movement
3. Don't loose form and roll shoulders at the top of range of motion(pull chest towards bar)
4. Do more pull-up volume( more total repetitions, more sets with less reps)
Great video as always!
Awesome science as always Jeremy - many thanks.
I really loved your video man, seriously! After watching a lot of calisthenics thecnic videos, I definetly would choose yours. What I like the most is that you use the most recent scientific evidence, and that you can simplify best articles in a few minutes video explaining everything perfectly. Great content, keep going! Here you have a new fan! 💪😁
Jeremy your presentation was excellent. You were clear and concise. The supporting pics (graphs) were very persuasive.Thank you.
Alvin
Thanks a lot, now I understand why my forearms are always on fire while doing pull-ups. Stuck at 8, will see how much I improve in next 1 month
If you’re goal is to thicken your forearms however then a narrow pull up may not be bad.
I actually tore a ligament in my forearm once from doing pull-ups (waaay too many of course) with a narrow grip as well. So yes I can say from personal experience 1:53 is correct. Thanks JE
Its perfect, as always. Thank you, Jeremy!
This was a well done video. You clearly respect the viewers time and focus. Information dense without being stressed or pushed. Very well done.
This video had an engaged core and proper form.
Lockdown was a blessing in disguise for me cause during the lockdown I did the first ever pull up of my life and I'm so proud of it all that is left is to increase it to 10 before November...
yo dude that's crazy! keep up the good work!
@@fuminocchi4533 thank you so much bro!! doing regular exercise had so much positive impact in my daily life.
@@swapnilkarmakar3299 grow a pair
@@Robkyle277 man, it is a work in progress. Don't be taking the wind out of his sails. He's trying, which is way more than I can say for half of the lazy, un-motivated losers out there. Keep it up Swapnil Karmakar.
@@Robkyle277 thats what he's doing growing a pair of all those muscles good advice you should start a channel.
If an enhanced bodybuilder ever starts acting up, i’ll challenge him to pull ups
Lol European war 4 💪🏻
Reported for honesty! 🤣
Then you haven't seen Andrew jacked
Bruh pro bodybuilders can do a lot of pull ups even with their weight
@@T2P661 He's referring to the overgrown / steroid ones, that can't actuate their biceps.
What I truly love about your videos is that you are not just talking from your own experience, you also read and show a lot of studies, real studies, so you create a very secure sense of learning for the viewers.
This information was exactly what I was looking for! Love your content! Thank you Jeremy!
pull ups are definitley one of the staples for building a strong back and upper body. the grip is a crucial element and defintley see that wide grip alot in the gym. great video and these tips are very usefull
Brilliant video. I appreciate you taking the research and making it functional.
This is the best video about pull-ups I've seen! Thank you!
When I started to engage my core while doing pull ups, I felt like my lats became the main muscle worked. If you see gymnasts doing pull ups, this is exactly what they do. It's that often forgot "hollow body hold" and the pointing of the toes that gets the core engaged during pull ups IMO. Also, they do a ton of pull ups and they often have strong and developed back, shoulder, arm, and ab muscles. Nice, informative vid as usual, Jeremy!
Where do you point the toes?
@@RyeCA I point them downward and try to keep my feet together.
@@TimothyLeeMSOTCPT as far as I want to do this, my pull up bar is just not high enough to straighten my feet on the lowest point but I do still engage my core each rep (Dad made it but since I'm tall and the ceiling outside is limited, it cannot be adjusted any further)
@@laughingd4518 I guess you can always try to do something similar to an L-sit pull up but those are super hard! But yea, since you're tall, you just gotta work with what you have.
@@TimothyLeeMSOTCPT I'm incorporating L-sit pull-ups once per week as a substitute for my regular pull ups 😄
I workout 4 times a day and I vary my exercises for each workout session so I also do chin ups for pull ups substitute 😁
I started out with max 6 pullups in march and now i can do max 15 pullups in one set. Keep it up guys you will see progress if you keep at it for 6 months!!!
nice work!
I was actually just about to look this up before you posted. Great vid Jeremy!
Almost 2.9M subs. Nice work Jeremy. It's a solid channel.
Form is everything! Thanks for the video!
It is too frequently glossed over in most tutorials. This was awesome.
This is the hardest exercise but the most beneficial if done correctly.
This is definitely not the hardest body weight exercise out there. It took me about 2 months to go from 0 reps to 8 reps (knocking out x8 20kg weighted pullups now). Practice them every other day (pull-ups, hammer grip and then chin-ups) and you will be in muscle-up territory in no time.
Literally no where near the hardest exercise. Not even the hardest back exercise, at all.
just wait til you reach the realm of one arm chinups/pullups, it took me forever to bend my elbow
Well full body ups would be harder bc u do a pull up and then push the rest of ur body up. Also that might be the hardest body weight exercise, idk about exercises in general. Also Jeff cavalier would be upset that u didn’t say face pulls are the best exercise
@@dustinwrye I can't do it if the bar is too high up.
Absolutely great video man. I truly needed this
Great content. Great examples. I always learn something new from your videos.
keep it up
i find it hard to hold the "pulled down" shoulder position at the top
Practice scapula shurgs to strengthen the hold and possibly your lats / teres major for stability if needed.
Jeremy: How to get more gains from your pullups.
Me: how bold of you to assume I can do any...
😂😂😂😂
Facts but his last pull up video really helped me not gonna lie
Your name makes this all the more hilarious
@@goodvibestv5380 oh yeah lol 😆 🤦♂️🤦♂️
One rep is more than none
Mr. Ethier always bringing Heat and in detailed fashion. Kudos to your sir!
Thanks man. Your videos are always helpful.
Where'd you get that tank top bro? You've been rockin that for years lol, I want one.
Jeremy, thank you for sharing another informative video!
Smart Jeremy! You always have good idea. We need to use those ideas on our channel too
I just started doing pull-ups for the first time and will definitely keep these tips in mind (I took notes on my phone while watching)! But also, I have a serious question: I'm 6'6 and cannot straighten my legs or else they will just hit the ground. I can just do the "C" positioning with my body but sorta fold my legs back so they don't hit the ground right?
It's okay if u don't straighten ur legs (since I have same situation as u but just a 'lil smaller at 5'11) as long as u engage ur core and maintain proper alignment of ur arms and back, it is still effective
How much do u weigh. Pulluos at 6"6 are hard. Perhaps consider crossing your legs
@@Solivigant. Like 190lbs or so. They’re pretty hard because my arms are so long!
pull ups are my fav workout
Love these vids! Super informative without droning on.
This video is amazing, thank you for your insight!
There are two points: 1. The grip width depends on the biomachanical differences between each body. 2. Having a strong grip, or doing a slightly overgrip will make the pull ups easier.
If you grip the bar too narrow and you do a lot of pull-ups, your forearms becomes even thicker than your legs (1:52)
Popeye clearly shows that your forearms are the only muscle that matters
@Dan Don Narrow or wide grip should not have any differences, as you’re mainly using your back muscles to do the pull ups, not your forearms. To train forearms dead hang is a good exercise... 😉
💯 ☝🏼
@@kwok_lee Wrong. If it fatigues your muscles then youre stressing them enough to adapt. So yes, narrow grip is good for forearms (although it wont help much with pull ups for the other mentioned reasons.)
@Dan Don If you want to train your forearms, put a towel on a pullup bar and use it as a grip.
My pull up bar came in like a month ago. And these were the exact questions I was asking myself. Incredible.
This might very well be the most informative pull-up video I’ve ever seen
Pull up bible
I have a love/hate relationship with pullups momentarily. After months of constant training, it seems I'm just stuck with 12 reps (with chinups it's 14). Seems next to impossible to get past those numbers, and I'm been stuck here probably for 8-9 months now. Training 3-4 times a week (sometimes few easy sets on rest days too), with added weight of 5-25kg, without weight, short sets, longs sets, different grips etc. Doing also L-sit rope climbs to give my back a bit different stimulation. But nope. It does seem its now a lot easier to do those sets of 5 reps and you can do them more than before, but maximum amount seems hard to grow bigger. Ideas?
this could be due to forearm gripstrength not growing?
not being able to grip the bar for long enough
Not enough rest or food to allow muscles to grow
Excellent advice. All makes perfect sense. Well done!
Awesome Content, Thank you for the Tips!
The 10 sets of 3 reps trick sounds very interesting. Rn I'm doing 3 sets of 5 to failure just like the example. Very curious to see the new results
Did it work for you?
@@cybertime4143 Didnt try it long enough to find out before I got injured through sports. I just remember it taking a lot longer to do but not as stressing.
@@PlatinumSan Ah man ..best of luck with your recovery dude
@@cybertime4143 Thanks man
2:40 if the core is engaged it is impossible to control your shoulders to be pressed down as you said in mistake #3. Also this creates hollow body position which shifts the attention away from the back muscles to the arms. So this is not bad if you are doing chin ups. But is bad during pull ups, so to solve this you need just to flex the abs and the glutes to activate the core to and you should focus on pulling the bar towards your chest with your elbows.
Yeah. Hollow body pull ups I feel less strong. Pull ups finally clicked for me when I started doing chest to bar, almost like a reverse row. It's really just impossible to not have the core engaged in a pull up.
Great tips bro good looks !!!
perfect 👍 will apply all the advices. thanks for sharing
No body else has ever pointed out this bad habit.
YES! This is such an important cue! I made a video about pull ups for back training like a week ago. I was planning on detailing this further in another video.
I just want to ask you one thing Jeremy; are chin-ups a good alternative to pull-ups because many studies show that both of them activate lats to a similar degree. And second thing; for chinup, is a medium grip like pull up better or shoulder width grip?
Chin up is better for lats and biceps.
Pull up is better for upper back muscle and lats.
Check out Calimovement’s channel, they did a video on alternative grips. They found out that narrow grip for ”Chin-Ups” was better.
Calimovement pull ups vs chin ups is the video
With a chin up a shoulder width is better, pull up a slightly wider grip as u saw on the vid
Yes, many scientific studies also show that the pull up and chin up had almost SIMILAR Lats activation (Chin ups got an average activation of 82 whereas pull ups got 85). But, the chin ups activated the biceps and chest more then the pull up and the pull up activated the lower traps significantly more then chin ups. But, considering that how easy are chin ups are can be done 3x or maybe 4x more then pull-ups; the chin up is definitely a more functional exercise.
Hope it helped!
Suuuuper Sir, Very informative. Pullups is the toughest exercise among all, this is my opinion. It finds very easy when we see your video but find tough when we workout the same. Thanx a lot Sir for educating and highlighting the mistakes one does in pullup. Keep it up Sir.
Excellent video
I ll work on all of those mistakes
Wanna learn how to do more pull ups? Just keep doing more...I’m not even joking
Working towards the demon back like Baki Hamma...lol!
*Baki Hanma.
I've been trying to improve my pull up game for years now and have not been able to do it no matter what. This is the first out of literally hundreds of videos that I've watched on the topic that makes a ton of sense to me. This was extremely well done. I'm only halfway through the video but I had to stop to write this comment.
Ay man, I don't know if you'll see this but I couldn't do even 5 pull ups then I saw your video about doing kneeling cable pull downs and eventually I worked up to doing 150lbs for 15 reps and my pull ups sky rocketed from there. Now I'm able to do 16 in a single set! Just wanna say thanks and your stuff works!
I am a bit confused.
At 2:10 the reason for the grip recommendation is based on pulldown studies but later on it is mentioned that pulldown strength doesn't correlate with pull-up strength (5:23) due to different muscle activation patterns.
Am I misinterpreting this or do we have to question if grip width recommendations can be drawn from pulldown studies?
No hate at all, maybe someone can explain?
I didnt understand that
Andreas Kastner yeah he was referring to muscle activation, tbh the small things don’t matter that much, just use a grip that feels best for u
At 2:10 , shows only lat pull down's grip recomendations, not about to pull up
Yep. He does this a lot
I don't think he's wrong in the recommendation but he's definitely cherry picking
@@tommymack3210 My comment or what Jeremy explained?
Body weight HAS to have an effect on the amount of pull ups people can do. Strong at 250 vs Fit at 145 makes a HUGE difference in the ability to do the movement.
It’s muscle to fat ratio so basically the lower your body fat is the easier the pull ups are that’s why you usually see the ripped guys doing the most pull ups because they’re pulling muscle they can activate rather than fat that’s basically just loose weight
Larry wheels can do like 25 pull ups
Just what I needed. Thank you!
Gotta say your videos are so helpful!! So glad i found this channel!!
Great to see! Hope you're making good progress!
The pull-up bars are so short at my gym, that my legs are always hitting the floor. Sadly, I can't engage my abs nor straighten my legs as said in this video.
Do an L-sit or find a suitable branch in the forest! I think you can find something that you can hang full lenght from if you want to
lukasdubb Ty
@@immersiveparadox Same here
@@lukasdubb L sit makes it 10 times harder most of the people lack mobility and core strength to get in the starting position
Paresh Bhanushali If you can’t do it then don’t do it
this guy has probably never lost an argument
He did
To my Doc
Great summary of the most common mistakes (that I too did after many years of training) and the effectiveness of different volume strategies 👍
Agreed!
Thank you so much. Your are an amazing person, and your work is professional ❤️👌
This is like "pull-ups is killing your gains" except I can't do any so no gains are killed.
Get a pair of gymnastic rings and lower them so that your feet touch the ground. Control how much your legs assist. This way, you can work the movement with less load, and you'll do a full bodyweight pullup in no time.
Or use a resistant band under ya feet to assist you for a few weeks.
In April I couldn’t do any, so I bought a resistance band and started to use it, after about a month I did my first body weight pull up. Now after 6 months I can do 8
Mark Carson Thanks man I appreciate it!
I can do 3 pull-ups max pre pandemic but when gyms opened this september I can't even do one, anyways thanks for the advice I definitely will add it again to my back workout hopefully can do 5-10 by end of the year.
Comment for the algorithm
Thanks great vid. Very helpful.
Very informative and clear. Thank you !
Pro tip, imagine using your elbows as hook and use pinky finger to feel your lats more.
Mistake #2 is arguably the biggest mistake in any exercise actually.
Any? Even bench? There are exercises where you actually need the opposite.
nvmffs yes!
@ Have you done hyperextensions for your lower back?
nvmffs not as a dedicated thing, but probably as part of some other movement. I follow Jeremy’s program.
Just like my workouts, i procrastinate on watching these videos. However, just like my workouts, I'm so much happier after I've done it! Great video
Your videos are so good, you are explaining really well
I’m stuck with 35 pull ups in one set. With proper form
Impressive!!
Hmm....it seems that you have a problem.....😉
How many sets are you doing
Mario Turkalj How?
Tunicht Gut 2 sets 1st set for 35 reps & 2nd set for 25 reps.
Meanwhile I’m stuck at 2 pulls 😭😂
Don't worry. Keep doing them. I once couldn't do 1! Now I can perform 12, though aiming for higher reps. Increase the sets as said in this video.
I wanna do 1 :(
Much love 🤘♥️ great content
Your videos are so helpful! Thank you!
He looks like an old Indian woman
🧢
Thank you so much for this video!
Love these vids.
very good video. really well explained. cheers.
damn so helpful, just 8 mins and my pull ups have changed, feels much better and more consistant thanks man
Perfect... I was just trying to learn how to do one today