There are many benefits of pullups. I could go on about the importance of this exercise all day, but today I’m going to talk about the top 6 benefits and I’m also going to give you a few tips on how to do more pullups.
Table of Contents
- Benefit #1 Convenience
- Benefit #2 Fundamental Compound Upper-body Exercise
- Benefit #3 Easily Increase Intensity
- Benefit #4 Many Variations
- Benefit #5 Grip Strength
- Benefit #6 Fat Loss
- 3 Tips For Doing More Pullups
- Pullups are superior to pull downs
- Assisted pull ups are superior to pull downs
- Even if you can only do 1 or 2 pullups, do it – Practice Makes Perfect
Benefit #1 Convenience
Pullups are one of the most convenient exercises around. You can do them pretty much anywhere. All you need is a bar and your body. When I first started working out as a teen, I used a random metal pole that I found in the garage and hung it my laundry room. Voila! Before you go out and buy a pull up bar, check out the list of best pull up bars I put together. I tried to include an option for nearly every situation.
Benefit #2 Fundamental Compound Upper-body Exercise
Compound exercises are important because they target multiple muscle groups. No doubt you know how important squats are for your legs, well think of it this way – Pullups are to your upper body what squats are for your lower body. There is no other excise that will make your upper body grow quite like pullups. Specifically, pullups do a great job of targeting the back and biceps. If you want a V-taper physique, pullups are a must!
Benefit #3 Easily Increase Intensity
Regularly increasing the intensity of your workouts is one of the secrets to building muscle. Some exercises require you to get fancy with your workouts in order to increase the intensity, but not pullups. You can boost the intensity of your back workout simply by strapping a weight plate to your waist or hanging a kettle bell or dumbbell from your feet.
Benefit #4 Many Variations
One of the best benefits of pullups is that there are so many different variations of the pullup. The great thing is that one variation doesn’t require any additional equipment than another variation. All you’ve got to do is change up your grip. My favorite variation is the regular ole’ fashioned wide, overhand pullup. This is the best variation for getting your lats to grow nice and wide. Some other good variations are close grip pullups , and reverse grip pullups (also known as chinups). I find that all of these variations do a great job of targeting my back, but reverse grip pullups (chinups) place more emphasis on the biceps.
I noticed a lot of progress in my bicep development once I started doing chin ups. So if you want big arms, make sure you’re doing chin ups.
Benefit #5 Grip Strength
If you’re a serious bodybuilder, then having good grip strength is a must. Fortunately, pullups are the perfect exercise for strengthening your grip.
Benefit #6 Fat Loss
It’s not quite like running on a treadmill or jumping rope, but pullups will get your heart rate up and really kick your butt. If you want to boost the fat loss effects of pullups, decrease the time in-between sets or super-set your pullups with another exercise.
Below you can find a list of pullups tips that should help you out in your quest to build a bigger upper body and do more pullups.
3 Tips For Doing More Pullups
Pullups are superior to pull downs
Go to the gym any day of the week and I guarantee your chances of finding a free pull up bar is much higher than finding a free pull-down machine. People are lazy these days, they would rather do what’s easy and comfortable than what’s hard, but more beneficial. Pull downs are O.K. but they should be added to supplement your pull ups, not replace them.
Assisted pull ups are superior to pull downs
Get out of your comfort zone. Even if you can’t do a pullup, try ditching the pull-down machine for the assisted pullup machine. It’s not as embarrassing as you think. Each week you’ll make a little bit of progress and before you know it, you won’t have to use the assisted pull up machine. You’ll be able to do a real pullup.
Even if you can only do 1 or 2 pullups, do it – Practice Makes Perfect
If you can only do 1 or 2 pullups, but decide never to do them, how will you ever reach 10 pullups?
Stop making excuses and start doing pull ups. When I could only do 1 or 2 pullups I would perform 3-4 sets of assisted pull ups, and then do a couple of sets of body weight pullups,, even though I could only do 1 or 2.
