You Can Finally Nail Your Pull-Ups With This Exercise

How many pull ups can you do? 10, 20? You just keep doing them till the gym closes?

Though some can do a solid pull-up, your number is probably zero. Sure, you might lift yourself off the ground, but full extension then lifting your chest all the way to the bar is insanely difficult. 

It can be hard to know where to start with pull-ups. They seem pretty all or nothing. You can either lift yourself high off the ground, or you can't. But there are ways to slowly build up your strength to finally nail real deal pull-ups.

Men's Health made a video about assisted pull-ups. Now, don't get freaked out by the word "assisted." It's not like Terry Crews will be there to lift you up and down to get you started.

Since pull-ups require you to support your entire body, it's very hard to get a full range of movement right out of the gate. Imagine bench pressing for your very first time and piling on 150+ lbs. That might be a little overwhelming.

Assisted pull-ups can require no extra equipment and get you working the full range of the exercise. 

By keeping your feet on the floor and supporting some of your body weight while pulling up with your arms, you decrease the load and engage the muscles in every phase the move.

You may have to start supporting a lot of weight in your legs, but since you're actually doing a complete pull up, all the right muscles will gain strength faster. When you just skip to the regular pull-up, you end up only working a tiny portion of the range of motion.

Over time, put less and less weight in your legs. When you can do a around of eight reps easily, then it's time to lift your feet. This progression may feel very difficult at first, but you'll be amazed at how fast you're doing pull-ups like a pro.

Eventually, you could graduate to upside down pull-ups.

Those look truly crazy. But who knows? By starting small and using proper form, you could be busting out pull-up right-ways, sideways, and upside down on every suspended bar you see.