Exercise That Will Help You Do A Pull Up

If there is one movement at the gym that displays physical strength more than anything else it would be the Pull up.  How could it not be?  You are literally manhandling your own bodyweight.  There is a reason why both the military and Arnold Schwarzenegger promote the pull up as the benchmark of strength and muscle development.  But you can’t do a pull up, if you could you wouldn’t be reading this article.  Mind you, the title of this article emphasizes that this post will help you do A pull up; as in right now you are doing zero pull ups.  No worries, soon enough you will be pulling yourself up and maybe even over the bar!  

What Is The  Exercise?

While at an intro to CrossFit class, I was introduced to an exercise that on the surface was simple enough and appeared to be just a part of the workout.  Little did I know that this exercise will segway you to a much more important exercise…the pull up.  This exercise is the Inverted Ring Row.  When reviewing how to perform this movement the coach mentioned how to make this exercise more difficult, he said to lower your body at the starting position so that your body is lying nearly parallel to the floor.

Making Sense Of It

While performing the movement in this manner, it became especially apparent that the inverted ring row mimicked a pull up, in both the motion of the arms and the muscles involved.  It was also at that moment that everything clicked as to why we were performing this movement at an intro to CrossFit class.  Improving your ability to perform a pull up is crucial with regards to CrossFit.  Many high level workouts involve the ability to do a pull up, as well as it’s much more difficult and equally more impressive movement: the muscle up.      

How Do We Do It?

The Inverted Ring Row, or just an Inverted Row (if you don’t have access to rings), is a great exercise for beginners because it is adaptable to your strength level.  Essentially you start with a bar (or rings) that are set to mid chest level, grab the bar with any grip you prefer (over hand, under hand, shoulder width, wide, narrow) and extend your arms out in front by leaning back with your feet planted under the bar.  Performing a row is the action of bringing the bar towards you and away from you; as you bring the bar towards you keep your elbows in tight and allow them to pass behind your torso, this is the proper form.  The difficulty in this exercise comes where your body is positioned at the starting position.  If you are standing upright, perpendicular to the floor, this is the easiest position.  As the angle decreases between you and the ground the more difficult the exercise becomes, also the lower the bar (or rings) are positioned at the start of the movement will make the exercise more difficult.  If you can perform 10 ring rows with your body at around 20 degrees off of the floor then you will be able to do a pull up.  Include this exercise in your routine and you will see your ability to perform pull ups go up!  Alternatively, if you do not have access to gymnastic rings, you can perform this movement at a squat rack. Simply adjust the rack to be at a position suitable to your strength ability.

Give this a shot and I hope you can get yourself over the bar soon!

This exercise will segway you to a much more important exercise…the pull up.