Pull up bar exercises
There are now pull up bar solutions which allow home trainers to fit a bar within a door frame at home with little worry of damage. A pull up bar offers a home trainer a selection of useful exercises which would be impossible to perform or imitate without a pull up station. Pull ups place demand on the back muscles and arm flexors, notably the latmissimus dorsi (the muscle which composes most the upper back, often referred to simply as the “lats”), rhomboids, trapezius and the biceps. Other exercises can also be performed using the pull up bar.
Wide grip pull up
Wide grip pull ups primarily target the lats, and are useful for developing a wide and thick back. Pull up bars fitted to a home door frame may limit the width of grip taken, but one which is slightly greater than shoulder width apart would be ample.
1. Grasp onto the chin up bar, taking a shoulder (or greater) width grip (over hand grip so palms are facing away). Hang from the bar, bending at the knees if necessary to clear the floor.
2. Pull up until your chin reaches the bar.
3. Reverse the movement (in a slow and controlled manner).
4. Repeat for repetitions.
Under hand pull up (chin up)
The underhand pull up, often referred to as the chin up, also works the lats but also places greater demand on the biceps. The only difference between the chin up and the wide grip pull up is the grip. The chin up uses a narrower under hand grip.
1. Grasp onto the chin up taking a shoulder width (under hand) grip. Hang from the bar, bending at the knees if necessary to clear the floor.
2. Pull up until your chin reaches the bar.
3. Reverse the movement (in a slow and controlled manner).
4. Repeat for repetitions.
Leg raise
The pull up bar can also be used to perform the leg raise which stimulate the abdominals. Many pull up stations in gyms allow the trainer to be elevated high enough off the ground to allow the legs to remain extended during the exercises. The same is not true for home set ups, where the door frame often means the trainer will have to bend his/her knees to clear the floor when hanging from the bar. This does mean the leg raise will differ somewhat at home, due to the need to bend at the knee, but the exercise is still possible to perform.
1. Grasp onto the chin up taking a shoulder width (over hand) grip. Hang from the bar, bending at the knees if necessary to clear the floor.
2. Raise your knees towards your shoulders by flexing at the hips. Pause for one second at peak contraction.
3. Reverse the movement (in a slow and controlled manner).
4. Repeat for repetitions.
Raised push up and sit ups
Some home pull up solutions allow for the bar to be interchangeable between a high and low point on the door frame. The high point allows for the exercises mentioned above to be performed. The low point allows the bar to be used for raises push ups and also as a support for sit ups or crunches. The raised push ups are performed with the hands grasping the bar, with the torso elevated from the ground. The bar can also be used to place your feet under when performing either sit ups or crunches.
Help – I can’t perform a pull up yet!
Pull ups are quite difficult to perform, especially for people new to training. The key is to always persist and not give up. Slowly but surely you will develop the strength needed to perform your first full pull up. It is also worth noting that a full pull up is performed from a fully hanging position to when your chin is in level with the bar. A lot of people limit the movement, often skipping the bottom portion of the exercise (which is incidentally the hardest but most effective part). These two techniques may also help you if you cannot yet perform a pull up:
Partials – partial repetitions are repetitions which are only performed through a limited range of the exercise. Only performing the pull up through the upper portion of the exercise to begin with may help build up strength so you can slowly begin to increase the range of motion until you are performing full repetitions.
Negatives – this is when you only perform the negative phrase of the exercise, i.e. the descend. You may question this technique, you are only performing half of the exercise after all, but negatives can help drastically build up strength. You need to use a raised platform, such as a chair, to help you to the top of the exercise, and then use your own strength to slowly lower yourself. The key word here is slowly. Only a controlled descend will stress the target muscles and lead to strength gains.
