Health is an essential aspect of our lives as our bodies require good fitness for a good life. One of the ways to build health is called Calisthenics. It works large muscle groups of a body using body weight. One of the most difficult of these is pull-ups. It is a closed chain movement completed by suspending yourself off a bar and pulling your entire body weight up. This motion exercises the back, shoulders, arms, chest, and grip. It is one of the most significant tests of upper body strength. Let us know more about Pull-Up alternative.
Pull-Up Alternative
Since pull-ups are one of the most complex movements to do, there are several other movements that a beginner or an intermediate level person could do to work on the muscles above; before moving on to the advanced level, that is the pull-up. We will dive into more detail below.
Some of the alternatives for pull-ups, listed by muscle group-
For Back-
- Lateral pulldown
- Prone Cobra
- Seated row
- Deadlift
For Shoulder-
- Pipe push-ups
- Incline push-ups
- Shoulder Press
- Shoulder Shrugs
For Arms-
- Narrow arm push-ups
- Bicep curl
- Diamond push-ups
- Triceps bench dips
For Chest-
- Wide grip push-ups
- Decline push-ups
- Chest Fly
- Bench Press
For Grip-
- Human Flag
- Towel Hangs
- Hand Grippers
- Farmer’s Walk
Steps to do a pull-up
The steps to complete a pull up are as follows-
- Leap up and grab the bar with your hands. Keep your shoulders wide apart and palms facing away from you. While hanging with your arms fully extended, you may bend your knee if your feet touch the ground.
- Keep your shoulders, back and core engaged throughout and pulled up. Focus on engaging your entire upper body to aid your upward movement.
- Move upwards slowly until your chin is over the bar, and then move down at an equal pace until your arms are extended again.
- Aim for ten pull-ups. But be prepared to fall short.
Variations of the Pull Up
- You are weighted: Completed with added weights between your toes or a belt attached to the body. This variation increases the difficulty and is done by people who have mastered the standard version.
- Behind the neck: The goal of this version is to touch the back of the neck to the bar.
- Mixed Grip: One hand is placed in an overhand position while the other is underhand. The motive of this exercise is to provide a different variation on the elbow flexion used.
- Climber’s chin up A regular pull-up, but with each rep, a person has to go up towards one side and then the other on the next rep; alternatively, this puts more pressure on each side and therefore is an advanced version of the normal pull-up.
- Muscle Up: This variation is completed by pulling yourself up until your pelvic region reaches the bar, and the exercise is transformed into a combination of pull-ups and dips.
- Burpee Pull-Ups: These are completed when a person does a full burpee while standing in front of a pull-up bar. A push-up is done on the ground, and the bar is used to do a pull-up.
While there are more variations of pull-ups, the more relevant versions have been listed here in this article.
Pull-Ups as an assessment
Pull-ups are a great test of overall upper body strength. Hence, they are a part of the Physical Fitness Test of the United States Marine Corps. However, applicants and marines can substitute pull-ups for push-ups.
Apart from the USA, this exercise is used by other countries where it is a part of the training and fitness requirements for their respective military or navy operations. For example, Singapore, where the Individual Physical Proficiency Test is used for the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force, and the Singapore Civil Defense Force.
Records for Pull-Ups
Americans hold quite a few records in the Guinness Book of World Records regarding pull-ups. For instance, Shawn Dobbs holds the record for most burpee pull-ups in an hour with 573. On the other hand, the record for most pull-ups done in one hour is held by Andrew Shapiro with 5742 completed, while Brandon Tucker holds the record for most pull-ups in 24 hours with 7715 completed.
As for women, Amanda Stacy holds two records in the book, Most pull-ups in a Minute (female) with 36 and most rear pull-ups (behind the neck) by a female with 32. Moreover, Jessica Fresh holds the record for most pull-ups completed in 12 hours with 2775. Lastly, the record for the most burpee pull-ups completed in a minute by a female is held by Michelle Kinney with 19.
FAQ
What to do if you cannot do a pull-up?
If you cannot do a pull-up, that is no problem. You can perform a few close variations of the exercise to build strength and muscle memory. Starting with the-
- Dead Hang- when you suspend yourself from a bar and try to stay in that position for the maximum time possible without trying to pull yourself up.
- Eccentric Pull-ups- when you jump to the top of a pull-up and slowly come down in a controlled manner.
Is it possible to do a pull-up at home?
Since pull-ups rely on the total body weight, it is not advisable to do a pull-up using anything other than a specific pull-up bar. Failure to adhere to a pull-up bar might cause damage to objects or injuries to the person in question.
Luckily, there is no reason to worry. Many types of pull-up bars are available in the market and on the internet that can be attached easily. There are ample choices, from bars that attach between a doorway to wall-mounted pull-up bars.
In conclusion, we could say that pull-ups are a challenging exercise. However, it is not impossible to do it. By working the muscles through various exercises, you could build the strength to do a pull-up. Once learned, there are other variations to increase the difficulty.
