The Pull-Up Enlightenment

[caption id="attachment_3551" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Did you know that if you do pull-ups, you never have to do abs again?[/caption] Now that we’re a week or two into the Pull-up Renaissance, it’s time for the Pull-up Enlightenment. You’ve probably improved a lot already just by doing them more consistently than ever before, but it’s a hard road ahead. “But Ken!” you say, because you somehow assume we’re on a first name basis, “I don’t want you to tell me how it’s going to be hard, I want to know how it’ll be easy.” Well you’re in luck, because despite your presumptive familiarity, I’ve got good news for you. What’s going to help your pull-ups? As with any strength exercise the factors are how strong you are and how much weight you’re trying to lift. Pull-ups are an especially difficult exercise for novices because beginners usually aren’t that strong, and often heavier than ideal. That means you’re trying to lift a heavy weight with introductory strength, which is a tough ask. It’s like starting the bench press with 250lbs and just pushing against the bar until something magically happens. With pull-ups you can have a partner spot you, or use bands or machines to help, but ultimately it’s still your bodyweight you’re trying to deal with. That’s the tough part. The good part is that pull-ups are one of the few exercises where you’re allowed to make progress by lowering the weight, which you’ll do by lowering your bodyweight by cutting off those useless legs that just weigh you down when you’re hanging on to that pull-up bar. If you’re one of those crazy people that doesn’t skip leg day because it’s uselss and you can just wear pants, you can adopt the slower weight-loss method of diet and exercise. Fortunatey if you’re trying to do a pull-up, you’re probably already following a workout and diet regimen. Not many people think, “I want to do a pull-up, but I have absolutely zero additional fitness or weight loss goals.” Even though pull-ups are very difficult, by getting stronger and losing weight you’re making progress at both ends. So hang in there (Ha! What a pun!) because if you’re good with your workouts, and good with your diet, you’ll make great progress on your pull-ups. And you might even get to keep your legs.