5 ways to improve your pull-ups

The lat pulldown has become more popular around gyms than the pull-ups. The reason is simple, pull-ups are freaking hard and most people cant do them well or just cant do them at all. Here are some ways to change that.

1) Lose excess weight/body fat-You need to be strong and lean to do pull-ups. The heavier you are the harder its going to be to excute obviously.

2) Do not train to failure-When your doing pull-ups if you always train to failure you end up with horrible sloppy reps and you just dont gain a benefit from it. In fact going to failure on pull-ups often tends to lead to decreases in strength and mass gains for reasons unknown, it just happens.

3) Elbows towards your sides-Think about driving your elbows down and back to really bring the lats into play and therefore avoid relying mostly on your biceps.'

4) Improve your grip strength- the stronger your grip the better your pull-ups will be. You can build grip strength by doing more deadlifts and reverse curls or by using fatter barbells. You can also do wrist curls and other exercises geared towards grip strength.

5) Train with different ranges-To do a bunch of pull-ups you need both strength and endurance. Make sure you lift with low rep ranges for strength and high rep ranges for endurance. You can use bands as assistance for the pullups if need be.

Full blast back routine

A1) Seated row with V bar- You will hold each rep and focus on squeezing the shoulder blades together at the back of the movement. Rep 1-8sec rep 2- 7 sec rep 3-6 sec........until last rep is held for 1 sec. 8 total reps of course. The isometric hold is a great way to recruit more muscle fibers and has been shown to be highly effective when training the back.

**Rest 60 sec and repeat this for 3 more total sets

B1) T-bar row-This will be done as a drop set. Do your first set with a challenging weight for 8-10 reps. then immediately drop 25lbs off the bar and then try and rep out another 8-10 reps.

**Rest 60 sec and repeat this for 3 more total sets

C1) One arm row with a dumbbell and pause-Do a standard one arm row but let the weight rest on the floor at the bottom for a 1 sec pause each rep before exploding up as fast as you can. This pause will keep you from cheating and allow you to focus better on solid movements. Do 8 reps

**Rest 60 sec and repeat this for 3 more total sets

Done!

A bigger back with this

T-bar row-10 reps
SUPERSET WITH
Narrow grip lat pulldown-6 reps ( make sure the weight is very heavy for 6 reps )

Rest 90 seconds and repeat 4 more rounds


Decline straight bar row-10 reps
* Set up a decline bench in front of a cable pulley. Put the cable at about hip height. Lying face up on the bench grab the straight bar from behind you and pull the bar towards your thighs keeping your arms locked out and straight.
SUPERSET WITH
Decline dumbbell one arm row-10 reps
* Hold a dumbbell in your right arm and put your right leg out to the side for support. Place your left leg back on the top of the bench. Row the weight up from the floor. The dumbbell should start from the lowest end of the decline bench near the floor.

Rest 90 seconds and repeat for 4 more rounds