I’ve written about the importance of the pull up and provided some tips for fellow ectomorphs, but there’s still a good chance you suck at doing them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that great at them either, but I’ve certainly noticed my progress over the past couple of months. And thus, here are some suggestions on how to not suck at the pull up:
- Make sure you’re actually doing a pull up. Chin ups are when your palms a facing towards you, a pull up is when your palms are facing outwards. Make sure you’re doing the correct exercise – it’s a simple (and common) mistake to make.
- Do fewer. Instead of trying to push for dozens of reps, fueled by the wild beast of momentum, take things slower and be content with completing fewer reps. It may not look impressive from the outside but the intensity will initiate muscle development.
- Turn it into a game. As of writing this I can do 8, slow, dead hang pull ups. Originally that number was about 1 or 2. Focus intently on beating your previous records and even use a site like Daily Burn to track your progress using the wide world of metrics. Have fun with it.
- Improve your grip. This is an area where I lack, because I’ve never trained my grip. It’s in the plan though. Ectomorph’s suffer from a weak grip more often than not and it can actually be your lack of grip rather than your strength that makes you suck at pull ups.
- Be persistent. I feel persistence is more important than practice when it comes to pull ups. Yes, doing more pull ups each workout is important, but I’ve also noticed that after taking a break for 5+ days (often cause of sickness) I’ve come back stronger than ever. Don’t overtrain yourself. Have the patience and persistence to improve your pull up.
