Pullups Strengthen the Core Muscles

Pullups/chinups are great exercises for building upper body strength. As a strength builder I make them a staple of my workouts at the gym.Why are pullups so important? They force the body to work against gravity. Literally pulling yourself straight up requires cooperation from a lot of muscle groups working together. This synergy builds balance within the upper body and because work requires energy pullups are a great way to burn calories. Any strength trainer should incorporate pullups into his/her exercise routine.

There are many benefits to upper body strength. Your muscles, bones, joints and tendons become stronger and more resilient; you have more energy for activities such as rowing, pulling, etc.; and you'll get a huge confidence boost from knowing you're doing something healthy.

Pullups work the biceps, grips, forearms, shoulders, abdominals, triceps and back. So as you can see, learning to do pullups is very important. And for all the women reading this article: don't worry. Pullups are a strength building exercise but the physiology of women is different than that of men so you will not build up muscle mass as quickly or to the same degree as men.

There are a variety of different pullup/chin up exercises a person can do. Some people ask what is the difference between a pullup and a chin up. They're essentially the same except the grips are different. When doing pullups, your palms are facing you. When doing chinups, your palms face away from you. To perform a pullup/chinup, you'll need a bar that is sturdy enough to support your bodyweight. You can even suspend yourself from a tree branch and still do this exercise.

Doing a pullup

Suspend yourself from the bar, keep your arms straight. If you're tall, bend your knees. In one motion pull yourself up allowing your chest to touch the bar or bring your chin over the top of the bar. Lower yourself back down slowly in one motion. You've just completed a pullup! Pullups should be done narrow grip or no more than shoulder width apart. Vary your exercises between pullups and chinups. I do this to keep the exercise interesting. You might find chinups harder than pullups (which use the underhand grip). That's okay, just keep at it. Do small reps at first. Pull yourself up and down again, that's one rep. Repeat this two or three times and then rest. As you get stronger, increase the number of repetitions. Some people pull themselves up and down very quickly. That's good if you want an aerobic workout. But if you want to build strength and muscle, perform each repetition slowly. This is what I recommend. A slow upward motion, hold for a second then slowly lowering yourself back down again will give the muscles more resistance, making them work harder and thus become stronger. Once you're up to about 12-15 repetitions you can start adding additional weight to this exercise. Put on a weight strap and a weight of 20 pounds and then do some lower repetitions.

I do pullups three days per week. They're great when doing chest and bicep day and can be incorporated into the bench press, inclined bench press, or overhead press routines. And when you are doing ab day, pullups are great for strengthening the abdominal muscles.You never want to overtrain your muscles because it takes them much longer to repair and they really won't get any bigger that way. Always allow at least 24 hours between exercises to allow for repair and growth. That is why it is important to have a varied exercise routine consisting of legs, chest, biceps, triceps, abs, etc. What happens is that stress on the muscles cause tears within the muscle fibers. This is a good thing. When the muscles repair themselves they build up greater connections within the muscle fibers making the muscles grow larger and stronger. That's where rest and protein (from meats, fish, eggs, nuts, and legumes) comes in.

Remember, anything worth having takes time and effort. If you want that lean, ripped physique you'll have to be patient. If you stick with it and have a healthy nutrition program then you'll see results.

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