The road to performing an unassited pull-up is short for some, but long for many. A pull-up is one of the toughest exercises for the body, but one of the best indicators of strength and endurance.
There are four main pull-up grips: wide, narrow, reverse, and neutral grips and depending on which grip you use, the pull-up works almost every muscle in the upper body. The wide grip isolates the latissimus dorsi and I strongly believe it is the toughest way to do a pull-up. The narrow grip isolates the rhomboids and is one of the most popular forms most people use. The reverse grip is by far my favorite and targets the biceps more than anything and lastly, the neutral grip targets both the biceps and latissimus dorsi and is similar in function to doing a bicep hammer curl.
Below is a workout that targets every muscle in the upper body responsible for helping with a pull-up. Each exercise improves your upper body’s muscular strength and endurance. I recommend performing three sets of ten to fifteen repetitions of each exercise at a moderate to heavy weight.
Cardiovascular training and dieting are extremely important, as well. The resistance for a pull-up is your own body weight, so reducing your body fat and losing weight will make pull-ups easier and you will have more stamina to perform more repetitions.
If you are serious about being able to do a pull-up, I recommend performing the following exercise routine at least three days a week with a rest day in between.
The Road To The Pull-Up Exercise Routine: