How to Work towards a Pull Up

Ahhh— the HOLY GRAIL of all strength exercises– the   AND undoubtedly the hardest movement for most females to achieve. Being able to perform a proper pull up was a goal of mine when I started lifting seriously five years ago. I seriously had all of the excuses in the book…. my arms are too long making it harder #true….. I have too much mass in my lower body to pull up…. definitely true. But the main reason I couldn’t perform a pull up was my lack of total upper body strength.

So five years ago I started out with one goal– to perform pull ups consecutively (I never had a number in mind). Well for the first few years I worked tirelessly towards that goal. When I first started I could do ZERO body weight pull ups with proper form. Now I can bang out 18 pull ups in a row (strict form no Kipping pull ups) and 12 reps while using a weight skirt with 15 lbs attached. This did’t happen overnight– I seriously remember tracking my progress and being thrilled when I did 4 sets of only THREE reps. I would grab a straight weighted soft barbell bar from the aerobics room (it is easier with a straight  bar) and lace it through the pull up bar and do 3 reps. I was seriously over the moon. (I did get in trouble by gym management for bending the bars…… whoops). I would literally fist pump myself for doing 4 pull ups and immediately share my news with my workout partner. I never knew that I would very quickly surpass this— I remained consistent with my training and kept my*goal* in sight…. and it wasn’t long before I was doing 4 sets of 12-15 reps. These days I aim for consistency over “maxing out” and usually stop myself around 10-12 reps.

There are many ways to work towards into doing a proper pull up with correct form. The ideal progression in terms of a pull up with a specific back movement would be:

• Lat Pull Downs (cable machine or hammer strength)
• Assisted Pull Ups (machine, bands, or manual)
• Unassisted Underhand Chin Ups
• Unassisted Pull Ups (straight bar)
• Unassisted Pull Ups (angle or bent bar)
• Unassisted Pull Ups (wide grip)
• Weighted Pull Ups

Warm Up: Lightweight Lat Pull Downs (2-3 sets 15-20 reps) and Bodyweight Push Ups (2-3 sets)

Circuit #1:

Lat Pull Down (wide grip)— 4 sets x 10-12 reps

*superset*

Dumbbell Shoulder Press— 4 sets 10-12 reps

Circuit #2:

Single Arm Lat Pull Down (neutral grip)– 3 sets 12-12 reps

*superset*

Dumbbell Front Raise— 3 sets 12 reps

Circuit #3:

Single Arm Back Cable Row– 4 sets 12 reps

*superset*

Dumbbell Bench Press– 4 sets 12 reps

Circuit #4:

Bodyweight Tricep Dips– 4 sets 12 reps

*superset*

Single Arm Bicep Curl (either dumbbell preacher curl OR alternating curls)– 4 sets 12 reps

Circuit #5:

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press– 3 sets 10 reps

*superset*

Dumbbell Shoulder Shrugs— 3 sets 10 reps

Circuit #6:

Dumbbell Lateral Raises— 3 sets 10 reps

*superset*

Rear Delt Dumbbell Fly— 3 sets 10 reps