by Anthony Arvanitakis
Copyright ©2016 by Anthony Arvanitakis
http://www.homemademuscle.com
The graphics used in this book were designed by Rylyn Chelios
https://www.fiverr.com/rylynnchelios
WARNING / DISCLAIMER
This information in this book is presented with good intentions. You must
always consult your physician prior to starting any exercise program,
especially if you have any medical condition or injury that contraindicates
physical activity. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. You must
take full responsibility for your safety and know your limits. Before
practicing the exercises in this book, make sure that any kind of equipment
or surface you train on is well maintained. Do not take risks beyond your
level of experience, aptitude, training and fitness. If you experience any
acute or chronic pain, consult a physician. This publication is intended for
informational use only and I will not assume any liability or be held
responsible for any form of injury by the utilization of this information.
To my grandfather
Thank you for showing me the value of integrity and hard work.
Contents
INTRO
PART 1 - MIND TO MUSCLE CONNECTION
Mind to Muscle Connection
Understanding proper use of mind-muscle connection
PART 2 - BASIC TECHNIQUE
Intro
Pull-ups VS Chin-ups
Basic technical guidelines for the Pull-up
Leg position
Using a proper Grip
Part 3 - Mind to muscle connection (internal technique)
Intro: Internal Technique over Ego..
Lesson #1: Lat activation - Pump those Wings!
Lesson #2: Switching the back muscles on (Initiating the pull-up)
Lesson #3: Lift off
Lesson #4 : Bringing the chest to the bar
Lesson #5: Reverse
Final Step: Putting that cherry on top
Putting it all together
In summary
PART 4
Q&A and Common Pull-up Myths
PART 5 - Workout Plan
Beginner's weekly bodyweight workout plan
FINAL THOUGHTS ON MIND AND BODY CONNECTION
INTRO
Pull-ups are the king of all upper body exercises. Most gym rats would
envy the sculpted backs of top-level gymnasts and canoe kayakers. Being a
canoe kayaker in my early twenties, I know from personal experience that
95% of all top athletes in this sport do a massive amount of pull-ups every
week. Elite organizations such as army special forces, SWAT teams, the
marines and more, all require a minimum amount of pull-ups as a
prerequisite for anyone to be allowed in their training programs. That's no
coincidence... There is no better exercise to determine one's relative and
functional upper-body strength.
"Pull-ups are the best bodyweight exercise to determine one's relative and
functional strength"
Unfortunately, a big percentage of the general population is unable to
perform a proper pull-up (probably not even if it were to save our own
lives). After all, if you're a human being, your shoulders, arms and whole
body is designed to brachiate. It's just how our anatomy has been forged
through hundreds of thousands of years in order to survive and thrive.
Originally, most of our back muscles were involved in making our remote
ancestors walk on all fours - pulling on the ground with their forelegs
(arms) in order to propel themselves forward. Once we transitioned to an
upright walking style, these muscles became specialized in vertical
movement, such as tree climbing . Unfortunately, we've reached a day and
age were these muscles simply atrophy, as we spend a large amount of our
days in a seated position. This book is also a call of action to get you off
that chair and evolve by devolving again.
How's it hanging?
Just by hanging on a pull up bar, you're already doing something good for
your body. One health benefit, for example, is that hanging stretches the
arch of the ligament and bone covering the rotator cuff and sub acromial
bursa (CA arch). Hanging, if done strategically, can remodel and reshape
the shoulder bones and ligaments.
In simple words: this can help restore lost shoulder flexibility, and increase
the "roomy-ness" in your shoulder (which can be decreased in issues such
as shoulder impingement).
Doctor John M. Kirsch, in his amazing book " Shoulder Pain? The Solution
& Prevention " talks about all these benefits when it comes to hanging for
shoulder health. After 28 years of research he demonstrates how this simple
exercise can help relieve shoulder issues like sub acromial impingement
syndrome, rotator cuff injury or frozen shoulder. In some situations, he
shows how it can prevent shoulder surgery! If you do have any of these
issues with your shoulders, I highly recommend you read Doctor John M.
Kirsch's book for information on how to properly implement hanging in
your daily routine.
Do what is right, not what is easy...
Why is it then that if you visit a regular local gym, you'll see people lining
up to use the lat pull down machine while maybe just one lone ranger will
be toiling away on the pull up bar. Well, it's simple.. people always prefer
the easy way out. You can cheat your way through a lot of weight with
machines such as the lat pull down, using momentum, your lower back etc.
but the pull-ups leave very little space for cheating. This doesn't mean that
learning how to perform the exercise perfectly isn't important. On the
contrary, it's those details in form and mind to muscle connection that will
make all the difference if you want to strive for excellence and great results.
Once you learn how to do pull-ups the right way, and as a result of that you
start reaping the results that follow, you'll never look back again.
PART 1 - MIND TO MUSCLE CONNECTION
Mind to Muscle Connection
There used to be two camps when it came to the mind-muscle connection
(activating a muscle mentally when training). Those who believed in it
(usually people from the bodybuilding community), and those who believed
that doing an exercise with good form is enough for the right muscles do
their job automatically (usually people from a more science oriented
background). Thankfully, we now live in a great and more unbiased time
for exercise science. Thanks to people from the scientific community with
more open minds, who also practice what they preach (instead of just sitting
in white lab coats and talking theory). It used to be that people like Bruce
Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger used to talk a lot about this stuff, but their
theories were considered more "broscience" than actual science.
(Broscience is the predominant brand of reasoning in bodybuilding circles,
where the anecdotal reports of jacked dudes are considered more credible
than scientific research.)
But nowadays, thanks to people like Bret Contreras and Brad Schoenfeld,
these approaches are starting to be embraced by more and more people
from both camps. Using scientific methods like EMG studies, we are
starting to see that an activating a muscle mentally while strength training
does play a big role in getting a deeper contraction of that muscle. Some
people at his point might be thinking "Wow, focusing on the muscle you
train leads to more efficient development of the muscle, what a discovery,
bro. Do you even have to point this out?!" And yeah, I agree that it's not
like a huge revelation. If you think about it, it's common sense. Optimizing
the activation of neurotransmitters and synapses required for optimal
muscle recruitment increases maximum muscle contraction for muscle
growth. Or in simple words:
Since your mind controls your body, increased muscle activation is possible
with increased focus. Therefore, instead of just doing the rep in a
disengaged manner, concentrating on the targeted muscles while
performing the rep can lead to more muscle gains!
The problem is that a lot of us learn to become detached from our bodies as
I discussed in my interview with motivational strongman Mike Gillette.
And even if we do know and understand all of this theory, most of us forget
to practice it.
Understanding proper use of mind-muscle connection
The mind-muscle technique discussed in this book isn't an athletic; but a
hypertrophy oriented method. Simply said, it's not going to help you do
more reps or lift more weight. On the contrary, it will make the exercise you
apply it on, more difficult to perform. Because, if you want to build muscle
more efficiently with bodyweight exercise, you have to teach your
neuromuscular system to recruit as much muscle fibers as possible. This
mean that not only will you get better activation of your muscles, you will
also experience your workout on a deeper level. Developing the mindmuscle connection is also about self-mastery. It's about learning to reach
your utmost potential by using your mind to control your body.
"Mind to muscle connection doesn't help you do more reps - it helps you
build more muscle."
I believe that our own body is all the weight we need for a ripped and
aesthetic upper body physique. And achieving this physique isn't simply a
matter of doing more and more repetitions. More importantly, it is about
learning to manipulate your bodyweight through technique and mind
control to produce powerful muscle contractions. This mind to muscle
connection is a skill, meaning it is something you get better at with practice.
The more you improve this skill, the more intensity you will be able to
produce and the bigger and stronger you'll grow. Always focus on the main
targeted muscles of an exercise, rather than letting your mind randomly
wonder on random sensations. Some parts of your body (like your hands)
have a lot more nerves than others (like you back). So don't get discouraged
if it takes longer to develop a mental link with certain muscles than others.
Keep on practicing and through time you'll discover that the mind is a very
malleable muscle as well...
PART 2 - BASIC TECHNIQUE
Intro
Technique is usually seen as something external. People focus on the way
their bodies and limbs are aligned. There's a quote by Bill Lear (famous jet
engineer of the 60's) who said "If it looks good, it will fly good." A large
number of coaches/athletes adopt this philosophy in exercise. But great
coaches and remarkable athletes know that there’s a lot more to movement
than that. After all, aerodynamics might be a quite complex field but the
human body is even more complex.
External technique is important, no doubt about that. Applying basic rules
on how your body and limbs are placed is important for proper execution
and avoidance of injury. But, that's only the first superficial layer of what is
happening to your body during an exercise. There is a deeper layer where
this mind-muscle connection we've been talking about plays an even greater
role. That being said, before we dive in to that deeper layer, it is important
to make sure that we've nailed our external technique. I know, some of you
want to hurry up to the juicy stuff, but have patience. External Technique is
the basis on top of which we'll be building our inner technique. If that basis
is not strong enough, everything else, you are trying to build on top of that
will collapse.
Pull-ups VS Chin-ups
First of all, let's clarify what a pull-up is. In order to do that, we have to
separate a pretty similar exercise that people bring to mind and often
confuse as a pull-up - the chin-up. A chin-up is not a pull-up, and I'm also
going to explain why I prefer the later. Although in both cases you're
hanging from a bar and you're pulling yourself up, the difference between
these two movements is the grip.
Chin-ups use an underhand grip - your palms face inwards (towards
yourself).
Important note : Don't lock out ( straighten) your elbow joints completely
in the lower phase of the chin-up - keep them a bit bent. For most people,
locking-out the elbows with an underhand grip places the joints of the arm
(wrist, elbow, shoulder) in a unnatural alignment that generates excessive
torsion (twisting forces), and can result in issues like elbow tendonitis. If
you want to learn more about this topic I've made a detailed video on my
YouTube channel youtube.com/user/HomeMadeMuscles/ called "Joint pain
from chin-ups" .
Pull-ups use an overhand grip and thus your palms are facing away from
you.
For beginners, in most cases, the chin-up is easier. This is why I also
recommend it as a progression (until you get strong enough to perform pullups).
Muscle activation in Pull-ups and Chin-ups
Pull-ups and chin-ups activate pretty much the same muscles. What differs
is the intensity of activation in each muscle group. In both cases, the main
targeted muscle groups are the lats (aka wings) followed by the biceps and
forearms. Some more muscles that assist your body during pull-ups and
chin-ups are the trapezius, the rhomboids, teres major and minor and the
infraspinatus (upper back). Upper back activation can vary depending on
the technique used, but that's something I'll talk more about later on.
Basically, all of your upper body's muscles fire up during a pull/chin-up to
some extent. For example, something a lot of people don't know is that even
the chest (pec major) gets activated by about 44-57% as shown in a EMG
study published by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
The main difference between pull-ups and chin-ups is that the chin-up
activates a bit more of the biceps and chest muscles, while pull-ups
focus more on upper back muscles
The reasons I prefer the pull-up over the chin-up are the following:
1. Specificity : Details mentioned above, such as the fact that you get a bit
more chest activation during the chin-up, are too minimal to bother
considering. When doing an exercise you should always focus on the main
targeted muscles. If you want an easy way to focus on your chest with one
exercise you can read my book How to sculpt a Greek God Marble Chest
with Push-ups . If you want to focus on you back (which is the purpose of
this book) then focus on perfecting your pull-ups.
2. Joint health: From an anatomical/more joint friendly perspective, the
pull-up is a better choice. Chin-ups are great until you learn to do proper
pull-ups. After that you can use them as a supplementary exercise if you
want to focus a bit more on your biceps. Just make sure you don't lockout
the elbows in the bottom position whenever you're doing them. Lockingout the elbows with an underhand grip places the joints of the arm (wrist,
elbow, shoulder) in an unnatural alignment that generates excessive torsion
(twisting forces), and can result in issues like elbow tendonitis. If you want
to learn more about this topic I've made a detailed video on my YouTube
channel youtube.com/user/HomeMadeMuscles/ called "Joint pain from
chin-ups" .
3. Bigger range of motion for more muscle gains: Pull-ups allow a bigger
range of motion since you can lock-out in the bottom position without
damaging your joints. To get the best hypertrophic response (aka them
muscle gains) from a repetition, it's important for the muscle to begin
contracting from an elongated position.
4. More upper-back activation: Using the right mind-muscle connection
(which I'll be describing later on), pull-ups allow you to get more upperback muscle activation. This way you won't be just focusing on your
lats/wings but you'll be also hitting the upper back department, aka that
upper-back muscle-shield! After all, muscle symmetry is key for both
health and aesthetic purposes. More on this in part 3.
Basic technical guidelines for the Pull-up
By now we've learned that the main targeted muscle in the Pull-up are the
lats. Secondary targeted muscles are muscles of your arms (biceps and
forearms) and the upper back (if done right).
Main targeted
muscles in pull-ups
Before we get started with our top-secret Jedi mind-tricks and tips (ok I like
to exaggerate a bit sometimes) for the pull-up, let’s get started with some
basics. For example, a lot of people don't know this but even a simple thing,
such as leg position, does affect proper execution and muscle activation of
your upper body during a pull-up.
Leg position
So why care about leg position? Aren't pull-ups an upper body exercise
after all? Well, here's the thing, your lats (main targeted muscle of the pullup) are also connected to your hips - on that upper bony part called the iliac
crest. And since your lats spread from that lower back/ upper hip part all the
way up to your arms, in a way - your arms and lower body are connected!
The lats connect your arms, back and lower body all together!
Here are the three basic reasons I prefer the knee-bent leg position for pullups:
1. Using a bent knee position helps provide a narrower center of gravity
that can help with better control of the movement. This allows more focus
on the back, since your abs don't have to work that much to keep your body
aligned in a vertical plank position. This also helps prevent kipping.
2. Bent knees encourage a more open chest posture. This provides a
more comfortable position for bringing your upper chest to the bar and
therefore using a bigger range of motion. More on this in Part 3.
3. The bent-knee leg position helps you maintain a more arched back during
the pull-up. This allows greater lat engagement.
Tip: If you still experience involuntary swinging with this position, pause
for a brief moment at the lower part of the rep, and brace your glutes while
pulling your belly button a bit inwards, prior to every pull-up.
Using a proper Grip
Once again, something as simple as an improper grip can have negative
effects on the exercise. Bad gripping technique can lead to wrong muscle
activation and even joint issues. Gripping the bar properly, as simple as it
may sound, is a typical mistake I come across with people I coach. So, what
is a proper Pull-up grip?
1. Wrist alignment: The main thing you need to know about proper
gripping is keeping your hands and wrists aligned in a neutral position.
Flexing your wrist can lead to a lot of issues, such as overuse injuries and
inflammation in the long run. And not just for your wrists. Excessive
isometric contraction (squeezing) of the grip and forearm muscles, besides
distracting our focus from the targeted back muscles, can also cause
irritation in the elbow and shoulder. Golfer’s elbow (inner elbow pain) is a
typical issue that can be caused or intensified by an improper grip.
Note: Flexing the wrist is also called a false grip which is commonly used
in muscle-ups (a gymnastics/calisthenics exercise). If you're a bodyweight
enthusiast who is also working on muscle-ups, I advise you use this
technique sparingly just for this specific move, and avoid it anywhere else.
2. Thumb over or under? Using either thumbs over and under the bar is
allowed. Deciding which is more appropriate depends on the thickness of
the bar. If the bar is thin enough, allowing you to touch your index finger
with your thumb, then I recommend a thumb-under the bar grip. Home pullup bars usually allow this grip. If you're training at some outside pull-up bar
that is too thick to allow a thumb under grip, you can place the thumb over
the bar. This will allow a stronger grip and won't drain your forearm
muscles too fast. The main point is keeping your wrist and hand aligned in a
neutral position.
Thumb over the bar (left image) and thumb on top of index finger and
below the bar (right image)
3. Grip pressure: Even by using a proper grip, it's quite common for
people to apply excessive grip pressure on the bar. A lot of people do this
unconsciously in their effort to do more pull-ups, so it's important to always
have awareness of your grip's pressure. This can intensify bad technique,
such as hunched up shoulders, and can also take your attention off the
muscles of the back (more on this in step 3). Optimally, you should just be
gripping the bar hard enough to achieve a secure grip that allows you to
hang from it, while letting your prime movers (back muscles) do the rest of
the heavy lifting as you pull yourself up. We want to sculpt a ripped back
after all - don't we?!
In summary: Just squeeze hard enough so that you can hang from the pullup bar without falling during the exercise.
4. Hand placement and width: The width between your hands should, first
of all, feel natural. Imagine you had to hang for a long time on a tree branch
until a pack of lions below you left - how would you place your arms?
What's the most comfortable and less energy consuming hand placement?
This should be slightly wider than shoulder-width but not too wide.
Note: A common misconception is that a wide grip targets the lats better. I
talk about this in chapter 4 where I explain why it's a common myth.
Part 3 - Mind to muscle connection (internal
technique)
Intro: Internal Technique over Ego..
One and a half years ago I started implementing the techniques discussed in
this book to pull-ups. At first I was applying them just because I was
looking for something more in bodyweight exercise. I got bored of simply
banging out mechanical reps like a robot. By focusing too much in the
external layer of strength training and exercise science the previous year, I
became a bit of zombie in my workouts.
(As I mentioned previously, there is a part of the scientific community,
which is starting to shed some light in the mind-muscle direction of
training, but it will still take time for science to completely catch up with
everything.)
So, I did X amount of reps because that was what the studies out there were
showing. I was resting X amount of time and I was doing X amount of sets
and workouts, because that was the general consensus on scientific strength
training. I was still pushing myself hard and I was still quite mindful during
my workouts, but there was a lot of room for improvement in that
department.
Don't get me wrong, science is awesome, it's a candle in the dark of this age
of misinformation. It's always my compass when I'm looking for a proper
direction in any kind of athletic and nutritional approach. But after all that, I
was looking for something more in bodyweight exercise. I wanted a deeper
sense of mastery and control over my body. I wanted to experience muscle
contractions and feel how my body works rather than merely doing
whatever everyone else was doing on the internet. I wanted a deeper
experience than simply aiming to build big guns...
So, I decided that the best place to start experimenting with all this was the
king of bodyweight exercises, the pull-up. As a result, not only did my reps
not increase, but they also started decreasing! After a while, I got stuck at 8
repetitions - which would be considered quite a lame number for someone
of my height and weight who has been doing calisthenics for three years. I
continued doing 8 reps for the whole fall and winter of 2014.
At first I felt a bit confused. I was feeling a bit guilty for not increasing my
numbers, but I knew I was getting stronger. Then I thought again that
maybe I'm making excuses because I've hit a plateau and I can't get
stronger. Maybe this is as strong as you can get once you reach 30 years of
age. Yeah, I know, I can be a bit of a drama Queen when it comes to my
passion - Bodyweight exercise. But after a while I concluded that I was
indeed increasing the difficulty of the exercise. I was indeed getting
stronger. My back was getting more ripped and my guns were thicker than
ever! By letting go of my ego for more reps and more muscle gains I
actually got stronger and gained more muscle.
By cutting out every single bit of momentum, and gaining full control over
each micro-movement involved in a pull-up, I gained greater and deeper
muscle activation. This feeling of ultimate mastery and control of mind,
body and movement made my workouts interesting again! It was almost a
kind of meditation. And now that I think of it, it actually is a kind of
meditation. I was experiencing my reps instead of just counting them. I
wasn't just doing reps, I was each rep! I was my muscles and not my mind.
At the same time, I was studying the anatomy and kinesiology behind the
pull-up to validate my practice and to also enhance it in any possible way. It
is important to understand a little bit of the biomechanics behind your body,
not just in order to master technique, but also to let go of the ego. Getting a
deeper understanding of all that helps you focus more on repetition quality
than quantity. You become more grounded and more in control of not just
your body - but also your mind. As Einstein said "More the knowledge
lesser the ego, lesser the knowledge more the ego.”
I would say that nine out of ten people I've seen performing a pull-up in
commercial gyms are doing the exercise wrong. No wonder they get
shoulder/neck problems and lack back development. And I don't just see
this in gyms. Even a lot of bodyweight exercise enthusiasts don't know how
to use the right technique and mind to muscle connection. To give you a
taste of what you'll be learning in this part of the book, here are two of the
most important pull-up tips for gaining mastery and control of the
movement, while getting a ripped back and set of arms at the same time:
1. Pull the elbows to the ribs instead of pulling the arms to your face
2. Always touch the bar with your upper chest
This might not sound that complicated. Some of you probably think you
already know this (so did I for a few years). But executing these tips
properly, and getting the right feeling out of them takes a lot of practice and
understanding of some crucial details. Of course, there are still more tips
and tricks that go into the mastering the perfect pull-up for sculpting that
ripped upper back.. Next in this book we'll be breaking down all these tips
and tricks, and we'll be taking our time with them in order to perfect them.
Remember, this is not a one-day tutorial. It takes time to learn to apply all
of the tips. But don't worry, there is no need to feel overwhelmed. After all,
this is why I wrote this book series and why I focus on one exercise per
book. I want to have your full attention on one exercise at a time. I want
you to practice one tip at a time before you start putting everything together.
Learning all this probably took me a year. I experimented a lot, tried
different things, some worked and some not. If I knew then what I know toda y , it
would have taken me a lot less time. So, if you follow the steps in this book
you won't have to make the same mistakes I did. If you follow the steps in
this book you can master the pull-up in a matter of a few weeks!
Now let’s get started with mastering our back-sculpting, muscle-building
pull-ups!
Lesson #1: Latactivation - Pump those Wings!
Before you we start doing pull-ups, it's important to get to know the prime
mover muscle of this exercise - our lats. Learning to feel your lats will give
you with a better understanding of how your body works during a pull-up,
and it will also build a more solid foundation for that proper mind to muscle
connection later on while performing the exercise.
a) From a standing position take your left arm and place it on the upper part
of your lat. As shown in the left photo below, this is just below the armpit
(slightly below nipple height) and next to your upper ribs. If you can't feel it
yet don’t worry, that' normal.
b) Now roll your shoulder (the one above your hand) up, back and down.
You'll feel your lat contract.
This happens because the lats originate from the lower part of your back
and go all the way up into your humerous (upper arm bone) close to the
shoulder. So by contracting, they pull the shoulder down. Practice a couple
of sets of 20 seconds for each side, until you can activate both lats on cue
without palpating them with the opposite arm. Another thing you might
notice while doing this, is tension relief from your neck and shoulder area.
These muscles tend to be quite stiff since they to fire up during stressful
situations. This used to be a helpful reflex in primal times. Our necks would
be a sensitive body part we had to protect, because it is easy to grasp/bite
and major blood vessels (carotid arteries) go through it. By flexing all the
muscles surrounding our neck (shoulders, upper traps, etc.), we decrease the
surface of our neck, protecting it this way from predators and other threats.
Pulling the shoulders back and down by contracting your lats and retracting
the shoulder blades relieves a lot of that tension. You can also use this
exercise as a passive stretch when you're working a lot of hours at a desk,
for example. Take your time with each lesson, no need to hurry... As an old
quote says:
"The best way to get a lot of things done is doing one thing at a time."
Lesson #2: Switching the back muscles on (Initiating the pull-up)
Most people don't think there's too much to consider when initiating a pullup. What’s all the fuss about anyway? You just grab the bar and you start
pulling yourself up, right? Not really.
Mistake #1: Pulling from a passive hang
In the photo below you can see how a passive hang looks. Shoulders are
elevated and the head has sunk between them. Most of the weight is placed
on your joints and connective tissues since most muscles are not activated.
This is not bad if you're just hanging for the purpose of hanging. But if you
start pulling yourself up from this position, besides missing out on all kinds
of muscle-building benefits, you're also creating ideal conditions for injury
and pain in the long run.
Passive hang (left image) and back muscles switched on (right image)
There's a middle step between the hang and pulling motion that a lot of
people ignore - engaging the major muscles of the back. Not only is this
healthier for your shoulders, but it also increases recruitment and proper
muscle activation from your back's musculature.
How to switch on your back muscles:
In a nutshell, this is accomplished by depressing the shoulder blades down
and retracting them together. Don't worry if these two terms sound too alien
right now. We'll be simplifying things and putting them into practice before
you know it. To rephrase the above in a simpler way, think of keeping the
shoulders back and down while squeezing the shoulder blades together.
Exercise 1: Switching on your back muscles on the floor
Let's begin switching on our back muscles from the ground, without
hanging on a pull-up bar.
(Note: Those of you who read the first book of this series: How to sculpt a
Greek God Marble Chest with Push-ups , should be already familiar with
this exercise. You can therefore skip it, and move on to practicing on the
pull-up bar).
a) From a standing position roll your shoulders back and downward
b) At the bottom of the roll, you want your shoulder blades depressed
(pushing downwards) and retracted (squeezed together).
a) Roll your shoulders up (left image) and b) back
and down (right image)
If the pictures are not enough to understand the exercise, I've also made a
video for you. Just go to HomemadeMuscles (my channel) and look for "
Shoulder blade retraction and depression (simple demonstration) ".
Exercise 2:
If you've practiced enough, you can switch your muscles on without rolling
your shoulders back. It's now time to apply this from a hanging position.
When switching on your back muscles while hanging on a pull-up bar, your
head should rise between your shoulders. Also, by keeping the shoulders
back as you do this, your chest should wide-open and looking a bit more
upwards (think of proud chest as a cue). If you’re not sure if you're doing
this right, check my video "Shoulder-blade Depression & Retraction on
Pull-up bar" .
Benefits of this technique: Not only are your lats switched-on this way,
you're also activating muscles of the upper back (middle trapezius and
rhomboids) which are quite ignored in pull-ups. Ignoring these muscles
while overtraining your back with pull-ups can lead to a undefined upper
back. This can give your back's physique an asymmetrical muscle tone,
creating an undefined gap between your shoulder blades while your lats
grow. Take at least a few days/workouts to practice this. As described
above, start from practicing on the floor (rolling back your shoulders etc.)
and move on practicing on the bar.
In summary: Before starting to pull-up, back muscles should always be
switched-on. To do this. keep your shoulders back (shoulder blades
squeezed together) and down (shoulder blades depressed). As a result, your
head should rise above your shoulders and your chest should be wide open
and facing a bit more upwards.
Lesson #3: Lift off
Once your back muscles are properly switched on, you are ready to start
pulling your body to the bar - or more correctly, as you'll learn below, your
elbows to your ribs.
Mistake #2: Pulling with your arms instead of pulling with your back
As you start pulling yourself up, don't concentrate on pulling your face to
the bar with your hands (as most people do). This promotes forward head
posture and takes the tension off the back musculature.
It's generally easier to mentally connect with the muscles closer to your
hands, than it is with those of the torso and back. That's simply how our
bodies are wired, there are a lot more nerves on our hands. (If you're the
geeky type, Google the "somatosensory homunculus", to see how our hands
are represented in our brains in comparison with the rest of our body). But
if you keep on practicing the techniques in this book, you'll develop the
right mind-muscle connection we are aiming for before you know it. By
focusing on your upper arms and tensing your shoulders, back development
will be neglected. In order to achieve full lat activation on a pull-up, your
shoulders have to be drawn back and down, and the elbows have to be
brought close to the ribs. Letting the elbows flair out takes the tension off
the lats and places it more on smaller/weaker muscles, which are more
related to the shoulder than the back.
In summary : the main focus of this step is to focus on bringing your
elbows downwards and close to your ribs, while also practicing everything
else we learned in the previous steps. As you start getting this right, you'll
observe your reps going down. I won't lie, this feels uncomfortable for your
ego at first. You might think you're getting weaker. You have to remember:
You're not getting weaker, - you're just working harder, and creating the
appropriate conditions for peak muscle contractions which will lead to more
muscle growth.
Work on this technique until you're strong enough to do 3 sets of at least 5
reps. After that you can continue with the rest of the lessons.
Lesson #4 : Bringing the chest to the bar
Most people barely pull themselves above chin level during pull-ups.
Learning to bring the chest to the bar is another game-changer for this
exercise. Again, this is not easy, you are going to have to lower your reps
and practice until you're strong enough. Proper shoulder posture (as taught
in lesson #2) is essential for getting the bar to the chest. Hunched up
shoulders make this a lot more difficult; if not impossible.
If bringing your chest to bar height is too difficult at first, begin with a
smaller progression. For example, if you can barely bring the bar to middleneck level, adjust your reps so that you bring the bar below your chin. If
you can barely bring the bar to your chin, adjust your reps so that you can
bring the bar below your eyes or nose. As you get stronger and progress,
aim for touching the bar to your upper chest (between your clavicle bone
and nipple height). At this point you should be also grazing your lats with
your upper arms (inner part of the bicep) as you're reaching the chest to the
bar. Once you reach the top, pause for a brief moment before you start
lowering yourself down. During that brief moment you should scan your
body to make sure that form is perfect:
1. Upper back muscles should be close to peak contraction in order to keep
your shoulder blades depressed and retracted.
2. Lats should be close to peak contraction as well in order to keep you
stable at the top and your upper arms attached on your sides.
Why bring the chest to the bar? Only by bringing your chest to the bar
can you achieve that peak lat contraction mentioned above (2.) Once you're
strong enough to perform lesson #3 properly, you should be strict with all
your reps.
A proper rep doesn't count If your upper chest doesn't touch the bar.
Lesson #5: Reverse
Although the lowering part of the pull-up is easier, that doesn't mean that
you should be neglecting it. Never let your body drop in an uncontrolled
way. Not only is this bad for joints, but you're also cheating yourself from
extra muscle gains. Studies have proven that the positive phase (pulling
yourself up) is not the only part of the rep responsible for muscle growth.
The negative phase (lowering yourself down) also generates a significant
amount of it because your muscles still have to contract eccentrically, acting
in this way as brakes to control the movement. If you're just letting your
bodyweight drop down, you're missing out on a lot of hypertrophy.
Maintaining your focus and mind to muscle awareness is essential to get the
most out of each rep. Feel your lats eccentrically contract to control the
movement as you lower yourself down.
(Note: An eccentric muscle contraction is a type of muscle activation that
increases tension on a muscle as it lengthens)
In summary: You have to be actively controlling the movement while you
are lowering your weight, instead of letting gravity doing the work for you.
Final Step: Putting that cherry on top
By now, if you've practiced enough, you've learned the most important
steps for building a ripped back with pull-ups. Congratulations, you now
know how to perform pull-ups better than 90% of the general population!
But if you're looking for perfection, this step will put that cherry on top!
This step will help intensify your lat contraction even more, and as a result,
this intensity will also carry over to the rest of the back muscles. This is a
step that takes a lot of time to develop and you never really master it. After
all, when you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target.
But as Vince Lombardi said:
"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch
excellence."
Or as Bruce Lee said:
"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as
something to aim at."
As mentioned previously, your lats begin from your lower back and are
hooked on your upper arm. When you pull yourself up from a hanging
position, the lats assist this movement by pulling your upper arm
downwards. To increase this muscle contraction even more do the
following: As you're pulling your elbows down close to your ribs,
visualize your lats contracting and give them an extra squeeze. No need
to overdo this as if you're doing a combination of pull-ups and isometrics.
Just give them enough of a squeeze to be aware of them. Remember to try
to leave your lower arms out of the picture and just to focus on your lats
and the motion of the elbow.
Putting it all together
Always be aware with every pull-up, re-read these lessons (especially the
bold text), or even better, make notes of them to have them easily available.
Be as mindful as possible during every set. You also shouldn't be listening
to music until all the steps above can be applied together and be felt as one
sensation. If you're training at a gym, or at some place with noise and other
distractions, I recommend you get some good headphones, and listen to
something that blocks out the background distractions. Binaural beats are
great for such situations (I use them quite often).
If you've been using bad or just simple/basic pull-up technique for a while,
applying all the theory of this book will take a while to get used to. But,
once the technique becomes automatic, once you develop that muscle
awareness and sense of peak contraction - I promise you won't feel like
doing pull-ups any other way again. What felt unnatural in the beginning,
will, after a certain point, feel natural. You'll start enjoying this sense of
control of your neuromuscular system, that mind to muscle connection and
that pumping of the muscles! I could continue babbling but instead, I'll use
a Bruce Lee quote, since I find no other perfect words to express my
thoughts on this whole book and internal VS external technique.
“The ideal is unnatural naturalness, or natural unnaturalness. I mean it is
a combination of both... I mean here is natural instinct and here is control.
You are to combine the two in harmony. If you have one to the extreme,
you'll be very unscientific. If you have another to the extreme, you become,
all of a sudden, a mechanical man. No longer a human being. It is a
successful combination of both.”
~ Bruce Le e
In summary
1. Pump those wings: Learn to contract your lats on cue. Simply
place your hand on the upper part of your lats (below your
armpit) and by pulling the shoulder back and down - feel
your lats fire-up. Gradually learn to do this without
palpating the lat with your opposite arm.
2. Switch your upper back-muscles on: Before starting to pull
yourself up, activate your back muscles by keeping both
shoulders back and down. By doing this your head should elevate
above your shoulders and your chest should be wider and facing
a bit more upwards.
3. Pull your elbows to your ribs: It is natural for your mind to
focus on bringing your head to the bar by pulling with your
hands. What you want to do though, is to override that natural
inclination and put all your focus on bringing the elbows to your
ribs.
4. Chest to bar baby! Don't count a rep as whole if you don't
touch your upper chest on the bar. It's that top position
where you get a peak contraction of those back muscles.
Combine all the previous steps while bringing your chest to
the bar, and once you reach the top - pause for a brief
moment.
5. Controlling the movement on the way back: Always lower
yourself down slowly by actively controlling the motion. This is
important, not just for keeping your joints safe but to also take
full advantage of the whole rep for maximum muscle growth.
6. Putting that cherry on top: To perfect that ultimate mind to
muscle connection do the following: As you're pulling your
elbows down close to your ribs, visualize your lats contract and
give them an extra squeeze. No need to overdo this as if you're
doing a combination of pull-ups and isometrics. Just give them
enough of a squeeze to become aware of them.
PART 4
Q&A and Common Pull-up Myths
Since I just released this book, I do not have a lot of content for this part
yet. But, if you feel that you have any unanswered questions, or if anything
in general is still troubling you about the technique taught in this book (or
anything else related), feel free to mail me any time at
info@homemademuscle.com. I always do my best to respond to everyone
within 24-48 hours during working days. One of the most common myths I
thought I should first address in this section is the wide grip pull-up myth.
Shouldn't I use a wide grip for greater lat activation?
This is a common myth I often hear from people. It was also something I
used to believe was true when I was in my early 20's, just because I heard it
from some random guy who was a fan of pull-ups. But, just like with so
many other bro-tips out there, it is wrong. The muscle you're actually
feeling in wide grip pull-ups is the teres major. The teres major is pretty
close to the upper fibers of the lats and therefore it’s easy to confuse these
two muscles. What happens in a wide grip pull-up is that the lats get
partially contracted?
(Graphics by Chelios )
This isn't something new. People like Vince Gironda, one of the greatest
bodybuilding coaches (coach of people like Arnold Schwarzenegger),
mentioned this all the way back in the 70's. But let's not just take someone's
word because he was famous, let's take a look at the anatomy of the lat for a
moment. The main function of the lat during a pull up is to pull the upper
arm down and close to the body. When you're using a wide grip, you
shorten the range of movement of that movement, and due to the angle of
the arm, muscles like the teres major we mentioned previously, take over.
Compare the top position of a close grip pull-up and a wide-grip pull-up.
Wide grip (left image) Vs Normal grip (right image
A narrower grip, in contrast, allows both a better stretch and a more
complete contraction. A wide grip pull-up makes it almost impossible to
bring the elbow close to the body. Not only that, but using extreme wide
grips places unnatural strain on those little muscles below your armpit (i.e.
the teres minor and major), increasing your possibilities for injury. I had to
learn this the hard way, since during my early 20's, when I was a fan of the
wide-grip pull-up, I strained my teres major causing a micro tear to the
muscle. Due to this I couldn't do pull-ups for more than 5 weeks.
Using a normal grip, just a bit wider than shoulder width, is superior for lat
activation. It allows your lats to contract harder and fuller (greater muscle
fiber recruitment) at the top position of the rep, and a bigger range of
motion to contract eccentrically as you reach the bottom position of the
repetition.
PART 5 - Workout Plan
Beginner's weekly bodyweight workout plan
If you're a beginner looking for a simple pull-up workout plan, I
recommend that you combine your pull-ups with push-ups. This way you'll
be balancing your pulling strength with your pushing strength and you'll be
building a more symmetric and ripped physique. Push-ups are another
exercise that is often performed with bad form and lack of mind-muscle
connection. Some people even think they're too strong for push-ups, but
trust me; if you learn to do push-ups the right way, (using similar
techniques as those discussed in this book) you will once again be humbled
by the effectiveness of this basic yet amazing exercise. I you haven't read it
yet; I highly recommend you grab a copy of my book How to sculpt a
Greek God Marble Chest with Push-ups in order to master your push-up
technique as well.
Use this workout plan for 6 weeks followed each time by a deload week. A
deload week is simply a week, during which you train less in order to give
your body the chance to fully recover, without losing any strength at the
same time. In comparison with taking a whole week off, a deload week
simply decreases training volume frequency. This way you'll feel stronger
and you'll perform greater next week.
Week 1 till week 6: From Monday till Friday - 6 X 5-15 reps
Train every day from Monday to Friday by performing the following
workout: Do 6 pull-up sets of 5-15 repetitions (depending on your relative
strength) with as perfect technique as possible. Your resting time is 2-3
minutes. You should feel almost fully rested before moving to the next set.
Start with 2 minutes and if you feel it's not enough try taking 3'. You reps in
every set shouldn't vary that much. For example, don't start with 15 reps
and then drop to 8 reps in your last set. That means that you worked too
hard in the first set, and that you should start from a lower number next
time. This is a bit tricky to figure out in your first couple of workouts. But
soon enough you'll get the feeling of it, easy peasy.
Once you're done with your pull-up sets, rest for 1-2 minutes and continue
with push-ups. Apply the same exact guidelines as above.
Superset version:
If you're tight on time and this workout takes too long for you, you can also
superset your sets. Start with a set of pull-ups, rest of 15 seconds (take 5
good deep breaths) and continue with one set of push-ups. Once you're done
you've completed one superset. Perform 5 of these supersets with 2-3
minutes of rest.
Example:
Superset #1: Do 5 pull-ups, rest 15" and do 8 push-ups.
rest 2 minutes
Superset #2: Do 5 pull-ups, rest 15" and do 8 push-ups.
repeat this until you perform a total #5 supersets.
Deload week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 3 X 5-15 (-20% reps)
Train every other day (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for three workouts
and then take two days off. Your reps should be also a bit lower than your
usual workouts. Simply do 20% less reps of your typical routine. For
example if you used to do 10 reps in each set, this week do 8 reps. If your
rep number was irrational (5,7,9,11 etc) always round up the difference in
smaller numbers. For example, if you were doing 7 reps - this week do 5 (7
- 1,4 = 5,6 = 5). Neuromuscular fatigue adds up with every week of hard
work. This is why it's important to take it easy every six weeks. No worries,
you won't lose your gains! On the contrary, every time you complete a
deload week, and you move into your regular program again, you'll feel
stronger than ever! Trust me ;)
Deload weeks allow you to stay one step ahead from burnouts and are
essential for consistent improvement.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON MIND AND BODY
CONNECTION
The most common question I get is how many reps should I do for muscle
growth or hypertrophy. Reasonable question, but it's also where a lot of
people's stagnation hides in. Science, bodybuilders and weightlifters have
come up with some numbers that answer these questions. Do 1-5 reps for
strength and 8-12 reps for hypertrophy is a typical framework. Without a
doubt these numbers are helpful for structuring your workouts, but don't
forget that reps are only half the side of the coin. If you simply care about
building a strong and aesthetic physique, focusing too much on the above is
a pretty myopic way of approaching strength training with bodyweight
exercises.
After all, five good reps can stimulate more muscle hypertrophy (gains)
than twelve crappy ones, and vice versa.
So, once again what is a good rep?
A good rep is a rep where mind and body become one. You're completely
involved, mentally and physically during each and every single nanosecond
of each rep.
You're not just doing reps to get your workout over with.
The workout becomes all there is for that half, or one or two hours you
decide to commit to it.
Mind and body, muscle contraction and muscle stretching, pulling yourself
up against gravity and yielding towards it, inhaling and exhaling; all
become one experience where inner and outer, time and physical space, all
merge into a single interwoven continuum.
PS: Did you enjoy this book ? I'd really appreciate if you scrolled all the
way to the bottom and gave me an honest review. I'll keep on writing more
of these as long as awesome people like you keep on giving positive me
feedback!
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