Best Exercise Modifications: Pull Ups

So you need to modify your pull ups? No problem! This is a right of passage for more people! Pull ups are hard. We can fake our way through Plyo and even just lower some weight on dumbbells for curls or kickbacks. But pull ups, they are the real deal!  As I started last week, I’m going to be featuring some of the BEST exercise modifications I have used. This week, let’s tackle PULL UPS! I also hit up David Jeffries for some visual help too! Thank man :-)

Best Exercise Modifications – Pull Ups

REMINDER – Exercise modifications are not only good for people that might struggle with the full exercise, but they can also be used to overreach and do more work! So if you are a stud or studette… listen up and add some of these exercise modifications to get even more and dig even deeper!

With the pull up, we get a really challenging move that requires a lot of strength. You are pulling your whole body from a hanging position until your chin is above the bar. Then repeat! A couple things are going on if you are just starting out. #1 – if you are like me when I started, you are overweight. That means we had and have more weight to pull up. Automatically this is harder than it will be when you lose some weight. #2 – Again, if you are like me when I started, your muscles aren’t used to this type of work. Vertical pulling is tough, we need to build that strength over time. #3 – Possibly your grip might be an issue. Over time, this will improve too. So stick with it.

Let’s now start with the FULL exercise and work down through some modifications you can make to build up to repping out pull ups like a boss!

1) FULL PULL UPS Let’s start at the standard you should be aiming for. In my mind, a proper pull up has to have full range of motion (ROM). You are going to grip the bar with your palms facing away from you. From a dead hang, fully extended, pull your body up towards the bar, get your chin over the bar, and return to a fully extended hanging position. 1 rep! NICE! For a real pull up, no body english or kipping.

If your palms are facing in, as you probably already know, that is a chin up. They tend to be a little easier since you can use your biceps to help in the pulling motion. 

2) PARTIAL REP PULL UPS Just like with push ups, you can step back down the difficulty by doing a partial range of motion. I believe the best way to do partial rep pull up is to still pull yourself all the way up to the bar and to only lower yourself 1/2 to 3/4 of the way down. It may not seem like a lot of difference, but you have just made pull ups quite a bit easier. If this is you, set your goal on lowering yourself further and further, getting a bigger ROM. If you can do 5 full pull ups, do those first and then do some partial reps. 

3) BAND ASSISTED PULL UPS I wish this would have been an option when I was starting out! Beachbody has an awesome solution, the Chin Up Max (link here). It’s 3 resistance bands, chin-up bar clip, foot stirrup, and adjustable clip. You can really dial in the perfect amount of assistance with this tool. What I love about the assist (yes I use it to do beyond failure), is that it keeps up in a vertical path when doing your pull ups. I did a lot of assisted pull ups off of a stool when I started P90X. This keeps the motion more natural and like a real pull up. You will not regret picking one up, no matter what your fitness level.

4) CHAIR ASSISTED PULL UPS Finally, if you don’t have a Chin Up Max, you can use what I did at first and just use a stool or chair. The goal here is to take some of the weight off your pull ups by lightly stepping off of a chair throughout your pull ups. I have a Classic Coach Wayne video that does a great job explaining this. :) Enjoy!

Still want more pull ups?

We are a different bunch on teamRIPPED, and I know we all can get to a point where we might want to make pull ups harder! Here are two main ways – 1) zero cost – 2) some add ons.

FREE HARDER PULL UPS

Tempo Pull Ups – Want to make them really hard, really fast? Try tempo pull ups! Take a 3 count on your pull up and then a 3 count on the negative. Try to do 15 :-)

Chest to Bar – Harder! Still with a clean, kip free pull up, pull yourself all the way up until your chest hits the bar. Welcome to a new world of challenge and gainz!

ADD-ON HARDER PULL UPS

Weight Vest – This is pretty obvious. If you add more weight, you will make pull ups harder. After being able to try a few vests, I can say the best out there is still the vest from WeightVest.com. You will want to take a look at the narrow option if you do a V-Force and always pick SHORT. 40-50# will challenge you for a long time!

Weight Belt – There are pull up weight belts (often called a DIP BELT) where you can hang weights from your waist. This can be used mainly for pull ups and dips. While the weight vest is more versatile, this is a lot cheaper! Check out Rogue Fitness’ option here.

Backpack and Weights – Maybe this is FREE for you too! If you watched my video, you already know about this. Adding some weights to a sturdy backpack is a great way to make a cost effective weight vest. If you can do 15+ pull ups a set for a whole workout, start with 20# and see how hard that is!

Build a base and then BRING IT!

For all of these pull up modifications, there is a clear progression. Don’t be afraid to move to the next level, even if you only get a few you are challenging yourself and it will pay off. Do as many of the more difficult version and then finish up with the step-down.

Keep pushing yourself teamRIPPED!

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