Smart girls involved in sports cannot agree with the opinion that doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar is only a man’s exercise. It seems that we all know from childhood how to pull ourselves up. Pull-ups with a wide or narrow grip - we all know this, but... we can’t do it. If you're still taking the seventh route around the bar, it's time to realize that pull-ups are a great addition to your workout. But there are a couple of nuances that are worth considering. Our website will tell you everything girls need to know about this exercise.
What are the benefits of exercises on the horizontal bar?
There are several benefits to doing this type of exercise when done correctly. Among them:
- the ability to adjust your figure;
- strengthen muscles;
- increase endurance;
- strengthen joints and ligaments;
- reduce weight.
But this is far from a complete list. In addition to the listed features, the horizontal bar is one of the most effective equipment for spinal health. If the spine is healthy and functional, the whole body will be healthy and young.
Also, regular training on the horizontal bar helps to develop an athletic torso shape. This means that the latissimus dorsi muscles will be developed, the muscles of the arms and shoulder girdle will be strong. There are several exercise techniques, each of which allows you to work different muscle groups in the upper body. It also depends on the coverage width.
Where to begin
First the body needs to be prepared. It’s better to start with a free hang, trying to stay on the bar for 2 minutes (until muscle failure).
To hang on the bar for a long time, your arms must be strong. Push-ups will help strengthen your muscles. Option for the unprepared:
- Stand against a wall approximately 70 cm away;
- at the chest line, rest your hands on the surface;
- Without lifting your feet, move your upper body forward;
- push up from the wall as you exhale, and lower as you inhale.
Read more about wall push-ups →
A few days later, we do push-ups from the floor, standing on bent knees. Place your palms wider than your shoulders on the mat and lower your chest down. Having adapted, we take the lying position.
Read more about knee push-ups →
Carpal expanders will also help increase your grip strength.
Recommendations for beginners
Beginners should start with “ negative reps ,” a technique that involves positioning yourself as if the pull-up has already been completed. This technique is an excellent help for beginners, which will help even those who have never done a pull-up in their life.
To perform this exercise, you need to stand on a stool or chair, bend your arms and secure yourself in such a position so that your chin is above the bar. Then you need to smoothly, without jerking, straightening your arms, lower yourself down. After this, return to the starting position. At the initial stage, you should not overload yourself: it is enough to perform three approaches five times.
If you still can’t pull yourself up, you can ask a friend or partner for help, whose task will be to help you pull yourself up while standing behind you. In some cases, these methods are not suitable, but there is another option - strengthening the muscle groups necessary for exercise on the horizontal bar. For these purposes, you can use exercise machines, barbells or dumbbells. In addition, the gyms have special equipment for beginners. As for home workouts, an elastic band is suitable in this case. Pulling up to 50% of the amplitude will also be effective.
It should be noted that it is important for beginners to perform exercises on the bar carefully and smoothly, since there is a risk of ligament damage or injury when jumping down. Before training, a 15-minute warm-up is necessary to warm up the muscles. All kinds of loads that stimulate the activity of the cardiovascular system are suitable here.
Beginners are often interested in which muscles are worked when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Such strength training allows you to develop all the muscles of the arms and body, including the abdominals (corner, twist raise), triceps, biceps, and so on.
How to teach a girl to pull herself up: important points
The first thing we pay attention to is the thickness of the horizontal bar. In addition to the fact that the fair half is endowed with a weak shoulder girdle, graceful, not too strong hands are a point that not everyone knows about. That is why during training you should wrap them with elastic bandages, which firmly fix the hand, eliminating various types of injuries. As for the diameter of the bar, you need to choose it according to the size of your palm: if it completely encircles the bar, securely fastening your fingers, then the size is for you. If not, it's worth looking again.
Don't forget about special sports gloves. Several trips to the horizontal bar will “give” the athlete unattractive calluses, which will not only incapacitate her, but will also hurt and ruin the beauty of her hands.
Vary your grip and select the optimal grip width for the horizontal bar. Thus, the load between the muscles will be distributed correctly without injuring the shoulder joints. For a beginner, it is best to use a direct grip, placing your hands approximately shoulder-width apart, a few centimeters wider is allowed.
A few tricks for beginners
There is one technique that will not only facilitate the process of learning to do pull-ups, but also improve the relief of your back. We are talking about bringing the “wings” together while hanging. Raising your torso up is the starting and most difficult phase of a pull-up, so you should pay special attention to it. Hanging on the horizontal bar, you need to connect your shoulder blades and stay in this position for as long as possible (a beginner cannot stand it for more than 3-4 seconds). The exercise should be repeated 10-12 times. It not only helps strengthen the back muscles, but also improves neuromuscular communication - in other words, it “teaches” the brain to engage the back in work constantly and consciously.
Another secret that will help a girl learn to pull herself up is to practice the negative phase of the activity. Taking hold of the horizontal bar, you should push off the floor upward with a sharp movement so that the crossbar is at chin level. From this position, you must try to lower yourself down as slowly as possible. Do this 8-10 times, 3-4 approaches, and your back muscles will become much stronger and get used to your body weight.
Gravitron will always come to the rescue
Many gyms can boast of having a gravitron - a special simulator that allows a beginner to master the pull-up process. By creating a counterweight, the gravitron lightens the “burden” during the exercise. According to the theory, with a gradual decrease in the counterweight over time, the “student” will reach his own weight and will be able to pull himself up without the help of hardware. However, despite all the benefits of the gravitron, exercises on it should be combined with a simple horizontal bar, since it is important to teach the body to set its trajectory of movement.
What to do if there is no gravitron in the hall?
You can always use special elastic bands, fixing them under the buttocks, arms or knees. It is ideal if you have a whole set of elastic bands with different resistance forces, which will allow you to gradually increase the load.
An excellent option for a beginner girl is a wall bars with a crossbar. Thanks to the crossbars, it allows you to fix your body at a convenient distance from the horizontal bar and lightly push yourself while pulling yourself up with your legs.
Horizontal pull-ups will help a girl get comfortable with the crossbar. To perform them, you need a low horizontal bar (in the gym you can use a Smith bar machine). Grasp it with your hands and hang in a free position, while pushing your legs forward. Align your body as much as possible and touch the floor only with your heels. You need to pull yourself up so that your upper chest touches the bar.
“It worked, hurray!” What to do next?
Teaching a girl to do pull-ups is truly a real victory! Not everyone has enough endurance to reach the end, since the exercise, as already mentioned, is not given to every man. Have you defeated yourself? Now you need to consolidate the result.
Try to do pull-ups every day. This way you will not only improve the result, but also make your back incredibly beautiful and attractive. Do not be afraid of overtraining: 5-10 pull-ups a day will not make you a Hercules or a huge “jock”, as is commonly believed by many representatives of the fair sex.
Don't forget about working on your technique. In order to protect your elbows, biceps ligaments, and shoulder joints from injury, it is recommended to lower yourself slowly and smoothly, without swinging or sudden jerks.
Having a crossbar at home or a horizontal bar in the yard, you can give your body useful workouts every day that will help strengthen and tighten the muscles of your back, abs, arms, legs, etc. This way, you will significantly improve your figure without losing money.
Difficulties for beginners
Besides the fact that it will be difficult for beginners anyway, there are factors that make training with the bar even more difficult. These include:
Overweight
Extra pounds are an additional burden on the muscles, even if the latter are sufficiently worked out and developed. If you have no experience at all in sports, it is not recommended to start with pull-ups. First of all, efforts should be directed toward weight correction. Special exercises and diet are suitable here.
Physical weakness
Insufficient muscle development makes it much more difficult for beginners to practice on the horizontal bar. Therefore, it is recommended to first prepare the body for such training, that is, to develop strength and increase endurance.
Weak accessory muscles
Before starting training using the bar, it is important to work out the main muscles, but auxiliary muscles are no less important. That is, the following muscles should be developed: deltoid (posterior bundle), radial. The chest muscles should also be given attention.
Unproven technology
The technique must be constantly improved, otherwise it can lead to uneven muscle development and excessive stress on the joints, ligaments, and hands.
Denis Semenikhin. What grip to use for pull-ups
Rules for performing exercises on the horizontal bar
For training to be truly effective, you need to follow some rules:
- Only the muscles should be involved in the process of pulling up, that is, you cannot make the task easier for yourself by swinging or using inertia.
- When lifting and lowering, movements should be slow and smooth. Jerks and sudden movements are unacceptable.
- At the top peak, the position of the chin should be above the bar.
- The ascent is carried out while exhaling, the descent – while inhaling. Proper breathing is very important!
- The crossbar should be held with the strongest possible grip.
- The position of the body is strictly vertical.
In addition, you should remember that different types of exercises have their own characteristics. For example, when doing pull-ups with a close grip , you should try to touch the bar with your lower chest, while looking at your hands.
When pulling up by the head with a wide grip, the back should be flat without bending. Also, sudden movements and jerks should not be allowed. Care should be taken to avoid trauma to the skull.
Reverse grip exercises are performed with the shoulders pulled back, while the shoulder blades must be brought together.
When doing pull-ups with a wide grip, the lift should be performed exclusively using the latissimus dorsi muscles: at the top peak, you should strive to touch the horizontal bar with your chest.
Exercises on the horizontal bar aimed at working the back involve working the biceps.
It is impossible not to consider training on the bar for growth. There is an opinion that thanks to such activities you can “grow” a maximum of 5 cm. The exercises in question are performed in a free-hanging position - the body is stretched under the influence of its own weight. In this position, you need to move your legs in different directions. Torso twists and leg bends will also be helpful. It should be noted that such exercises help to improve your posture.
It is important to consider that beginners do not need to torture themselves with multiple approaches and different training programs. At the initial stage, you can use only one or two exercises, but do them correctly. The main rule of pull-ups is no rush. The slower the pull-up is performed, the better, since in this case all the necessary muscle groups will work, and the technique will be constantly improved.
Regular training also plays a big role, as it helps strengthen muscles and increase endurance. When this is achieved, you can think about increasing the repetitions, but not sharply, gradually. Just a few years of such training and now a former beginner can surprise with the ability to do pull-ups with one arm and perform exercises with weights.
Exercises on the horizontal bar: possible or not, useful or harmful. Spine health.
Benefits of Pull-Ups
First of all, you should remember that the training should be as varied as possible. This does not mean that you should perform a large number of movements in one session. You just need to change them periodically so that the body does not get used to the load. This is one of the advantages.
Although today we are talking about how to teach a girl to do pull-ups, not all guys can perform this movement. For them, the advantage of pull-ups, in addition to the above, is the opportunity to pump up and become more attractive in the eyes of women. The final benefit of exercise is your health. Since you work with your own weight, you do not overload this organ.
Contraindications for exercising on the crossbar
Not everyone can exercise on the horizontal bar, especially those who have health problems. Pull-ups are dangerous for scoliosis and other diseases of the spinal region, including protrusion, hernia, and so on.
Caution is necessary in case of osteochondrosis. It would seem that as a result of pull-ups, blood circulation increases and the mobility of vertebral structures develops, but at the same time, with degenerative changes in the vertebrae, excessive load is contraindicated. Those suffering from cervical osteochondrosis need to be even more careful, since exercises on the horizontal bar can cause dizziness and increased pain.
Igor July 21, 2016
