The pull up is one of the best muscle-building exercises and it should be included in any strength training plan.
To improve your pull ups:
- most of the strength for your pull up comes from your back not your arms. Thus the reason you need to activate your back muscles first before you bend your arms and you pull yourself up
- In the ‘passive hang’ you hang from a bar with straight arms and nearly no activation from your back muscles
- In the ‘active hang’ you pull your shoulder blades down.
When you do a pull up the 1st thing you should aim for is the ‘active hang’ position. Regardless of the position you choose, always extend your arms fully when you are in the bottom position.
You can do your pull up ‘explosively’ or slowly and more controlled. Should you wish to pull up quickly (explosively) make sure you go down slowly and in a controllable way so as to keep your muscles under tension for longer.
