You CAN Do Pullups, My Friend!
“Fitness is a journey and we all start from somewhere.”
Can’t do pullups yet? Don’t let that ruin your day. You just need to build up to it!
Pullups are a fundamental human movement. Our whole upper body is built for it! But that doesn’t mean they’re easy to do. Our modern lives don’t usually involve a lot of hanging, climbing, or swimming (unless you’re an American Ninja Warrior). It makes sense that we aren’t very skilled at something that we rarely do.
So let’s talk about pullups and how you can do them!
A Brief Background on Pullups:
Pullups primarily use the muscles in your back - your lats, rhomboids, and the stabilizing muscles that support your shoulder blades. Your biceps are also putting in a lot of work here. Your core will be working to support your trunk along the way.
The hard work happens in the “pulling” phase, but maintaining control during the “lowering” phase is equally as important.
This is true whether you use an overhand grip like you would in a classic pullup, or use an underhand grip like you would in a chinup. The difference between these two is that chinups will put more emphasis on arm strength while pullups emphasize your back.
What grip should you use? Hampton’s philosophy: “You should learn all grips, but start with what is most comfortable.”
Why Can’t I Do Pullups Yet?
Now that we have established that our bodies are built to do pullups, you may be asking, “But then why can’t I do them yet?”
The key word here is “yet”. You just haven’t built up to it!
A similar thing happens with pushups. If you can’t do a pushup, someone might tell you, “Just keep trying until you can do it!” Truthfully, it’s pretty silly advice. If someone couldn’t squat 200lbs, you wouldn’t give them a 200lb barbell and say “Just keep trying!” You would start with something they can manage and build up from there.
You have to work your way up!
Even as a kid, crossing the monkey bars wasn’t an easy feat. Strength is also a skill!
Now let’s talk about how you can work your way up - you’ll use progressions! By the way, the concept of progression applies to all of the exercises you’ll see on the Hybrid Routine.
Start Where You Are
The idea is to find a variation of the exercise that you can do safely and competently. This first step addresses the main problem that you’re facing. You can’t do pullups yet, so that’s not where you’re going to start.
Instead, you’re going find something you can do safely and competently! The exercise that you pick will mimic the movement pattern of a pullup, but will be accessible to you at your current skill level. We’ll get into some exercises later in the article.
Work It Hard
In order to make progress, you just have to work hard. You have to work hard consistently. Once you’ve found the variation that work for you, you’re going to work that exercise hard 1-2x per week until you meet a certain standard.
The standards referenced in the Hybrid Routine provide a goal for your to meet. For example, the standard for Wall Pullups is 3 sets of 50 reps. When you can complete this standard safely and with good form, you are ready to move on to a harder variation!
Rinse and Repeat
You will use this method with each variation until you reach your ultimate goal of Full Pullups! It won’t necessarily be easy. You will have to be committed and put in some hard work. Consistency will get you where you want to be.
Let’s get started!
The human body is built to hang and climb.
Pullup Progressions
Vertical pulling is one of the gentlest ways to introduce pulling with a full range of motion. Although these may feel very easy, it’s useful to practice these for a few weeks to feel how your joints want to move and build healthy movement patterns.
Horizontal Pullups (chest height)
Doing pullups from this position is easier than pulling vertically. This introduces us to horizontal pulling!
Horizontal Pullups (hip height)
Lowering the height of the rings or bar will increase your workload. Alternatively, you can do Australian Pullups.
This introduces vertical pulling with assistance from the legs! To progress this movement, use less and less assistance from your legs.
This is one of the most functional fitness movements. Period. Reconnect with this fundamental movement and reap the benefits!
Check out this video to hear all of this from Hampton himself!