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May 12
You may not think that you’d ever be able to do a pull up.
Well, guess what? I have news for you. I have several clients from the Female Fat Loss Over 40 community that are doing pull ups now. Whoop whoop!
If you hadn’t heard, my alter ego is ‘The Pull Up Queen’. I have another blog and program called Challenge Workouts.
It teaches folks, just like you how to do more push ups and pull ups. I create and do challenging workouts to push clients towards their personal best. I thought you might like to hear about this cool little ‘trick’ when doing the pull up.
I’m a strong believer in training with strict form, but with the pull up exercise you can ‘cheat’ a little and still benefit.
When I’m going for an all out max on the pull up, such as in the unglamorous and unedited video HERE, I may do more than ‘a little’ cheat, but when I train, I’ll just add a small does of ‘cheat’. This small cheat is like doing a ‘forced rep’ or it’s sort of like spotting myself. If I can get more reps up to the pull up bar, it means I can do more eccentric reps (lowering down from the pull up bar) and this will increase my strength dramatically.
What ‘cheat’ am I talking about?
I’m talking about adding a ‘controlled kip’ into your pull up.
Now most people wouldn’t believe that you could use power from the lower body to aid in the completion of a pull up, but they’re mistaken.
You can actually generate a bit of momentum and power by flexing at the hip and driving the knees upward ever so slightly, there by transferring momentum through the hips and on up to the upper body.
Another key point is to lift the chest to the bottom of the bar instead of trying to lift the chin over the bar.
Both this advantageous body position and adding the controlled kip will increase your pull up power instantly. You’ll be able to go from zero pull ups to a partial and if you’re already knocking out a few pull ups, you’ll add a few more.
For more tips and tricks and a kick a$$ done for you pull up program, check out my Challenge Workouts program and see if it’s right for you.
My passion is teaching people how to work fitness into their daily lifestyle in order to improve their quality of life. Let’s work together to help you reach your fitness goals!
[…] Female Fat Loss expert, Shawna K (me!) gives some pointers on how you can learn one of the toughest exercises around. […]
[…] Female Fat Loss expert, Shawna K gives some pointers on how you can learn one of the toughest exercises around. […]