What is the pull-up challenge

  pull-ups highly challenge and develop

the muscles in your back these muscles

include the rhomboids the latissimus

dorsi the trapezius and even the deeper

muscles that run along your spine like

the erector spinae in addition pull-ups

are also very effective for developing

your biceps and building bigger stronger

arms so today i want to give you guys 12

of the best pull-up variations that you

can incorporate into your routine to get

a muscular and attractive v-shaped back

And first let's start with a more

Creative variation that i'm sure many of

You have never tried before the trx

l-sit pull-up this is a more advanced

way to do pull-ups that'll help you

target your core much more to begin

you'll grab a trx strap in each hand

with a pronated grip which means that

your palms are going to be facing away

from you then hang down and raise your

leg straight up in front of your body as

the name implies you want your body to

look like an l from a side point of view

then while holding your legs in this

position pull yourself up by pulling

your elbows down and back after your

chin clears the straps lower back down

and repeat for reps while keeping your

legs in that same l-sit position the

whole time keep in mind you can do this

exercise on a regular pull-up bar but if

you want an even greater challenge use

the trx straps or use rings next is by

far my favorite variation the weighted

wide grip pull-up obviously you can add

weight to any pull-up movement but if

you want to get maximum development of

your back lats and biceps by far one of

the best things you can do is

progressively up your weight with wide

grip weighted pull-ups start by standing

under a pull-up bar and grab the bar at

least six to eight inches wider than

each of your shoulders your palm should

be facing away from you and you can

either strap the weight to a dip belt or

you can have your partner place the

weight in between your cross legs

then you're going to pull your body up

until your chin clears the bar as you're

doing this concentrate on pulling your

elbows down and back to better target

the muscles in your back you want to do

these earlier on in your workout routine

while you're still fresh and can pull

the heaviest weight load possible i

recommend selecting a weight that you

can do for at least six to eight reps

you can start by just strapping five

pounds and then slowly work up from

there over time and you'll be amazed at

how quickly you can get significantly

stronger at this exercise just by upping

the weight load another variation that's

very effective is the hockey grip

pull-up with this one you'll stand

sideways so you'll be facing parallel

with the pull-up bar reach up and grab

the bar above your head with both hands

placing one hand in front of the other

like you're holding a baseball bat then

hang straight down and pull your body up

as you're pulling up you want to tilt

your head to one side of the bar and

keep pulling up until your chin fully

clears the bar then lower back down and

repeat the same exact thing with your

head tilted towards the other side now

continue doing that going back and forth

for reps a very similar alternative to

this one is to use a double d handle for

pull ups you would once again stand

facing the same direction then take your

double d handle and place it over top of

the pull-up bar grab the double d handle

with both hands and pull up in the same

way as before shifting your head from

one side to the other alternating side

to side on each rep this variation may

feel a lot more comfortable for your

hands but essentially should hit your

back and arms in a very similar way as a

side note you can also do a similar

variation with a rope instead of the

double d handle next is a fun way to

perform pull-ups while also

incorporating effective isometric

contractions that are called

around-the-world pull-ups start in a

pull-up position with your hands

pronated and about six to eight inches

wider than shoulder-width apart on each

side

from there hang straight down and pull

yourself up except instead of pulling

straight up as you would with regular

pull-ups you're going to pull yourself

up to one side then while holding

yourself up you're going to slide your

body over to the other side and then

lower yourself down on that side then

repeat for reps also remember to switch

the direction that you're going in on

each alternate set

now if you want to use pull-ups

specifically to get bigger arms one of

the best variations you can do is the

regular chin-up here you would stand

directly under the pull-up bar and grab

it with your palms facing towards you

instead of away from you you would also

place your hands only shoulder-width

apart or maybe slightly wider than

shoulder width there's no need to go

extra wide on this exercise then pull up

by driving your elbows down and flexing

your biceps until your chin fully clears

the bar repeat that for reps and if you

really want to challenge your biceps

strap some weight while doing these chin

ups usually you'll be able to lift more

weight with chin ups than traditional

wider grip pull-ups with your palms

facing the other way but if you're

looking for a variation where you can

move the most amount of weight look no

further than the hammer grip pull-up

usually most people can bicep curl more

weight when their hand is in a neutral

position compared to a pronated or a

supinated position the same holds true

for pull-ups most barbell racks and

cable crossover machines will have a

neutral grip option so all you have to

do is grab the neutral grip with your

hands a bit wider than your shoulders

and just like the others drive your

elbows down and back until your chin

clears the bar and then repeat for reps

hammer grip pull-ups are especially

great if your wrists or shoulders bother

you when you're trying other grip

variations they're also great to really

push the amount of weight you're using

for weighted pull-ups as most people

like i said can typically generate more

power with that neutral grip another

version of pull-ups that offers a unique

way for beginners to get stronger at

this exercise is the negative pull-up

this is actually one of the best things

you can do if you want to do more

pull-ups but currently you're struggling

to even get a few reps in if any at all

so to begin you'll set up a platform

that's high enough for your chin to

fully clear the bar once you're standing

up on top of it make sure the platform

is a little towards one side so your

body still has room to hang straight

down without the platform getting in the

way then you're gonna grab the bar above

your head with whatever grip you'd like

and step up on top of the platform from

there step off to the side and lower

yourself down as slowly as possible once

you're on the ground you're going to go

ahead and step right back up on top of

that platform and repeat for reps

next is an alternate version of pull-ups

that builds your grip strength and your

forearms like nothing else cannonball

pull-ups these are separate attachments

that go on top of the pull-up bar if

your gym doesn't have them you can get

them for only 30 bucks on amazon and if

you want to improve your grip strength

they're definitely worth getting anyway

you would grab these cannonballs with

your hands squeeze as tight as you can

to prevent yourself from slipping off

and then perform pull-ups from there you

can grip these in different positions to

focus on your thumb strength more or to

target your other fingers more moving on

we have an explosive pull-up exercise

that will help you increase power output

the plyometric pull-up you'll begin by

taking a traditional pull-up grip and

hanging straight down under the bar then

pull yourself up as forcefully as you

can you want to try to almost launch

yourself upwards towards the ceiling as

you do this and your hands should let go

of the bar as your chin tries to clear

the bar with speed even though it's

great if you can pop yourself up higher

above the bar if you even get a small

amount of hang time in midair this

exercise will be very effective and

obviously very challenging if you want

to work on explosiveness in relation to

your pulling strength i wouldn't look

much further than this variation

going back to another great alternative

for beginners we have inverted rows when

you get really good at pull-ups you can

even do inverted pull-up rows right on a

pull-up bar but regular inverted rows

give you the opportunity to get much

stronger at a movement very similar to

regular pull-ups so set up a barbell

inside a squat rack the higher the

barbell is the easier the exercise will

become the lower the barbell is the

harder it'll become you can also raise

your feet up on a platform to make it

even more challenging but the idea is

you want to walk your feet forward while

holding onto the barbell until your body

is in almost a fully straight line from

your heels to your upper back then

simply pull your chest up to the barbell

lower back down and repeat for reps

finally last but not least we have the

single arm pull up now the version that

i want to show you guys does use your

second hand for assistance you can do a

full out single arm pull up but this is

really difficult for most people to do

using their full body weight so this

version is more applicable for most

people you would grab the bar with one

hand palm turn inward in a supinated

position

then you're going to grab that wrist

with your other hand from there lift

your feet off the floor and allow your

body to hang straight down then pull

yourself up using just one arm as best

as you can while the other arm stays

there for support once your chin clears

the bar slowly lower yourself down and

then repeat for reps

so those are some of my favorite pull-up

variations that you can start adding to

your routine to mix things up and to

challenge your back and arms in a whole

new way i hope you enjoyed this video if

you have make sure you subscribe to my

channel also even though pull-ups are

awesome at developing your lats

rhomboids traps and arms it doesn't mean

that they're the only thing you should

be doing to really develop those muscles

some people just do pull-ups and

push-ups for their upper body workouts

and even though these exercises are

truly amazing mixing in many other

exercises provides the variety your body

needs to constantly be challenged and

forced to adapt by building more muscle

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