Ahhhh, the elusive pull-up: A true hallmark of total body strength and fitness at any age. And talk about a back-to-basics approach to fitness. The pull up strengthens not just your back, but also your core, arms, and all the muscles of your shoulders. They require very little equipment, and you can even practice your hanging out in nature or at your child’s playground.
Not only do pull ups demonstrate your body’s overall strength, they showcase healthy functioning joint mobility and how well your muscles harmonize in a compound movement. A strong backside also helps to counteract our tendency to roll forward and shorten the muscles of the chest (we all have a tendency to sit a little too much. Back strengthening can help correct postural issues created by over-sitting). It doesn’t hurt that the fitness required to do a proper pull up also happens to have a great impact on your physical appearance.
For some, the art of the pull up can seem a near possibility, but working on your weaknesses and developing this skill can have profound benefits. That’s why Janine recently made it her goal to tackle one with this 30 Day Pull Up Program from the athletes at Oxygen Magazine. We’re going to give you the program, too, so we can all be in this together!
Whether it’s your first one ever or you’re just trying to get back in to it (no pun intended), we challenge you to use the following program from Oxygen as a guide. Janine is, and we’ll be back with updates on Janine’s progress in the coming weeks.
30 Day Pull Up Challenge:
Want the program in its entirely? Check out the latest September edition of Oxygen Magazine for all the details. Get back to the basics in fitness and start mastering those pull ups. Boy, girl, old, young. It doesn’t matter — we can all make progress to have a strong and capable upper body. Be sure to keep us posted on your progress!
For some, the art of the pull up can seem a near possibility, but working on your weaknesses and developing this skill can have profound benefits. That’s why Janine recently made it her goal to tackle one with this 30 Day Pull Up Program from the athletes at Oxygen Magazine. We’re going to give you the program, too, so we can all be in this together!
Whether it’s your first one ever or you’re just trying to get back in to it (no pun intended), we challenge you to use the following program from Oxygen as a guide. Janine is, and we’ll be back with updates on Janine’s progress in the coming weeks.
30 Day Pull Up Challenge:
- Week 1: Focuses on recruiting the proper stabilizing muscles, etching a biomechanics pattern in your brain and body, while also training your tendons and ligaments to support the pull of your bodyweight on the bar.
- Week 2: Uses negative reps to stimulate both your primary and secondary muscles, recruiting more muscle fibers and building the strength you’ll need to hit your goal.
- Week 3: Adds band-assisted pull-ups to the plan to build endurance and resistance to fatigue — both of which you’ll need to push past your plateau.
- Week 4: Tests your skills with a few sets of bodyweight pull-ups to failure — using excellent form, of course. And on Day 30, you’ll retest yourself with your targeted number of perfect pull-ups and see how far you’ve come!
Want the program in its entirely? Check out the latest September edition of Oxygen Magazine for all the details. Get back to the basics in fitness and start mastering those pull ups. Boy, girl, old, young. It doesn’t matter — we can all make progress to have a strong and capable upper body. Be sure to keep us posted on your progress!