Developing the Pull-up with Jenny Borda

Building strength to do a pull-up can be a huge accomplishment for many people...it can take months or even years to do!  My belief is that it’s always better to learn something correctly right away because changing bad habits is hard, but not impossible!  You just have to stick with it and be committed to the process! This tutorial will help you build strength and body awareness to get your first pull-up, fix bad habits, have options to modify if injured, and tools to help rebuild if coming back after injury. 

Hanging Position

Important to get into a good, strong, and stable position when hanging.  For many people it is hard to set a good shoulder position while still keeping their core engaged.  This could be weakness or just difficulty with body control! No matter your skill level it is great to work this proper position regularly! 

Strict Pull-ups

When working your strict pull-ups it’s good to practice holding that good position you work when hanging!  Modify however you need to help keep that position- bands, spotting, or using your legs to help!

Kipping & Kipping Pull-ups

So why do we kip?!  Efficiency! To be able to do more work faster! But… that does not mean everyone should just jump up and try them right away!  You should have good scapular and core control with hanging and the strength to perform a pull-up! Kipping should really come for good active shoulders, pressing those armpits forward on the arch then pressing down on the bar with straight arms and snapping those ribs in for the hollow shape.  Legs should stay straight and together! To string the pull-ups together you make more of a C shape to pull-up then press away to get back into another good kip! 

Accessory Work

Great to develop some of this strength by doing things other than hanging on the rig (your hands will thank you also!).  Band pull aparts & lat pull downs can be performed really anytime, in place of exercises in a workout, as a warm up, or as part of a strengthening session.  Remember to keep your ribs down as well as shoulder blades back and down! You don’t want your accessory work to be performed in poor positions so be diligent in performing these properly! 

You can reach Jenny at jenny@friendshipfitness.com if you have any questions!