Pull-ups are a must-have movement in our fitness training, no matter whether it is an athlete, fitness enthusiast or army training!
Pull-ups are great for training your lats and biceps, abs, long heads of triceps, delts , and even pecs . At the same time, pull-ups require strong core strength and coordination, so pull-ups are also known as the king of upper body training!
There are actually many things that can be said about pull-ups. The most concerned questions include: How to properly activate the back muscles? The difference between pull-ups with different grips and how to increase or decrease the difficulty of pull-ups and more!
In addition to the more popular issues above, there is actually an important issue that is easy to ignore, that is, many people will have anterior pelvic tilt and lumbar hyperextension when performing pull-ups!
The following figure demonstrates:
Over time, you will feel that your lower back will be very tight when doing pull-ups, and it will cause lower back pain in severe cases!
In some cases, arching can supplement the strength of the lats, but it is the main culprit in lower back discomfort. It is generally recommended to avoid arching.
There are 3 major reasons for the above situation:
1. In order to avoid a hunched posture with a chest, most people will lean back, push their chests up too much, and raise their rib cages, resulting in excessive support of their waists!
2. Core laziness: In order to keep the lumbar spine and pelvis neutral and stable, you need to work hard to tighten your abdomen and buttocks . If not, the above situation will easily occur!
3. Cross the legs back: This is what most people choose to do pull-ups. When you place your legs behind your body, it is easy to cause the pelvis to tilt forward. You will find that when you pull it to the top, you The lower back muscles are very tight!
What should you do?
Simply put, keep your shoulder blades, shoulders, and torso stable throughout the movement.
1. Using the lock grip, the shoulder joint is slightly externally rotated to create a torqued (torqued) to stabilize your scapula
Then squeeze your glutes, tighten your abs to build a stable torso, press down on your chest (don't overextend your upper back), straighten your feet together, slightly forward, press the back of your feet
Look closely at the person in the picture. His back is flat, his ribcage is above his pelvis, and his shoulders are tight (armpits facing forward).
2. Keep your abs and glutes tight as you pull up, remember not to loosen your core and throw your torso off track.
3. Pull up until the chin is over the bar and keep the head in a neutral position. If you can't pull the chin to the height, don't forcefully lift the lower handle (head back) to complete the action.
4. When descending, you should maintain the same movement as when ascending, the back is the same, the buttocks are clamped, the abdomen is forced, the feet are close together, and the instep is pressed.
5. Finish the movement in the same good posture as when you started it.