Pull-ups require total body stability and posture.
A pull-up is an exercise strengthens you upper body by lifting yourself up toward your hands, which are holding onto an anchor point, such as a pull-up bar, Olympic rings or a similar apparatus. It strengthens your stability in your spine, abdominal muscles and hips, which helps to improve your posture. To do a perfect pull-up, do not stick your neck forward or round your spine since this can injure your spine and the ligaments and tendons around it, explains Juan Carlos Santana, director of the Institute of Human Performance.
Instructions
Pull-up
1. Grab a pull-up bar that about two feet above your head with both hands a little wider than shoulder width apart and facing away from you.
2. Brace your abdominal muscles and exhale as you lift yourself up until your head clears past the bar or your chin is even with your hands.
3. Lower your body down until your arms are fully extended. Do not round your spine or stick your neck forward. Perform 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps.
Inclined Pull-up
4. Use a squat rack or Smith machine for this exercise. Set the height of the bar to about two to three feet off the ground. Grab the bar with both hands about shoulder width apart and your hands facing away from you.
5. Crawl under the bar and place your feet about hip-width apart. Position your chest below the bar with your arms extended.
6. Tighten your buttocks and lift yourself until your chest almost touches the bar. Lower yourself down until your arms are fully extended. Perform 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
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