Muscles Worked: Lateral muscles, shoulders secondary
Spotter Required: No
Minimum Equipment required: Chin up bar with a wide grip
The Best Equipment to Use: Same as above
Warming up: If pull-ups are the first exercise in your back workout I suggest warming up using a lat pull down machine with a wide grip. The lat pull down machine will allow you to perform your warm-up sets whilst gradually increasing the weight you are lifting. Once you have completed the warm-up sets you can start doing pull-ups. Example of a warm-up set:
Warm-up set 1: 20% of the weight you normally lift for 12 reps
Warm-up set 2: 60% of the weight you normally lift for 8 reps
Warm-up set 3: 75% of the weight you normally lift for 5 reps
Warm-up set 4: 85% of the weight you normally lift for 3 reps
Warm-up set 5: 95% of the weight you normally lift for 1 rep
How often should I perform this exercise: Pull ups are a fantastic workout for your upper and middle back and should always be included in your back workout.
When should I perform this exercise: Wide grip pull-ups should be performed first in your back workout as they use a lot of energy.
How to do the exercise: Grip onto the chin up bar with a wide overhand grip, wrapping your thumbs around the bar. A good way to make sure you have the right grip width, your arms should make a V shape.
Begin to pull your body up until your chest reaches the pull up bar, at this point slowly lower to the start position using resistance all the way down. Do not lock your arms at the bottom position, always keep them slightly bent as this keeps the back muscles tensed throughout the exercise.
Pull-up Tips: Slightly raise your arms so that your shoulders are below your ears, doing this takes pressure off the softer tissue around the shoulders and will make the exercise easier. You want to keep your body tight to ensure it doesn’t swing during the pull up, to do this keep your abdominals and gluteus tensed throughout the workout, also keep your legs crossed. The final key to a successful chin up is sticking your chest out, this ensures that the back muscles are worked out as efficiently as possible. If you cannot manage a pull-up using your own bodyweight I suggest you substitute it for lat pull down until you can manage them.
Mentality: Any type pf Pull up can be tough, especially wide grip pull ups. If you find yourself struggling simply let go of the bar and rest for 5 seconds, jump back on and continue the set.
Images:
hi your page and info is brillant, im 53 years old, i train about 3 times a week sometimes i might not train for two wks then i get a mad fit and train 4 times a week, i would love to be able to do wide bar pull ups, i weigh 16stone but at mom ent i would be lucky to do 2reps how do i improve and am i too old to try doing a set of ten, cause i do find them very hard and intense