No pull-ups? Do you want to know the real reason why?

“Because The Pull-Up Is ONE of The Toughest, Yet Simplest and Most Effective Bodyweight Exercises!”

Do you know if pull-ups are a good exercise for you?

Pull-ups are infamous for being tough to do.

In fact, badass for building and strengthening the upper body.

And because your back muscles are also involved…

Pull-ups are the most efficient way for strengthening…

Pull-ups you’d agree are beneficial, empowering and most badass exercises you can do.

Keep reading every word because this info helps to troubleshoot most common mistakes.

Pull-ups are a versatile bodyweight exercise which can be performed anywhere at anytime…

Unfortunately, almost all of the population cannot do even one single pull-up.

I don’t hesitate to say that in most instances your inability to master the pull-up…

IS not because you are physically incapable.

But your lack of success is because you are not training for the exercise (or are being coached) the right way.

Are barriers holding you back and stopping you from achieving your pull-up goals?

10 reasons why you’re struggling to do pull-ups…

Reason #1 – You Are Treating The Pull-Up Purely As An Upper Body Movement:

When many people set the awesome goal of being able to do one pull-up or many…

They make the common mistake of focusing on training just their upper body.

Let me be clear, when the pull-up is being executed to perfection…

It is actually a full bodyweight (compound) exercise.

And your entire body must be strong, stable, and working as a synchronized unit.

While it goes without saying that you must perform upper body ”pulling” exercises…

If you are serious about being able to perform pull-ups…

You want to include exercises which address scapular and shoulder stability.

(I like to use the term controlled mobility).

In fact, it is lumbo-pelvic stability.

Including specific exercises to strengthen your lower body.

Reason #2 – You Are Overusing Your Arms:

Now, this one is the most common and biggest mistake.

If you are performing pull-ups with the proper technique…

The larger muscle groups in your back should be doing the majority of the work.

You actually don’t want to rely on your arm muscles…

Many people make this mistake of initiating the movement with their arms.

Instead of drawing their shoulder blades together and down (towards opposite hip).

You want to be using larger and more dominant muscles in your back.

Relying on arm muscle strength limits your ability to thrive at pull-ups.

Of course, your arm muscles are involved.

But, arms should only be assisting larger muscles in your back.

And should not doing the bulk of the heavy lifting or lowering.

To demonstrate this point more effectively…

Click PLAY button below to watch this short eye-opening video…

00:00 / 00:00

Do you understand why I’m performing pull-ups using just two fingers?

Doing this essentially removes most of my arms from the equation.

Reason #3 – You Are Lacking In Full Body Tension:

Why do so many people struggle to perform pull-ups?

Because they either cannot develop, or at least fail to maintain, full body tension.

Let me explain…

Do you think it would be easier to pull stiff and stable object?

OR…

An equally weighted limp and floppy rag doll?

Did you choose the first option 🙂

You see, in order to develop this requisite level of tension.

Your want to engage your entire body.

Yes, your body needs to function as one unit.

You want to engage and contract all the larger muscles in your:

Upper back
Scapular stabilizers
Anterior core
Glutes

Even your legs need to work together to create this vital level of tension…

Reason #4 – Your Path To The Bar Is Too Long:

This ties into point #3.

When you perform the pull-up…

The shorter the distance your body has to travel to the bar.

The more efficiently and effectively you’ll be able to do the pull-up exercise.

It’s no different from any other exercise.

For example…

If you do a deadlift, you want the barbell to travel in the shortest line.

The distance from floor to lockout position is as short as possible.

Many people struggle to perform pull-ups because they lack requisite levels of controlled mobility.

And full body stability/tension needed to perform this fantastic exercise.

As a result, instead of remaining directly underneath the bar…

Their body swings back and forth like a pendulum.

Now rather than travelling to the bar in a shorter and more efficient line.

Their body is forced to travel toward the bar in a longer and totally inefficient arc.

This common breakdown in form results in fewer reps being performed.

And sometimes not being able to perform any reps at all…

(As some people can still do reps, but just not as many).

Reason #5 – You Are Not Owning The Eccentric Component Of The Exercise:

When some people perform pull-ups…

They get lazy and think eccentric means rest.

And they allow their body to simply drop from the top position.

However, in the majority of cases…

People do not have a sufficient amount of eccentric strength.

No doubt, this goes back to weak scapula stabilizer muscles…

And lack of lumbo-pelvic stability.

They cannot control their body from top to bottom position of pull-up exercise.

The inability to own the eccentric component of pull-up…

Means it can be stressful to muscles, joints, and connective tissue.

And in terms of actually being able to perform pull-ups.

This major flaw in form removes the full body tension…

You need controlled mobility and lumbo-pelvic stability to do next rep when you hit bottom position.

If you’re able to maintain control, lowering yourself down more quickly…

Actually reduces overall amount of time your muscles are under tension.

And you most likely won’t be able to perform more reps.

However, the key is to maintain control at all times.

And you want to master your form before you increase your speed.

Reason #6 – You Are Not Resetting Your Body Between Reps:

When many people perform pull-ups…

And this is assuming they are able to perform more than one consecutive rep.

They get sloppy and try to rush through the set.

Rather than making sure that their full body is stable, has the requisite level of tension.

And is in complete control, before they perform the next rep…

They just focus on the pulling movement, and try to complete it as quickly as possibly.

When people hit the bottom position and go to initiate the next rep…

This is often when you often see the lower back hyperextend, ribcage flare, shoulders rise to the ears.

And the body swings back and forth like a pendulum.

To solve this problem…

And this is especially important when you are first starting out…

I like to pause when I am in the bottom position.

And I will do a complete ”reset.”

I will flex my legs, squeeze my glutes, re-brace my core…

And tuck my rib cage towards my hips.

Take a deep breath of air into my belly (360 degrees of air around my spine).

And will make sure that my scapulae are in the proper position.

Once you get more experience, strength and technical proficiency…

You can also “reset” during the eccentric component…

You can even perform multiple reps without having to do the reset.

Ideally, the less amount of time you spend in bottom position the better.

This decreases overall amount of time your muscles are under tension.

Your main priority here should be on making sure your form is spot on.

Reason #7a – You Are Relying Band Assistance:

You could use band assistance to help with a well rounded pull-up program…

Just bear in mind, relying on band assistance alone will not get the job done.

This is because the band provides assistance at the wrong time.

I’ll use this method when building up overall volume…

Working on actual ”pulling” mechanics/scapular movements of pull-up exercise.

And working on creating and maintaining full body tension…

There are many other pull-up regressions paramount if you want to thrive at unassisted pull-ups.

Reason #7b- You Are Over-Relying On Machine Assistance:

Let’s be clear, I am not a fan of machine assisted pull-ups.

If you have no interest in being able to perform regular pull-ups.

And are just going for overall volume, fair enough.

For example…

You might be working on your pulling mechanics and scapular movements.

You see, when it comes to training for actual pull-ups…

There are countless other pull-up regressions and other exercises which are significantly more effective.

What if you’re using machine assisted pull-ups…

What you essentially don’t need to maintain is any lumbo-pelvic stability.

Including any full body control and tension.

In other words, you can totally cheat.

However, when you are doing regular pull-ups…

You want to focus on lumbo-pelvic stability and full body tension.

This can absolutely make or break your performance.

And ability to perform the exercise.

Reason #8 – You Are Skipping Key Steps:

Many people make the common mistake of trying to go from A-Z.

They do not follow essential steps to actually help improve their pull-up technique.

Including full body strength, controlled mobility and stability/tension…

Basically, they are not building and preparing a solid foundation for improving pull-ups.

Depending on where your starting point is…

You want to be performing the appropriate:

Pull-up regressions
Horizontal pulling exercises
Scapula/shoulder controlled mobility exercises
Lumbo-pelvic stability exercises
And even lower body exercises

ONLY progressing when you are ready…

This in turn better prepares you to conquer pull-ups.

You want to learn how to walk before you run, right?

And the same principle applies to pull-ups.

Many people want to fast-track and skip steps.

And wonder why they aren’t making any progress?

They’ll continue to question, get frustrated and quit.

Please don’t make this common and most costly mistake.

Be patient and better results are your reward.

Reason #9 – You Are Undertraining:

This reason is pretty straightforward.

Unless you train the pull-up on a consistent and frequent basis…

Sadly, you may miss out on making necessary improvements.

And learning to use the correct technique.

You want strength, controlled mobility…

Stability/tension to build-up your number of reps.

Or you’re unable to perform pull-ups in the first place.

The key is to practice with consistency…

And I’m not just talking about regular unassisted pull-ups.

If you are not yet able to perform regular pull-ups…

Simply focus on regressions and other key areas I discussed above.

And of course, do so consistently…

Once a week just won’t cut it.

Even when you are able to do regular pull-ups, practice consistently.

If you have access to a home pull-up bar, perform a few reps each time you walk by.

And make every single rep you do…count!

Reason #10 – You Don’t Believe In Yourself:

Last, and most certainly not least…

If you don’t believe you will be able to perform pull-ups, you probably won’t.

Self belief is really huge factor!

Don’t allow anybody to convince you aren’t capable, because you are.

Follow the simple yet powerful steps, just chip away at it and the sky is truly the limit.

In case you don’t believe it, click PLAY button below to watch this short video…

00:00 / 00:00

10 Reasons Why You Aren’t Excelling At Pull-Ups

“Because The Pull-Up Is ONE of The Toughest, Yet Simplest and Most Effective Bodyweight Exercises!”

10 reasons why you’re struggling to do pull-ups…

10 Reasons Why You Aren’t Excelling At Pull-Ups

Published by Body Weight Training

Leave a comment