Pullup Routines

How do I get started doing pullups?

This article will basically show us why different people will need different routines, and show examples of pullup workouts for beginner, intermediate, and expert athletes. Subsequently, you can use these routines as a reference, or build on them yourselves.

Why do different people need different workouts?

Since pullups use your bodyweight, the difficulty can vary by person. For this reason kids can usually do more pullups than adults. (i.e. Adults weigh too much!)

For this purpose, we will separate people into beginner, intermediate, and advanced categories.

At first, it is hard to do even one pullup. Since we don’t want to spend our whole workout struggling to get one pullup, it is a better use of our time to work on exercises that fit.

Later, as an intermediate, pullups are a perfect exercise. They are easy enough that you can do some, but hard enough that each one is difficult.

In time, you will be so strong that regular pullups are not enough of a challenge. Sooner or later we will need to add weight to our pullups.

What do I do if I can’t do a pullup yet?

If you can’t yet do a pullup, then we obviously need to find other ways to get stronger. We will build up the pullup muscles, and then later we can do more pullups.

Machine-Assisted Pullup

We want to get as close to a pullup as possible, so that the correct muscles grow. With this in mind, an assisted pullup is a great choice. (See below to illustrate)

Band-Assisted pullup

Not everyone has access to an assisted pullup machine, so we will need to find another way! We still need a pullup bar, but we can change our exercise. So, look below for a picture of the band assisted pullup.

The band helps you the most at the bottom of the rep, while it helps the least at the top, which will help you build strength where it is most difficult.

Dead hang

Finally, our last pullup alternative is the dead hang. Whenever you don’t have access to machines or bands, the dead hang is a great choice. (See picture below as an illustration)

Generally, to do a dead hang, simply hold onto the bar as long as you can, and don’t worry about trying to lift yourself up. This builds your grip strength, and at the same time prepares your body to be able to do pullups later.

Now that we know about pullup alternatives, let’s look at the routines.

The Beginner Pullup Routine

At first, you are a beginner, and can do between 0 and 2 pullups. In this situation, we need to focus on becoming strong enough to start doing more pullups.

Generally, the repetitions column of a workout plan shows how many times you do the exercise (repetitions), and the sets column shows how many groups of repetitions you will do (sets)

Follow the plan below, and later increase the weight you are lifting when you can easily complete the routine. If you want to see some examples of the exercises before doing them yourself, then click on the exercise to be directed to a video.

Intermediate Pullup Routines

At this point in your pullup journey, you are able to do between 3 and 10 pullups. As a result, pullups are a great exercise for you to build strength and muscle. However, to really improve, we still want to use a variety of exercises. The most important part of our pullup routines is that we are challenging ourselves. To that end, let’s look at the routine. Just like earlier, we have examples of the exercises linked to videos.

Expert Pullup Routines

You have been practicing your pullups, and finally you are an expert. However, it is still important to challenge yourself with your workout, so we need to add a new factor: weight. A weighted pullup is a great option once you have gain proficiency with regular pullups. To that end, let’s look at how to do a weighted pullup.

In essence, a weighted pullup is just like a regular pullup, but with the added difficulty of weight. Overall, the best ways to add weight are with a weight belt (as shown above) or with a weighted vest. However, in a pinch you can hold a dumbbell or other type of weight with your legs. It is important to realize that as your strength level goes up, your workout difficulty will also need to go up. Therefore, our expert pullup routine is longer than the beginner or intermediate routines.

You’ll notice that the expert routine has fewer exercises, despite being a much more difficult workout. At this point, it is important to build strength in the muscles, but the high weights put us at risk of injury. Ultimately, in addition to building our muscles, we add in band curls to strengthen our ligaments and tendons.

Now that we have covered why people of different levels need different routines, we learned about some new exercises, and we have some new routines, we are ready to get started. Remember, the most important thing is to continue to challenge yourself. In time, gradual progress will build up and you will reach your strength and fitness goals.

For further reading, check out our other articles.