The vast majority of people starting CrossFit can’t do one pull-up. If you’re in that boat, don’t feel bad! We build this into our program and have seen countless people achieve this goal over the years.
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The act of pulling your body weight up and above an object is empowering and signifies that you are able to overcome your body’s mass from a pulling standpoint.
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The strict pull-up with pronated grip (hands facing away) requires and builds strength in a lot of different areas: arms, lats, back, shoulders.
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Awesome, right? How do we get there?
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We use banded assistance in a lot of our training and progressions – attach a band to the pull-up bar, put one foot in the band, wrap the other leg in front and use the band to assist you in performing strict pull-up repetitions.
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There are different thicknesses of bands that provide increasing to decreasing levels of help. The thicker the band, the more assistance it’s going to provide.
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As athletes progress, the thicker bands turn into thinner bands. We are building strict pulling strength WHILE using these aids in both skill work and workouts. Eventually (gradually) the bands will disappear and the athlete will be performing strict pull-ups on his/her own!
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Sounds simple, doesn’t it?! Well, again, don’t confuse simple with easy.
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It may take months or even years to develop the strength needed to do an unassisted pull-up. Additionally, body weight can come into play. If you are on a weight loss journey, the COMBINATION of losing body weight AND the pull-up work described above will be a key to your result.
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The goal of achieving a pull-up is quite common in the CrossFit world; but that’s not a bad thing! Being able to control and move your body through space, overcoming gravity, and pulling yourself UP is extremely functional and should be part of everyone’s training.
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If you’ve got a pull-up goal of ANY kind, shoot me a message or DM me on Instagram and I’d love to talk with you about it and help you devise a plan of attack to achieve it!
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Photo: @tony_photo
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