Weighted Pull Ups

Muscle Targeted: Laterals
Secondary Muscles Targeted: Biceps, Middle Back, Shoulders (Deltoids)

Starting position:

Prepare an appropriate weight and attach it to your belt (“dip belt”). Grab the bar with the widest possible overhand grip with arms extended. Slightly bend your knees to be in a suspended position on the bar.

Exercise:

From the starting position pull your body towards the bar, contracting your back and bicep muscles. Go up to a 90-degree angle in your elbow joints when you move upwards and exhale. The bar is in front of your face when in the upper position. Return to elbow extension and inhale. Do the required number of repetitions.

Note:

Make sure you use the correct bar grip. Make sure your torso is firm while exercising. Return to the starting position using a slow, controlled motion and avoid sudden relaxation of your muscle tension.

Recommendation:

It is better to begin doing this exercise with assistance from a trainer (partner). The number of repetitions depends on your type of training. Do not overestimate your abilities when choosing the additional weight.

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Pullups (or pull-ups) are an exercise similar to chin-ups. The difference is in the grip: pull-ups are done with overhand grip (palms facing outwards) while chin-ups are done with underhand grip (palms facing inwards).

There is a third alternative to those exercises: a neutral grip (palms facing each other) which is our favorite (best position for wrist, elbow and shoulder joints).

The classical pull-ups are stressing more lats and somewhat less biceps. The reason is that the overhand grip puts the biceps in less favorable position (you know the difference between biceps curls and overhand biceps curls – overhand curls are much harder) and therefore slightly more work is done by lats.

The difference is not huge: if you take two athletes and let one of them do chin-ups and the other one pull-ups for a period of time, you will probably not see any difference in their muscular development.

It is always beneficial to train the muscles from various angles and this is why almost all coaches advise changing the grip from time to time.

The torso should lean backwards in an angle of about 30 degrees. At the end of the contraction you should squeeze the shoulder blades together (scapular retraction).

For additional resistance do weighted pull-ups with a dip belt that allows adding weighted plated.