5 Minutes Pull Up Bar Workout Twice A Week

Pull Up Bars - The Cheapest Way to Get Into Great Shape Fast is With a Pull Up Bar

The simplest of work out equipment types in the world are free weights and the pull-up bar. Despite the simple nature of these tools, however, there is no doubt about their efficiency and capacity to build upper body strength in an individual that works with them readily. The pull-up bar alone can be used for dozens of different exercises.

What are the Benefits of Using a Pull-up Bar?

The various exercises an individual can do with a pull-up bar are many and varied. The traditional pull up has several variations that can cause a great deal of muscle confusion which leads to incredible growth in a relatively short time. The chest, shoulders, biceps, and many other muscles are all worked with a simple pull-up. Other exercises of note include ones that work the abdominal area and obliques.

What If You Can't Perform a Pull-up?

Pull-ups as part of a fitness regimen have an indirect way of building muscular strength and endurance as well. The secret to that is that many people cannot perform a pull-up at their level of fitness. To assuage this they will have to perform other exercises in an attempt at building their strength to the point that they can do a pull-up.

However, unless the individual can perform ten pull ups at a minimum they are not ready to use them as a standard part of their exercise regimen. This means that they will have to perform several other exercises daily before trying to perform pull-ups later.

These extra exercises all work the body in various ways and as a result the one desiring to become better and performing pull-ups will force themselves to build their bodies in a gradual manner so that they can reach the minimum goal of ten pull-up repetitions. In short, they will get in shape before they use a pull-up bar to try and get in shape. Perhaps this is specious logic at its finest but the end result is fitter and often sexier individual before they ever really get to the pull-up bar.

The exercises most often cited to help an individual gain the capacity to use a pull-up bar properly are the push up and free weight usage. These two exercises will allow you to begin performing various pull-up type exercises within a short time.

Push-ups should be performed slowly and without resting between reps. You will begin doing pull-ups at a three second interval pace. A three second interval pace means that you will take three seconds to lower yourself about an inch from the floor. Then you will take three seconds to lift yourself to full push-up height. After that you will hold that position for three seconds and then repeat the process.

Free-weight usage in the regard of building strength to perform pull-ups requires the utilization of two separate exercises. To perform the necessary exercises you will need to find a set of barbells that are a slight effort to lift sideways and shoulder level. You will be in a "T" position if you are doing this correctly. Those weights must then be moved up and over your head to make you look like a closely drawn "Y". To complete the repetition move them back to shoulder length and then to your hips. Take three seconds for each motion and hold them in each position for three seconds.

The next free weight exercise requires you to lean forward with the weights and allow them to seemingly hover over your feet. You will then take three seconds to pull them up to your chest. At this point you will hold them for another three seconds. Next you will lower them in a slow manner that also takes three seconds. Once they are at arm's length again the repetition is complete. Hold that position for three seconds and begin again.

Be careful not to let your head move below your heart level while you are bent over. Keep your back as straight as possible to prevent injury or a sense of dizziness from occurring.

The reason for the three second intervals in these exercises is that that this forces the muscle to work harder. As such even though you perform less repetition you are gaining more strength as your muscles hit the wall that much faster. This is an excellent way to build size and power. To build endurance you would speed the process up greatly and perform as many reps as possible in the shortest time. I'd suggest thirty second to one minute time spans where you attempt to perform as many repetitions as possible with the proper form.

Every day before beginning this regimen you will go to your pull-up bar and try to perform at least one standard pull-up. A standard pull-up will involve having your hands at shoulder width and your palms facing you. To perform a standard pull-up you will pull yourself up as a single unit until your chin is completely above the bar. Do not actually place your chin atop the bar as you may injure yourself if you become tired.

If you cannot perform a single pull-up after two weeks, an unlikely scenario unless you are incredibly out of shape, then increase the weight on your free weight exercises and perform more reps of all exercises. If you cannot perform a pull-up after another two weeks then you may need to start having someone assist you in performing your pull-ups until your muscles learn the motion properly.

If you do not have someone around you trust to help you in this, or if you don't feel like having a partner, then you can go to a gym or buy an assisted pull-up machine. These machines vary your body weight by counterbalancing it during the exercise. Unlike a normal workout on a machine the higher the weight the less force you need to lift yourself.

In point of fact this type of machine can be used in lieu of all the other exercises mentioned. However, unless you own a machine of your own you will only be able to do this at a gym or in a friend's workout room. The exercises mentioned previously can be done anywhere and work just as well.

What Now?

Now that you can perform ten pull-ups at a time you are ready for the real exercises. Pull-ups come in a wide variety of forms. Close hand forms where your hands face in or out are one very often seen variation. Another common one is the wide arm. The farther your arms are apart the great the effort needed to lift yourself up over the bar.

These are the simplest exercises that can be performed on a pull-up bar. Other exercises include the pull-up bar side crunch and one armed hanging for different periods of time.

Slow movement pull ups build greater strength and endurance, while rapid motion pull-ups can be used on occasion for muscle shock value. For physical power always work your muscles until they reach failure and try to perform and least two more after that. It is generally believed that the final two or three pull-ups are actually what causes the increase in strength since this is the point where the muscles tear without becoming too damaged.

5 Minutes Pull Up Bar Workout Twice A Week