Pull Ups – A Gradual Build With Assisted Pull Ups
Pull Ups – Assisted Pull Ups
I am doing pull ups now to increase my upper body strength, and I am also doing assisted pull ups to help me in this process. I have a goal to be able to do the flag so I need to work on my upper body strength and my core strength.
I do regular pull ups at home using my doorway pull up bar and I do assisted pull ups at the gym using the pull up machine. I am able to do more reps and have more control over my body movement doing the assisted pull ups than when I do the regular pull ups at home.
I am actually using the assisted pull ups to increase my reps and control of my regular pull ups at home.
I have just started to include pull ups as a regular part of my workout routine, so I am just now building my strength in this area. I do 5 sets of 10 reps doing the assisted pull ups, while I am doing 5 sets of 5 reps of the regular pull ups.
My goal is to do 5 sets of 10 repetitions of the regular pull ups. Using the assisted pull ups I am able to properly go through the full correct motion of the pull ups which allows me to fully work the whole muscle fiber which will lead to increased strength.
My plan is to gradually reduce the amount of weight I use while doing the assisted pull ups and get to the point where I don’t use any weight to assist my pull ups, while still doing 5 sets of 10 reps.
The assisted pull ups and the regular pull ups are actually helping to strengthen me in both areas. Soon I am going to reduce the weight and assist I am getting while doing the assisted pull ups and I am also going to add a rep while doing the regular pull ups.
I like to do the assisted pull ups because I am already halfway to my goal by doing 10 repetitions per set. The other half is to do them unassisted.
Doing assisted pull ups, with the goal of being able to them them unassisted, can be a good way of doing pull ups for beginners who lack upper body strength.
Let’s look at it this way. Say you struggle to do one pull up. This can be very discouraging and can build a mental block and reinforce that you just can’t do pull ups. Take this same person and put the person on the assisted pull up machine and set the weight to where the person can do 5 sets of 5 assisted pull ups.
The result would be that the person actually did 5 pull ups and will be encouraged to continue to do them. Since the person continues to do the assisted pull ups and build strength, she will be able to do a regular pull up in no time, then 2, and then 3.
Always remember that a good diet and exercise go hand in hand in supporting healthy living. My plant based diet and exercise has me on my A-game!
Tags: assisted pull ups, pull ups, upper body strength training
