For our sixth One-A-Day exercise, we selected pullups. These are a great exercise for improving your back, arm and core strength. They are also a very versatile movement - you can often find a way to do pullups, even when travelling or without gym access. Although pullups are often done as a 'bodyweight' exercise, they are not simple or easy. The pullup, in our opinion, is a true test of upper body strength - try them and see!
For our pullup workout, we had to customize it to our individual capacity. For example, men often have more upper body strength and may find pullups easier. If that is the case, you can make the exercise more challenging by adding weight (especially if you can complete more than 10 reps). Conversely, if you cannot do a full workout of pullups, you can start out with bodyweight and then use elastic bands to provide incremental assistance, to allow you to keep going and challenge yourself. Here's what we did:
Alex
- Weighted (32kg kettlebell) wide-grip pullups - 2 sets
- Weighted (32 kg) parallel-grip pullups - 2 sets
- Weighted (24kg) wide-grip pullups - 2 sets
- Weighted (24kg) parallel-grip pullups - 2 sets
- Mixed grip (wide + parallel, alternating) bodyweight pullups - 4 sets
- Underhand bodyweight pullups (chinups) - 3 sets
Demonstration video - 24kg kettlebell, parallel-grip pullups
Demonstration video - Mixed-grip pullups
Demonstration video - Underhand-grip pullups (AKA chinups)
Tannys (incorporating progressive band assistance into last 3 variations)
- Weighted (8kg kettlebell) parallel-grip pullups - 2 sets
- Parallel-grip bodyweight pullups - 4 sets
- Mixed-grip (assisted) pullups - 4 sets
- Wide-grip (assisted) pullups - 2 sets
- Underhand (assisted) pullups - 3 sets
Demonstration video - Incorporating band assistance - wide-grip pullups
This was another great workout. We are loving this new 'One-A-Day' program, as the workouts are challenging and let you really focus on that one exercise. By incorporating different variations of each exercise, we can aim to achieve our respective goals. Also, as seen with weighted and band-assisted pullups, we can customize the workouts to suit our individual capacity.
- Alex & Tannys
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