A pull up bar is an amazing piece of equipment for working out but many people are unaware of just how versatile and effective it really is. The good news is that they are both cheap and easy to use. I got mine for £5 (around $10) from Argos and it’s lasted for at least five years with no problems. They tend to fit into the doorway of any room and are adjustable meaning you’re unlikely to find one too small or too big for it and they fix into place with just six screws. Furthermore, if you happen to have a handy tree branch in the garden or railings over the stairs you needn’t even make a purchase and you can use these as a makeshift pull up bar. In short then anyone can use a pull up bar almost anywhere, and it’s likely to be the best piece of training equipment you ever buy with an absolutely astonishing range of possible movements.

The basic pull up is a simple exercise where you hang from the pull up bar before pulling yourself directly upwards with just the power from your upper body (that means no extra momentum generated by kicking or swinging the legs). It is similar to the chin up but distinct in that it uses the overhand grip – this means your palms will be facing away from you, while in the chin up they face towards you in an underhand or supinated grip. While this is the official definition there is some confusion as to which is which and you’ll find people using both descriptions for either exercise. So long as you understand the differences between the two movements the specific term doesn’t really matter. While both movements work most of the upper body, the pull up (overhand grip) works the lats (the ‘wing’ type muscles under your armpits) more, while the chin up (underhand grip) will target the biceps more specifically. As well as the lats and the biceps the pull up works the traps, the shoulders and the core muscles (abs, obliques etc) and is great for fat burning. As a bodyweight exercise it’s particularly effective as it gets harder as you build more muscle (through your becoming heavier). While you should be able to do at least six unassisted pull ups with good technique in order to get the most from your pull up bar there are many easier variations (some of which will be listed below) that you can use to build up your strength and improve your performance. In the gym for example you can find machines that aid you in doing pull ups via a weighted plate that you kneel on. The heavier the weight you add the more forcefully it lifts you into the move. Alternatively at home you can get a friend or relative to hold your legs and help lift you as you perform reps, or you can set the bar lower and use your legs to take some of the weight (or use a box).

Once you can do ordinary pull ups and chin ups fairly easily you’re ready to try some of the vast range of variations and alternate exercises that make the bar an amazing tool for working most of the muscles in the upper body (with the possible slight exception of the pecs which don’t get much of a look in).

Perhaps the most obvious way to increase the difficulty of a pull up is to do a ‘weighted pull up’ adding weight from another source. If you’re in the gym or own a lot of your own equipment you can do this with a weighted belt which ties round your waist and loops a chain through the centre of a weight plate that then dangles between your legs (this also looks very hardcore). Alternatively if you don’t have access to such equipment you can use a backpack and fill it with books or heavy items. As you get stronger you can then increase the extra weight.

Another alternative, that can probably only be performed in the gym, is to lift yourself higher than the bar. This is known as a muscle up. Here you use the overhand grip for more explosive movement and lift yourself up to chest level before pushing yourself up so that your resting on straightened arms. Rest for a second then lower yourself back down. Here you are forcing yourself to use a more explosive movement recruiting more fast twitch muscle fibres and training the pecs and shoulders slightly. Again, it also looks very cool.

Another obvious way to make life harder is to do a pull up with just one hand (aka the one handed pull up). This is incredibly difficult and requires a lot of training but there are ways you can build yourself up to be able to do it. Once way is to ordinary pull ups but to ‘rock’ to side to side alternately using each arm for a greater percentage of the movement. Another way to build up to the one armed pull up is to try doing pull ups with your free hand holding on to the forearm of your other side, which makes it much easier though tests your grip. Another way to make it a bit easier is to string a piece of cloth over the bar and tie it in a knot so that you can hold onto this rather than the bar (which is an interesting variation in itself). Similarly you can also find pull up bars and objects in the outdoor world that allow your palms to face inwards as they are – again these are good as a variation working the muscles in slightly different proportions and also a good way to learn one handed pull ups.

One that will work your lats more than an ordinary pull up is an exercise with no name as far as I’m aware. Here, rather than pulling yourself simply up and down, you draw a circle with your body – never completely straightening your arms and shifting the bulk of your weight between each arm as well as up and down. This really engages the lats and the traps in a way that’s guaranteed to burn the next day. This would also work as a chin up variation.

Another good one for the back that’s only really doable for advanced gym-goers, is to hold your weight at the half-way point so that your arms are bent, then move yourself inwards and outwards – nearer then away from the bar rather than up or down. This is easier if you extend your legs upwards making it a good abs workout too.

Alternatively, if it’s your biceps your want to target more, you can try another unnamed variation using the underhand grip where you bring your knees up to your chest and rotate so that you’re facing upwards and they are directly beneath the bar. Now ‘curl’ yourself upwards with the same motion as you would a dumbbell curl so that your shins touch the bar. For added affect try squeezing your biceps as your perform the movement.

A similar concept for the biceps is the ‘sternal’ chin up, where rather than raising your chin to bar height you lean back slightly and raise your sternum so that it touches the bar, engaging your biceps in their full range of motion.

If you’re tired of all that and want a break to make it easier for a change rather than harder you can try ‘supine pull ups/chin ups’ which are also known as ‘reverse press ups’ giving you a clue as to how they are performed. Here, rather than having the bar above your head you set it to a lower height (about waist height) then lie underneath it with your legs straight. Distribute some of your weight onto your heels then pull yourself up from here so that your chest touches the bar. Sure it’s easier, but that just means you need to do more reps!

That’s the chin ups and the pull ups sorted for now and those variations should keep you going for a while (not to mention getting you into great shape). But don’t forget the pull up bar is also a great tool for working your abs. Not only will all those previously mentioned exercises train your stomach, but you can target them directly too. One way to do this is with leg raises, where you hang from the bar while raising your toes up towards your hands keeping your legs straight at all times. If this is too hard you can try the slightly easier ‘frog kicks’ where you just raise your knees up to your chest. If you’re really feeling hardcore though (or have been watching Rocky 4) try looping your knees over the bar for upside down sit ups.

Mack LeMouse

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