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Can't Do Pullups? No Problem, Try These!
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Can't Do Pullups? No Problem, Try These!

Jorg Mardian CPT, RHN
Mar 21
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Can't Do Pullups? No Problem, Try These!
stronghealth.substack.com

Pull-ups are specifically impressive and difficult to perform and of all the “strong” exercises out there, they’re the most admired. I mean, it’s just a bodyweight exercise, right? Sure, and they look very cool being pulled off effortlessly but remember, it’s your entire weight in a fight against gravity - over and over - and each rep gets harder. Yeah, far easier said than done.

A great alternative are inverted rows, as a way to progress toward the pull up and even strengthen your pull ups. They strengthen all of the muscles involved in scapular retraction while also being a compound movement that forces your body to engage numerous muscles at once as you perform the pull.

And just because it’s easier to perform than a pull-up doesn’t make it less effective. Because you can do more reps, the inverted row adds muscle to your back, strengthens your core and helps you get ready for regular pullups.

Pullup Benefits

Pull-ups are a great compound exercise that builds important functional strength in your upper body and one of the best back workouts you can get. If you’re looking to pack on some great, lean muscle on your back, this is the exercise for you.

Once you understand which specific muscles pull-ups activate you’ll be able to pick the best alternative exercises to work the same targets. The main muscles worked are:

  • Trapezius: located on the back of your neck, extending out to the shoulders and helping support the scapula (shoulder blade). The upper part of the trapezius supports arm weight while the middle and lower sections are primarily responsible for moving the shoulder blade. 

  • Latissimus Dorsi: the largest muscles in the upper body, aiding shoulder movements and helping with the movement of the lumbar spine. The lats also generally activate the long head of your triceps and your deltoid muscles.

  • Infraspinatus: a crucial part of the four muscles in your rotator cuff, helping move the humerus bone, which stretches from the shoulder to the elbow beneath your biceps.

  • Thoracic Erector Spinae: run along the length of your spine and help it move. The thoracic section of these muscles is the longest section of the spine, connecting the cervical section in your neck and the lumbar section in the lower back. Building strength in the thoracic erector spinae will help avoid injury and build better posture. 

Pullup Alternatives

The bad news is that some people take up to a year or longer to get to proper pull ups. For others, more often than not, they give up half-way through the journey. You might also not be able to do them if you have shoulder, elbow or wrist injury.

Luckily, there are plenty of great pull-up alternatives that have similar activation levels for the muscle groups involved in the traditional version of the exercise. Not only can you use these when you don’t have a horizontal bar available, but you can also use them to build up the strength you need to get to that first pull-up or up your pull-up count if you plateau.

Australian Pullup

Australian Pull Up inverted steps
  1. Place your body under the bar, to be in a straight horizontal position.

  2. Next, grab the bar with both hands with supinated grip, at shoulder width apart.

  3. Keep the neck, head, torso, feet and legs in one line by proper spine alignment.

  4. Then pull the body up towards the bar, until the chest touches the bar.

  5. Next, lower the body back down toward the starting position.

TRX Rows

  1. Grasp the handles of the suspension trainer, step backward until the suspension trainer and your arms are forming a straight line in front of your chest. Aim for an angle of somewhere between 30 and 60 degrees with the ground and keep your core engaged to prevent any sagging of the hips.

  2. Pull your chest and torso up toward the handles of the suspension trainer, bending your elbows as you pull yourself up. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep your elbows close to your body and your palms facing in.

  3. Hold the top position for a second then reverse the movement, lowering yourself slowly. Also, keep your shoulders engaged and "locked" in place, maintaining good posture throughout the row.

Bar Angled Inverted Rows

  1. The head and neck are aligned with the spine.

  2. The back is extended (think about sticking your chest out/make a ‘proud’ chest) and tight (pull your shoulders down away from your ears and squeeze them together on your back)

  3. The arms and legs are straight. Keep a solid brace in your ‘core’, and actively extend at the hip. This will keep your body straight the whole way.

  4. Drive the movement by pulling your elbows back until your chest contacts the bar and the body is still in a straight line. Now slowly lower the body.

Foot-Assisted Pull Up

foot-assisted-pull-up

If you want to be able to do a full pull up, you need to start taking on your own weight while doing a vertical pull. That is why this is a great assisted pull up variation. It will force your body to work in the same way it would with a full pull up while taking a little of the weight off your back and biceps.

  1. Hang from a bar or suspension trainer (find something low enough that you can place your feet on the ground to assist you).

  2. Hanging down from the bar or trainer, place your feet flat on the ground in front of you or behind you so you can push up with your toes. With the feet behind you, you may have to move forward just a bit to make sure you pull straight up without arching your back or letting your hips come forward.

  3. From this hanging position with your arms out straight, press your chest up and out to retract your shoulder blades. Now leading with your chest, pull yourself up. Use your feet only as much as you need to pull up. Pull your chin all the way above your hands and try to get your chest to your hands.

  4. Then lower back down, fully extending your arms at the bottom.

As you can see, there are a variety of “beginner” variations that help you build muscle on your fitness journey. Remember, as you go through the process of learning to do a pull-up, you almost certainly will become pretty fit. But not all people will be able to do pull-ups. If that’s the case, do sub-pull-ups, partials, inverted pullups and so on. All will help you. The key thing to remember is that all effort brings you rewards.

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