PRIOR TO STARTING ANY PULL UP EXERCISES, IT IS RECOMMENDED YOU CONSULT A PHYSICIAN

1.     BASIC PULL-UP

a.     Grasp a sturdy bar with a firm overhand grip and your hands separated by a distance roughly equal to your shoulder width. With your arms straightened, allow your body to hang from the bar. Next, pull yourself upward to the final position where your chest nearly touches the bar and your chin is over the bar. While you're pulling, focus on keeping your body straight without arching or swinging. Once your chin is over the bar, you can lower yourself to the initial position. Note that while you perform pull-ups, you can either bend your knees and cross your feet or keep your legs straightened so long as your feet don't touch the floor.

                                                 i.      Note that while you perform pull-ups, you can either bend your knees and cross your feet or keep your legs straightened so long as your feet don't touch the floor.

                                               ii.      It's also a good idea to avoid relaxing your muscles too much while in the initial position. Relaxing too much can place a great deal of stress on your shoulders joints.

2.     WIDE GRIP PULL-UP

a.     The procedure for performing Wide-Grip Pull-ups is similar to the procedure for regular Pull-ups. Grasp a sturdy bar with a firm overhand grip and your hands separated by a distance roughly twice the width of your shoulders.  Separating your hands in this way ensures that you emphasize working your lats. Allow your body to hang from the bar with your arms straightened and then pull yourself upward so that your chest nearly touches the bar and your chin is over the bar.

                                                 i.      When you perform Wide-Grip Pull-ups, it's helpful to focus on using your lats to pull your elbows downward toward your ribcage.

                                               ii.      Also, focus on keeping your body straight without arching or swinging throughout the pull. Once your lats are completely contracted and your chin is over the bar, you can lower yourself to the initial position. As with regular Pull-ups, you can either bend your knees and cross your feet or keep your legs straightened.

3.     CLOSE GRIP PULL-UP

a.     You can perform Close-Grip Pull-ups by grasping a sturdy bar with a firm overhand grip and your hands separated by about 6-8 inches. The narrow separation between your hands ensures that you emphasize your lower lats during the exercise. The initial position for Close-Grip Pull-ups is hanging from the bar with your arms straightened. To perform a Close-Grip Pull-up, pull yourself upward so that your chin is over the bar and your hands nearly touch your chest and then lower yourself back to the initial position.

                                                 i.      During your ascent, focus on contracting your lats and be careful not to swing your body or lean too far backwards.

4.     BASIC CHIN-UP

a.     Grasp the bar with a reverse grip and about 6-8 inches of separation between your hands. Allow yourself to hang in the initial position with your arms straightened while focusing your attention on your biceps, lats, and back muscles, pull yourself up and try to touch either your chin or upper chest to the bar. Once you reach the final position slowly return to the initial position.

                                                 i.      Note that while you perform chin-ups, you can either bend your knees and cross your feet or keep your legs straightened so long as your feet don't touch the floor.

                                               ii.      It's also a good idea to avoid relaxing your muscles too much while in the initial position. Relaxing too much can place a great deal of stress on your shoulders joints.

                                            iii.      This exercise should be performed with the WIDE GRIP and CLOSE GRIP as well.

5.     GORILLA CHIN/CRUNCH

a.     It emphasizes your biceps and your abdominals. The initial position of the Gorilla Chin/Crunch is just like a regular Chin, but with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle and your hands positioned about 1 foot apart. Performing a Gorilla Chin/Crunch is like doing a Chin-up and a Crunch at the same time. You begin by simultaneously pulling yourself up with your arms, Chin-up style, and bringing your knees up toward your chest. When you reach the final position, you will have finished the Chin and the Crunch at the same time. In the final position, your nose will be close to the bar and your knees will be pulled up to your chest. Next, you can simultaneously lower yourself and let you knees move away from your chest to return to the initial position.

6.     BAR DIPS FOR CHEST

a.     On parallel bars, lower body by bending at the elbows and body moving forward with head down  allowing elbows to slighty flare out (just slightly outside of your wrists) as you dip and then push yourself back up. Keep same posture going up as you do going down (your body moves as a single unit). Bend and cross your lower legs or keep legs straight depending on height of bars.

7.     TRICEP DIPS

a.     The bars are placed at shoulder width and elbows are kept tucked into the body while you move straight up and down (not moving the body forward).

IF/WHEN BODY WEIGHT BECOMES LESS CHALLENGING, ADD A DIP BELT WITH WEIGHT OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF RESISTANCE TO THE EXERCISES.