Want to do more pull-ups immediately? I don’t mean ‘do this one exercise and be able to do more pull-ups; I mean, read this article and you’ll instantly be able to increase your maximum repetitions. Sounds good, right? And too good to be true?
The secret is all in the way you control your body. You see, most of us have a ton of untapped potential when it comes to our physical strength. That is to say that we have the muscle mass and the capability but we lack the mind-muscle connection and the ability to activate and control that muscle.
In this article, we’ll look at two tips that can help you to get back that control and to start performing more pull-ups instantly and flawlessly…
Tip #1 – Tense
The first tip is to contract your whole body while you do pull-ups. Simply by contracting every muscle in your body, you will strengthen what is known as the ‘kinetic chain’ and this will result in immediate better performance.
The key here is the way that energy moves the body and the ways we can make this either more or less efficient. When you do a pull-up, for instance, a lot of energy is lost because your body will wave and shake backward and forwards. This then means that you aren’t taking full advantage of the power in your arms and lats and you’ll get tired out faster.
When you tense your whole body, though, you ‘plug the leaks’ in that kinetic chain and you become a single, more efficient unit. This then means that you can perform more repetitions because all the energy is being used in the most effective way possible.
So consciously contract your abs, your lower back, your legs, and your grip, and then do your repetitions. You’ll find that you immediately perform better!
Tip #2 – The Scapular Retractors
The next tip is along similar lines – it’s about using your strength in a functional manner and looking at your body as a single unit instead of lots of separate muscles.
One aspect of this is paying attention to the muscles that can help, which include in this case the scapular retractors. These are the muscles that you use in order to move your shoulder blades which in turn helps you to move your arms more when you’re performing pull-ups.
The problem is that a) many of us don’t think to use our scapular retractors and b) many of us don’t know how to. So to solve this problem, start doing repetitions where you’re only using your shoulder blades by moving up and down without bending your arms at all or even using your lats. Do a couple and you’ll awaken those pathways in your brain showing you where those muscles are and how to use them. You can also activate your scapula by holding onto the bar and moving your body in and out towards and away from the bar (as opposed to up and down).
Once you then go on to do pull-ups, you’ll find that you instantly use these muscles to help, and thus you can perform more reps without getting tired! It’s like magic!
