Pull-ups are frequently referred to as the “king of upper body lifts,” but you know what else is more deserving of that title? Pull-up repetitions are increased along with resistance. Pull-ups using your own weight won’t give you the gains they once did. Simply adding reps won’t help you gain muscle or strength in this situation.
You can better match your strength level with weighted pull-ups while still receiving the same advantages as a basic deadlift workout. Your back, arms, and abs will become stronger and more toned as a result. If you have mastered non-weighted pull-ups, see what benefits and techniques weighted pull-ups have to offer.
Table of Contents
What Are Weighted Pull-ups?
First, why should you add weight to pull-ups?
The obvious answer is that you can – or that your pull-ups just don’t feel like they’re doing anything anymore. Weight can restore the stimulus and advantages of a pull-up if you can complete a large number of them but aren’t experiencing the same training effect you once did.
The point is to add weight to overload muscles. Because they are easier to perform with body weight in the first place, you load exercises like the squat and lunge. Pull-ups with weights allow you to increase the mechanical tension in the muscles, which is the foundation for muscle growth and offers a way to train more effectively for strength and size.
It’s also a way of providing variety to your training. Before adding weight, the main ways to change your pull-up workouts are how many reps you use per set, how long you rest between sets, or how you perform the reps. If you can do it, adding weight gives you a new training tool.
How to Do Weighted Pull-Ups?
The weighted pull-up is not really different from the bodyweight version, technique-wise, but you still have to accommodate the weight depending on what implement you use. Here is how to carry them out.
Select Weight
There are several ways to include external resistance in the exercise, depending on your preferences and what’s available to you. Here’s how to do it:
- Weighted Vest: This load will have the most natural feeling because the weight is distributed evenly around your torso. Using this resistance, the general technique will be the one that is most similar to a bodyweight pull-up. The only drawback is that you can’t go too heavy because many vests have weight restrictions of 22 or 45 pounds.
- Backpack: This homemade, low-cost substitute is very similar to wearing a weighted vest. Simply pack a bag with weights and put it on. The biggest drawback is the unknown variable for weight capacity, as going too heavy is asking for the fabric or straps to tear down, which could be dangerous.
- Dumbbell: You can always grab a dumbbell and hold it between your thighs with your legs bent if none of these alternatives are available. This option is the least comfortable and will involve your abs and legs, but will work just fine to make pull-ups more challenging.
Determine the Grip Point
Place a box there or climb on the steps underneath the pull-up bar. Your palms should be facing away from you (pronated), and you should firmly grasp the bar with a grip that is slightly wider than shoulder width.
Your grip width will depend on your own limb length and mobility but generally aim for a “medium” grip — not too wide or too close — for maximal strength and balanced muscular engagement.
Allow yourself to hang from the bar in a dead hang with your arms fully extended. To stop your legs or (the weight if you’re using a belt or dumbbell) from swaying, pull your shoulder blades back, maintain a high chest, and contract your abs. Wait for your lower body to stop moving if it does start to do so. You will begin from here.
Pull Up
Take a deep breath and flex your abs. Pull yourself toward the bar as hard as you can. Keep your elbows aimed down to ensure maximal lat engagement.
Exhale and hold the contraction for a second as you pull until your chin crosses the bar. To use as many back muscles as you can, keep your chest up and your back slightly arched.
Come Down Slowly
Slowly lower yourself until your arms are extended and your lats are fully stretched while maintaining body tension. By flexing your abs as much as possible and squeezing the bar firmly, you can prevent any lower body sway. Start the following repetition when you are in a dead hang position with your arms straight.
How to Progress Weighted Pull-Ups?
The point of progressing with a weighted pull-up is to build the muscles and connective tissues to sustainably progress. Since the shoulders are at risk if you don’t control the movement from beginning to end, this is challenging with bodyweight exercises.
Here’s a brief example of how we recommend progressing your weighted pull-up:
Week 1
- Workout one: 4 sets of 6 with 5kg
- Workout two: 3 sets of 6 with bodyweight
- Workout three: 6 sets of 5 with 5kg
Week 2
- Workout one: 3 sets of 8 with 5kg
- Workout two: 3 sets of 8 with bodyweight
- Workout three: 6 sets of 6 with 5kg
Week 3
- Workout one: 3 sets of 10 with 5kg
- Workout two: 3 sets of 6 with bodyweight
- Workout three: 4 sets of 8 with 5kg
then repeat this 3-week block with an additional 5 kg! This provides a way to enhance your and can be done numerous times.
Conclusion
Although it must be done correctly and progressed, adding weight has benefits. It is a physically taxing process, so rushing into it is not a good idea. But as much as your body and technique will allow, you should familiarize yourself with weighted pull-ups.
Pull-ups with weight can give exercise a completely new dimension, which opens up the possibility for growth and improvement. The most effective training method for pull-ups is frequent, consistent practice. Getting your own customized at-home aerobics workout solution will help you accomplish this.
FAQs
What is the Difference Between a Pull-up and a Chin-up?
For some people, who are mistaken, these both refer to the same exercises, but they don’t. While performing a pull-up, you use a pronated grip with your palms facing away, while performing a chin-up, you use a supinated grip with your palms facing you. As a result, the pull-up places more emphasis on the general back musculature and the chin-up involves more biceps.
When to Do Weighted Pull-ups?
This is actually relatively simple: add weight to your pull ups when you are able to and when you’re going to be able to maintain performance and technical positions. Rushing weighted pull-ups has no benefit, and there is no point in adding weight if you can’t do them correctly. There is no point in adding weight to make a movement more difficult if you are compensating in the movement itself to make it easier because they will simply cancel out.
