The Pull: How To Progress In The Movement Part 2

Anyone that trains knows that the perfect back workout should not only consist of exercises for the lats. It needs to include the traps and other important muscles in the back. This workout is not perfect unless it includes the pull. One of the first exercises that I did for back day was the lat pulldown machine. Now, did I know how it played a part in building my back muscles? Not at all. I was very inexperienced for my first two years of lifting. I didn’t have an expansive foundation of knowledge like I do today. The exercise was done because I knew that it would make my back stronger.

As I added more years to my training experience and built up my knowledge, I learnt how the different exercises that I do for my back training play their part. The pull movement is one of them. If you haven’t read part 1 of this series, go back and have a read. I simplify the complexities of the back anatomy and the two different pulling movements that you will need to create the perfect back workout for you.

What Are The Seven Functional Movements?

There are seven functional movements that your body performs on a daily basis. You may not even realise the connection between pulling your chair close to a table to the seated cable row. It mimics the action of the horizontal pull movement. Altogether, these movements target all the muscle groups and optimises your body to perform and function at its best. Everything that you do in the gym mimics all seven movements patterns that you do outside of the gym. In sum, change your perspective. Once you start viewing your exercises as movement patterns, you can start to build a solid workout programme tailored to your goals by incorporating progressive overload and deload weeks.

Check Out Pinterest Functional Movements Series

What Is The Pull Movement

The pull movement is one of the most effective ways to building upper body strength. For example, when you pull something towards you or pull yourself towards something, that counts as a pull movement. The pull movement can be broken down into two parts: vertical pulling and horizontal pulling.

For this post, we will be focusing on vertical pulling. Vertical pulling targets the upper and central muscles fibres in your back. As a result, this encourages the development of your lats. Moreover, using the vertical pull, also activates and targets the rhomboids and traps. In addition if you want to hit the biceps more with this type of pulling, all you need to do is change your grip. Palms must be facing you. The type of exercises that you can do for this particular pull include pull ups, lat pulldowns, one arm cable pulldowns, dead hangs, isometric holds etc.

In my opinion, this type of pulling is the most superior as it is the best overall for building strength and muscle mass in the back. What I love about these exercises is that you can perform them multiple times a week. You don’t need days for recovery. In short, you can do these exercises more frequently and on lighter training days to help build more strength.

How To Efficiently Progress In The Vertical Pull Movement

Lat Pulldown

Lat pulldown is a compound exercise and one of the best that anyone can start off with to build a stronger and wider back. In addition, it is a great exercise to build up strength for your first pull up. As it is an overhead pull, performed either with a cable or a machine, it provides you with the opportunity to develop your vertical pulling strength without having to do your first unassisted pull up.

To perform a lat pulldown on the machine with a long bar, use an overhand grip and grab the bar at the kink. Depending on your comfort and limb length, the placement of your grip should been somewhere on that curve. Once you are ready, retract your shoulders. Take a deep breath and pull the bar down as if you are tucking your elbows into your back.

Dead Hangs

Dead Hangs are an amazing exercise and are fantastic for all levels and phases of a fitness journey. They improve grip strength and shoulder health. If you are looking for a starting point for your pull-up progression, this is the first exercise to master. To perform a dead hang, you want to hang from a pull-up bar in a hollow position with your shoulders down and retracted. You want to brace your core and avoid your body swinging while squeezing the bar hard to activate your back muscles.

Start with holding your dead hang for 30 seconds, then resting for 1 minute. Repeat that 4-6 times. Once it gets easier, increase the seconds by 15 second increments or add weight to your dead hangs for extra resistance. The aim here is to get your body in the right positioning and form to eventually be able to do a pull up. This exercise progression will help you to build the deeper muscles in your back.

Eccentric Pull Ups

The Eccentric Pull Up (also known as negative pull ups) is a useful exercise for improving your pull up strength and technique. It increases back strength and builds muscle mass for both aesthetics and performance. It focuses on the eccentric phase of the pull up movement by starting at the top of the movement. Think of it as a reverse pull up. You are going to start in a flex hang and slowly lower yourself into a dead hang position. Eccentric movements are key to building strength and muscle. The more tension that you have in the eccentric phase of the movement, the more stimulus on the muscle fibres which essentially adapts the muscles to grow.

To perform this exercise, you can either place a box or a stool underneath your feet and use it as a jump off to get into the flex hang position. The second method is to jump to get into the correct position. Choose which one is more comfortable for you (at 5’0, I prefer the first method). You want to lower yourself as slow as possible to create more tension in the back. Start off with performing 4 sets of 3 negatives with a 5 to 10 second descent. Once it becomes easier, build on it by either adding more sets or more reps.

Assisted Pull Ups

The Assisted Pull is another useful exercise for improving your pull up strength and technique. It increases both back strength and builds the essential muscles needed for vertical pulling. In other words, it is a banded pull up. A lot of people use this exercise as a crutch but the aim is to use this exercise to master the full lift. In my opinion, this exercise should not be used less frequently than the others mentioned in this post.

Grips and Handles

As I mentioned in the first instalment of this series, the grip that you choose can effectively change what muscles are targeted in the lift. It is also important to mention it here too. There are three different grip options that can yield different results.

• Pronation grip: The back of your hands are facing you and your arms are slightly wider the shoulder width apart. This emphasises your lats and traps more.
• Supination grip: The palms of your hands are facing you and your arms are slightly narrower. This emphasises your traps, rhomboids and accentuates the biceps.
• Neutral grip: The palms of your hands are facing each other and this variation allows you to train your back from a different angle. This emphasises the same muscles as the pronation grip.

In the last instalment of this series, I’ll show you how to progress in the pull movement using the horizontal pull.

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I hope that this post has provided you with the exercises needed to build up your first pull up. I also hope that it has given you the confidence to efficiently continue building strength and muscle over time via the vertical pull. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to join the community and never miss out on a post. Find me on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok for more powerlifting and wellness content.

Until next time,

Folakemi