I’m the first to admit, I have a longstanding, very uncomfortable relationship with pullups. I struggle with them every time I do them. BUT, I DO THEM. Even when they make me feel little and lame. I do them because they are the best way to build upper body strength and they are so good for you postural muscles (especially if you spend any time in front of a computer.) Oh, and they ROCK your core.

I do all sorts of assisted pull ups, as in this workout I recently posted. In fact, many of you asked me about pull ups after this workout, so I wanted to help you out a bit.

There are some things you should know about pull ups. First off, YES, they are hard. Secondly, NO, they are not impossible.

Now that we covered that I want to give you some basic tips:

1. In order to do unassisted pullups you must work on full body strength training. They are a full body move, not just a back exercise, even though you do use your biggest back muscles as your primary movers.

2. Pullups require a ton of core activation. This makes them an amazing ab workout. Forget those dang (ineffective and inefficient) crunches. Pullups will activate your core like no one’s business!

3. Doing a variety of back strengthening exercises will really help you build strength to get master pullups. Don’t just practice pull ups, incorporate a lot of variety into your back workouts.

4. Don’t be afraid to lift heavy. You will not bulk up and that overall strength will be huge in helping you get your first pull up.

5. Get a pull up bar for your home and use it at least twice a week – even if you are doing all assisted pull ups at this point. You can get a bar for $30 or less on Amazon.

5. Getting your first pull up will change the way you see yourself. You will feel like a total bada$$ and rightfully so!

My colleague, Shawna Kaminski, is a ROCKIN’ Fit Healthy Mom of two and in her mid 40s. And she is the MASTER of pull ups. You can see her knock out over 20 in this video. She has an entire program that helps women get their first pull up. So if this is your burning desire, as it was mine for so long, I would really recommend you work through Shawna’s program. It is an awesome full body program that will help you master pull ups and probably kick my butt!! Oh, if you check out Shawna’s program here, you will see a picture of me doing pull ups in my wedding dress. I think I had only had one glass of champagne at that point and I was already showing off….

Here’s a photo of Shawna and I at a fitness conference a few months ago. I love her, but I never want to be on a pull up bar next to her. I know she would crush me with her 5’3″ of mightiness!!!

OK, so your mission, should you choose to accept, is to master that which you think you cannot do. You up for he challenge???

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