On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, I’m showing 8 pull up progressions for beginners to advanced.
This exercise tutorial will show you how to do my favorite back exercise, that not only strengthens your back, it’ll also help you build stronger arms, and melt your stubborn belly fat.
One part of my Live Lean Transformation 1,000,000 Mission is to get you to move your body more effectively.
In other words, focusing on exercises that give you the biggest bang for your buck.
These exercises are called compound movements, because they activate more muscles to perform the lift.
Working more muscles means a higher calorie burn, thus burning fat faster, including your stubborn belly fat, during the workout and after the workout.
Hello afterburn effect.
KEY POINT: Just because you’re not directly training your abs, it does not mean you’re not melting fat there.
You melt way more fat doing compound moves vs crunches.
A compound exercise that fits this criteria, is the pull up.
Now before you stop reading this post, because you can’t do a pull up, I’m going to show you various modifications to make this exercise easier for you.
Follow these beginner pull up progressions to progress your way up to a full pull up.
I’ll also show you more advanced pull up progressions to try, so you can continuously improve.
Let jump into it.
Here are your coaching cues on how to properly perform each pull up progression.
Use these pull up progressions for beginners to complete your first pull up.
Let’s start with the beginner pull up progressions, then move our way to the more advanced pull up progressions.
The Partner Assisted Jumping Pull Up From The Back is an excellent starting pull up progression for beginners.
To get started:
If you don’t have a partner, you can use the assisted pull up machine at your gym as your no partner beginner pull up progression.
To get started:
Note: depending on the type of assisted pull up machine, you may stand on the platform with straight legs, as shown in this video, or kneel on the platform with bent legs, as shown in this video.
If your gym doesn’t have an assisted pull up machine, I still have you covered with this bent leg inverted row using a squat rack.
The Bent Leg Inverted Row is an excellent beginner exercise to build up the required strength in your back to complete a straight leg inverted row.
Compared to the straight leg inverted row, the bent knee inverted row is an easier beginner progression, as it makes the movement a little easier when your knees are bent.
To get started:
If you want to challenge yourself, complete the straight leg inverted row by fully extending your legs, then pull your body up to the bar using your lat muscles.
This is another great bodyweight exercise for the back.
The partner assisted pull up from the ankles is another beginner progression to completing a full pull up.
With this partner modification, your partner will assist you be grabbing your ankles and holding them for leverage.
Even though you’re still doing a lot of the work by using your lats to pull your chin over the bar, the assistance from the ankles will help you complete the pull up.
To get started:
The Partner Assisted Pull Up From One Ankle is a beginner progression to completing a full pull up.
Providing assistance to just one ankle is a more challenging partner modification compared to when your partner holds both ankles.
To get started:
The Jumping Pull Up is a beginner modification to the regular pull up.
By jumping up, you use momentum to pull yourself up to complete the concentric part of the pull up rep.
After that, the goal is to try and focus on slowly lowering your body on the way down during the eccentric part of the rep.
This will help you build up the required back strength to complete a full pull up.
To get started:
All right, now we’re moving on to the standard pull up.
Here are a few key coaching points to get started:
Here’s an advanced pull up progression.
Once these bodyweight pull ups get too easy, try adding some extra resistance with weights.
One way to do this is by putting a dumbbell between your ankles.
The Dumbbell Pull Up is an excellent way to continue strengthening the back.
To get started:
You can also add weight to your pull ups by completing a:
There are your 8 pull up progressions for beginners to advanced.
Try to get at least 10 reps of the beginner pull up progressions.
Once you can do that, move up to the more advanced pull up progressions.
Enjoy all those new pull up gains.
If you want more exercises to increase the Afterburn Effect, and melt belly fat faster, go check out my best selling Live Lean Afterburn 2.0 workout program.
This program has been getting other Live Leaners, just like you, incredible results.
Get the full Live Lean Afterburn 2.0 system to start your body transformation and program your body to burn fat while you sleep.
Start by taking our FREE Live Lean Body Quiz to get access to the best program specific to your goals, current fitness level, and access to equipment.
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.
How do you manage to find the gym so empty……. it’s always packed when I
go.
45 + 25lbs for 3 reps current weighted pull ups..
Hi Brad, great tips. I love pull-ups and break up my entire workout in 5
reps 10 times. I do 2 time with the same grip going from furthest to
closest so that I focus on different part of my upper body. You obviously
are the guru and I will borrow your technique. Do you think my approach is
right or should I break up my workout differently as in more reps each time
and adjust the number of times I do it? I am a fan of tibata and like to
mix 5 pull ups with 10 push-ups. Let me know your thoughts.
do you need to do the overhand grip or does the underhand grip work also
Brad, I can do ten pull ups and I don’t go all the way down. Normally I do
50 pull ups every other day during lunch break. Whats differences doing the
pull ups all the way down versus not going all the way down? Thanks!
Great video! I have to say, as a girl I honestly used to think I’d never be
able to do pull ups, but using these modifications over the years has
really helped & now I can do up to 7 or 8 consecutive pull ups unassisted.
Next year hopefully I’ll get my gainz up to Brads level. 🙂 There is no
feeling more empowering than to literally lift yourself up! Ladies get up
there & train yourself to pull up! Hire a trainer to help if necessary,
this is a must-do exercise for everyone.
Love this video. I think pull ups are one of the most overlooked exercises
that hold some of the biggest benefits.
I do a variety of pull ups with different grips, weighted and unweighted,
and Max rep challenges.
Melt Belly Fat With This Back Exercise Tutorial