Alright, I’ve read of some doing pull ups until their chest touches, or nearly touches the bar, as opposed to just getting their chin above the bar, and I have a question.
I tried that my past workout (monday), and at the top of the movement I felt it a lot more in the musculature that I feel contract during seated cable rows (rhomboids I think?), much more so than any additional activation in my lats.
I had been under the impression that going chest to bar was simply supposed to activate the lats to a further degree.
Seems like going chest-to-bar would activate some upper back musculature as you are kind of performing a diagonal pull. Definitely something that would make the shoulder blades pull together, hence the rhomboid activation. I don’t see anything wrong with it, in fact it seems like a good bonus to doing full(er) ROM pull-ups.
Thinking back on it, I think I may have been leaning back just a touch at the top a few times as well. I’ll see if I can’t stay completely vertical and see if that changes anything. I know I was vertical up till chin above bar, but I think at that point I may have leaned back some.
[quote]Sabre T wrote:
Alright, I’ve read of some doing pull ups until their chest touches, or nearly touches the bar, as opposed to just getting their chin above the bar, and I have a question.
I tried that my past workout (monday), and at the top of the movement I felt it a lot more in the musculature that I feel contract during seated cable rows (rhomboids I think?), much more so than any additional activation in my lats.
I had been under the impression that going chest to bar was simply supposed to activate the lats to a further degree.
Am I off base, or doing something wrong?
TW[/quote]
It definitely seems that by going chest to bar, you are getting more bang for your buck by involving the rhomboids more, while getting a more involved contraction, if you will, of the lats.
When going chest to the bar, I also like to vary the spacing of my grip by bringing my hands in a little closer. I can definitely feel I am getting almost all parts of the back, including lower, more involved.
I guess variety is the key here. I say, roll with it dude.
It definitely seems that by going chest to bar, you are getting more bang for your buck by involving the rhomboids more, while getting a more involved contraction, if you will, of the lats.
When going chest to the bar, I also like to vary the spacing of my grip by bringing my hands in a little closer. I can definitely feel I am getting almost all parts of the back, including lower, more involved.
I guess variety is the key here. I say, roll with it dude.[/quote]
Hmm…I’ve been sticking with the wide grip pull ups pretty much exclusively (pull up is the right term for front grip, right?). But I could probably definitely do to mix it up some.
