Pull-ups are an indicator of a strong back musculature. Also, nothing looks as badass as doing pull-ups for 15 reps with added weights. Putting that aside, pull-ups are fantastic for building muscle. It's a simple exercise that hits your lats, middle back, rear delts, biceps and iso-metrically works on your forearms. What a muscle building combo! The only problem is that pull-ups are hard, especially for beginners and a lot of people struggle when performing it. But, you have to stop being afraid and try doing them. In this article, I am going to lay down a set of drills and exercises that will help you earn your first proper pull-up.  

First, Stop Doing This!      

If you cannot do pull-ups right now, stop doing assisted pull-ups where your friend provides an additional push to your body. This way you will never be able to perform pull-ups. Assisted pull-ups significantly reduce the involvement of the lats and as a result, you will never gain the strength to do it on your own. 

Drill1: Developing The Grip Strength

(c) Stronglifts

Grip strength is another limiting factor and most beginners do not have this. Therefore, for the first week just grip the pull-up bar and hang on it for the maximum time possible. Do not attempt to do the pull-up. Just hang on to the bar and relax. If you can do it for more than 10 seconds, do 5 sets at the end of your workout every day. If it is less than 10 seconds, do 10 sets.

Drill 2: Isometric Pull-Up Hold

(c) stack.com

Once you gain the grip strength to hold your body weight. We are going to aim towards building some strength and stability. Stand on a bench, hold the pull-up bar and jump on to the top position of a pull-up. Hold this position for as long as you can. For most people, it is going to be 2-5 seconds. So this is your task for the next two weeks. 4 sets of isometric pull up hold for those who can do it for 3+ seconds and 8 sets for those can do it for less than 3. 

Drill 3: Self-Assisted Pull-Ups

(c) Youtube

After performing the first two drills you should be able to get 1-2 pull-ups easily and now, it is time to do something fun. The good thing about self-assisted pull-ups is that you get the idea of how much leverage you are using. Over time, our goal is to reduce the assistance and move to a full range of motion pull-ups. Stand over a bench or a stepper and grip the pull-up bar, use one foot to reach the top position of a pull-up and then come down with a slow and controlled tempo. That is one rep.  Do 5-10 reps for 5 sets every day for the next two weeks. Also, add 2-3 sets of isometric pull-up holds at the end, if you have some energy. 

Do these drills for the mentioned sets and reps, and you will be doing pull-ups with perfect form in 5 weeks. 

Assistance exercises 

Two exercises that I highly recommend for developing pull-up strength are:

Weighted body rows: 2-3 sets 15+ Reps

Lat Pull Downs: 3-4 sets 8-12 Reps