Pull-Ups and Why They Are Important to Your Workout
Push-ups and pull-ups have long been considered the two best exercises you can do to train your upper body. The reason for that is these two exercises target every major muscle group of your upper body. You’d be surprised as to how good of shape you can get into when you only perform these two exercises. Ask anyone who has gone through ‘boot camp’ and see what kind of shape they are in? Ask them what exercises they did?
There are three good reasons why it is important to do both movements or exercises.
1.Saves time…these two exercises are compound movements, meaning they target more than one muscle at a time. These two exercises allow you to train all the major muscle groups of your upper body. This is extremely helpful if time is a factor in your busy schedule.
2.Targets all the major muscles of your upper body. Push-ups or any type of pushing movement like a bench press targets your chest, shoulders and triceps – half your upper body. Pull-ups or any type of pulling motion targets a completely different set of muscles. The pulling motion targets your back, biceps and forearm – the other major muscle groups of your upper body.
3.Reduces upper back and neck pain. A lot of upper back and neck pain is caused by muscle imbalance, caused by over-training certain muscles over others. The fact that just about anyone can do push-up or modified push-up makes it easy and convenient to include this exercise. Unfortunately a lot of people can’t do pull-ups. Most women and a large percentage of men can’t do but a few pull-ups, so they neglect this important exercise. This contributes to muscle imbalance and a contributing factor to upper back and neck pain. Performing an equal number of sets of both push-ups and pull-ups can greatly reduce the your risk of upper back and neck pain. Modified or Australian pull-ups are a great substitute for those who can’t do a complete pull-up. The benefit of the modified pull-up is that it allows you to off-load a certain amount of your own body weight, thus allowing you to get the same benefit of a pull-up.
It’s sad to say, but both men and women are equally guilty of omitting pull-ups to their workout, and over-training their chest muscles. So if you have been looking for ways to add shape and tone to your body make sure you train all the major muscles of your upper body – not just the pretty muscles you can see in the mirror. Whether it is free standing pull-ups or modified pull-ups they are an excellent addition to add to your training routine.