Training programs on the horizontal bar for gaining muscle mass

History and theory

In Ancient Greece and many other developed and developing countries, there was no clear system of pull-ups on the horizontal bar, but they were necessarily included in the complex of basic exercises. Already in those days, people realized that this type of training strengthens muscles quite well, helps to build mass and forms a harmonious relief.

Tibetan monks developed the first system of pull-ups on a horizontal bar from scratch, improving an already existing technique. They included several original elements in it that make it possible to achieve great heights in a short time. Today, people know far more than one system of pull-ups on a horizontal bar. Among the variety of unique techniques, everyone can find the best option for themselves, be it a beginner or an experienced athlete.

Different goals - different techniques

Many people can do pull-ups a small number of times, but to influence a specific muscle group, you need to perform the exercise correctly. As practice shows, even experienced and developed athletes do not always manage to do more than five pull-ups correctly. Before performing a pull-up program at home, a good warm-up and warm-up of the muscles is necessary.

• Maintaining correct body position. You need to fix your legs, you can fix them together and bend your knees at an angle of ninety degrees. In this position, lifting is carried out due to the strength of the arm muscles (the help of the legs and pelvis is excluded), and the work of the back is felt.
• Frequency and effort. To thoroughly work out the muscles, the exercise is best performed slowly, that is, lifting and lowering the body should be done at the same speed and evenly. There should be no jerking when moving. Hands must be kept tense. Muscle mass should be felt.
• Correct breathing: when ascending, inhale evenly, when lowering, exhale.

Not everyone training at home pays attention to the position of their hands on the horizontal bar, but it is the grip that determines which muscle group the main load will be directed to. The grip of the bar varies as narrow, medium and wide.

• Narrow - used to train the forearm and biceps, excluding the action of the back muscles, performed with the arms as close as possible.
• Medium - the position of the hands corresponds to the width of the shoulders. The load is distributed evenly. The arms, shoulders and back are equally involved in raising the torso. The most common grip when doing pull-ups.
• Wide - performed with the greatest mutual distance between the hands. To create the greatest load, the thumb does not wrap around the horizontal bar. Designed to train the back muscles.

By doing pull-ups you can develop both strength and muscle mass. To learn how to competently do a certain slope, you need to remember what this exercise consists of. It consists of two stages:

1. Positive phase - body lifting
2. Negative phase - lowering the body

These phases are present in all strength exercises and are worth considering in more detail.

To generate force:

1. Within three seconds, slowly raise the body, and lower it quickly - in one second.
2. Gradually increase the number of approaches
3. Create muscle tension when lifting
4. Rest between sets for no more than two to three minutes.

Working for mass:

1. Raise your torso quickly for one second and slowly lower it in about three seconds.
2. Constant number of approaches without increasing
3. When lowering the body, the muscles should be as tense as possible
4. Rest between sets for more than three minutes
5. After training at home, take a sufficiently energy-rich diet.

As you can see, the program for weight pull-ups at home has the opposite bias than for strength development. When pull-ups are easy, weights can be used to complicate the exercise at home. To increase your own weight, belts with weights attached to them, leg weights, and backpacks with sand are used.

Teenagers are taught to do pull-ups in physical education classes at school.

Basic knowledge of pull-up techniques

The technique of pulling up on a horizontal bar requires the physical athlete to master basic skills.

♦ Do not perform the exercise with sudden jerks - this can lead to injury to the cervical vertebrae or the development of herniated intervertebral discs.

♦ There is no need to squirm when lifting; you need to keep your body in a strictly vertical position (well, if only with a slight arch in the back).

♦ Many novice athletes do not know how to breathe correctly when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Meanwhile, this is an important point.

If you do not learn proper breathing when performing an exercise, it will slow down your athletic progression.

The rules are simple: at the top point we exhale sharply, and then when lowering, take a deep breath. And under no circumstances hold your breath - this will quickly cause you to lose strength and energy.

Learn how to do an exercise on the horizontal bar for beginners: for example, try to master a single pull-up.

Pull up once, climb down, rest, shake your hands, and then repeat. After mastering single repetitions, move on to multiple pull-ups.

After twenty to twenty-five days, switch to regular full lifting and lowering. At the same time, do not forget to put gloves on your hands for doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar - with them you will be able to avoid the appearance of calluses on your palms, besides, the gloves absorb sweat and will not allow your hands to slip off the bar.

There is a whole set of exercises on the horizontal bar, but before moving on to mastering it, you should count your horizontal bar achievements at least ten times. To increase the number of times it is advisable to use weights. A special vest is sold in stores. There is also an economical option: fill your backpack with plastic bottles of water or any weighty objects without sharp corners - and please, train!

You can increase the weights over time, but don’t get carried away; take a day or two to rest. It is a big misconception that the more you train, the stronger you become – nonsense! The body becomes stronger with rest!

Let's figure out how to increase the number of pull-ups on the horizontal bar, what needs to be done for this?

Some tips

Among them:

• professionals know by heart that before performing any set of exercises, you should do a warm-up. It is simply necessary, as it allows you to avoid injuries and warm up your muscles;
• After finishing any workout, you should always stretch. After the load, the muscles should relax;
• you should believe in yourself and strive for your cherished dream, namely a large number of pull-ups. The complex, of course, will help with this, but if there is no desire, and laziness arises, then it will not be possible to achieve results;
• if, due to your personal well-being, you are not confident in full recovery of strength, it is better to slow down the pace when doing pull-ups or take a little longer breaks between approaches, but you should not skip days;
• Music will help tone you up;
• You can arrange something like a competition with your friends, but you should perform the exercise the number of times indicated in the above table in the figure.

Correct execution technique is the key to a good result. Quality plays an important role in training

We also recommend studying this topic:

Pull-up technique for pumping up muscle mass

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What muscles can be pumped?

Athletes who have been practicing on the horizontal bar for a long time know exactly how these exercises help. Beginners do not know all the advantages of the horizontal bar. Therefore, before moving on to the system of pull-ups on the horizontal bar for beginners, you need to understand which muscle groups can be pumped with the help of this apparatus:

• biceps;
• upper and lower press;
• pectoral muscles;
• forearms;
• back muscles.

The horizontal bar is, of course, a universal sports equipment, because it allows you to work out your entire body at the proper level.

The benefits of pull-ups

To dispel all your doubts about whether to start doing pull-ups or not, I’ll tell you about the benefits of this exercise.

Force

Pull-ups involve almost every muscle in the upper body. Works your forearms, which lock your iron grip on the bar, and your core muscles, which stabilize your lower back. All these muscles must not only work, but be strong and resilient!

Strong back

The back muscles do the main work when doing pull-ups. These primarily include the trapezius, latissimus muscles and a bunch of deeper muscles located along the spine. The health of the spine depends on their training.

Proportions

Agree that the V-shaped back looks impressive. To create such a shape, you need to pull yourself up, even with additional weights.

Drying the body

By incorporating pull-ups into your program, you can significantly increase your workout intensity and calorie burn. A wide variety of exercise types will allow those who cannot perform a single standard pull-up to lose weight.

Set of exercises

At the moment of lifting, you support your own weight with the help of the muscles of your back and arms, but if you have extra pounds, then you will not succeed. Therefore, stick to a vegetarian diet, go jogging, daily jogging for 15 minutes is a good start. In 6 weeks you will have covered a distance of 7 km, and the excess weight will simply melt away.

After the weight is normal, you need to prepare the muscles for serious load. To do this, perform exercises with dumbbells or a barbell; push-ups are very effective. Do at least 35 push-ups a day for several sets, increasing the number of repetitions until you can do 20 push-ups in one set.

Do not do pull-ups if your back hurts, as the reasons may be serious: intervertebral hernia, pinched nerve, etc.

Start your workout with a 10-minute warm-up.

The video talks about how to increase the number of pull-ups. The most popular grips are described - their advantages and differences.

Workouts from scratch

To begin with, it is recommended to simply hang on the horizontal bar to feel this position and get used to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z41J8x52

On the first day, try imitating a pull-up. To do this, rise a little, pause at the highest point, and smoothly return to the starting position.

You need to spend the same amount of time going up and down.

In the first week, do pull-ups with partial amplitude with your legs supported, for example, on a stool. This will give you the opportunity to get used to the load. To do this, bend your legs and rest your toes on the stool.

Practice every day, perform 5-10 times for 3 sets.

The goal of week two is to learn how to perform negative pull-ups and descend correctly. These are still incomplete pull-ups; you learn to descend smoothly.

To do this, grab the horizontal bar and push off the floor.

Fix at the top point, with your chin level above the bar, look up, and stretch your chest towards the bar.

Repeat 5 - 10 times for 3 sets.

In the third week, alternate between supported and negative pull-ups. If you perform the exercise with ease, then increase the repetitions to 16 - 22 times.

In the fourth week, perform full pull-ups. You can start with 3 - 5 times, the main thing is to do the exercise correctly. Do 3 sets, it’s okay if in the last set you do 2 pull-ups. If you perform the same number of exercises in the first and third sets, add 1 repetition.

Train with a forward and reverse grip in turns: day 1 - straight, day 2 - reverse.

Before classes, you need to pass a strength exam; to do this, pull yourself up as many times as possible. If you were unable to pull yourself up, then you need to work out on a counterweight machine. If your result is 1 - 2 times, then practice according to the first column, from 3 to 4 - according to the 2nd column, from 5 to 7 - according to the third, more than 7 times - start practicing from the third week on the 3rd column.

Course duration: 6 weeks, three times in seven days.

If the first stage was difficult, you need to repeat everything to consolidate the results.

Train on the same column.

At the end of this stage it is worth taking an endurance test.

Study according to the test results:

• 4 - 5 times is 1 column;
• 6 - 7 times - 2nd column;
• more than 7 - 3rd column.

If you did less than 4 pull-ups, then simply repeat the exercises of the second stage.

Practice in the same column.

Test your physical capabilities with this test. If you did less than 4 pull-ups, repeat the 3rd or 4th training cycle.

Study based on the previous week's test results.

Test your strength with the test. If the results exceed the figure by 10 times, then proceed to the final stage of training; if not, simply repeat the 5th stage.

According to the forecasts of the creators of the method, after 2 days of rest you will be able to do more than 25 pull-ups.

30 pull-ups

When 25 pull-ups are too easy for you, you need to increase the load. With the help of the 30 pull-ups program, you will not only consolidate the results of the previous cycle, but also move to a new stage in 6 weeks.

How to do pull-ups correctly

Before we talk about proper technique, let me remind you that our goal is to learn how to do multiple pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Therefore, we will focus on pull-ups with a medium grip.

So, here we go:

1. Choose a crossbar of such a height that you don’t have to jump high to reach it.
2. And make sure that the crossbar is level, that is, parallel to the horizon. Otherwise, you are guaranteed an asymmetrical load, and it’s not far from injury.
3. Position yourself under the bar. If you can, jump up and grab it with your hands; if jumping is not your thing, then use a stand
4. The grip should be closed - the thumb covers the horizontal bar in front
5. Wait until your body stops swinging on the horizontal bar. At the same time, keep the muscles of the shoulder girdle tense
6. At the beginning of the movement, squeeze your shoulder blades together as if you want to hold a pencil between them
7. Gently pull yourself up to the bar, slightly arching your back and pushing your chest forward. Rise until the bar is a couple of centimeters from your upper chest
8. When moving up, do not jerk your legs to give yourself extra momentum.
9. Lower yourself to the starting position slowly and under control. At the bottom of the trajectory, leave your arms slightly bent and tense. Don’t relax your latissimus dorsi muscles either.
10. Perform the exercise until the technique breaks down
11. Briefly about breathing. We go up - exhale, we go down - inhale
12. Try not to jump off the bar, but use the stand to lower yourself

And now about everything that has been said, just visually:

Burpee

This exercise is most common among athletes of various categories. Its main distinguishing feature is the fact that it is popular even among martial artists who prefer to constantly develop their own endurance, strength and agility. But with all this, we should not forget that this exercise should in no case be included in the system of pull-ups on the horizontal bar from scratch, because it is not always easy for even experienced athletes.

The burpee technique is not that complicated, but it requires maximum concentration. The first thing you need to do is take the starting position - stand in front of the horizontal bar, stretch your arms along your body, and place your legs exactly shoulder-width apart. Next, you should do everything at a fast pace:

• to squat;
• jump into a lying position;
• do one push-up;
• return to your haunches with a jump;
• take the starting position;
• jump out and do a pull-up;
• return to the starting position.

Advanced training systems

There are other tables, for example, a 30-week pull-up program. This training is aimed at more experienced and trained athletes. It allows you to do 82 repetitions of the exercise per day. In the future, the result can be developed, and the number of lifts will exceed a hundred. There will be 3-4 workouts per week of 5 approaches. You need to rest no more than 90-120 seconds between them. Every week the number of repetitions will increase and by the end of the course will reach the recommended maximum. You can look at the pull-up increase chart below:

There is an extended version of the training program that is suitable for strong people who play sports professionally. The pull-up increase chart for the 52 week course is below:

A course of 50 pull-ups can achieve no less impressive results. It can be performed by people who are able to repeat the exercise 5 times in 1 approach. This program will take 2-3 weeks. During this time, you can increase the size of muscle tissue and increase endurance. You will need to train 3-4 times a week, that is, every other day. Each training includes 6 approaches, during which you will ultimately complete 50 repetitions of the exercise. The initial number of pull-ups on a hike does not exceed 5, but gradually it will need to be increased to 8-10. If this does not seem enough, then the indicators can be doubled over time.

To pump more muscles and get a better effect, experts advise combining grips.

For example, do 5 pull-ups with your arms spread wide, then narrow them 5 times, etc. From time to time you can switch to neutral pull-ups on the horizontal bar and change the direct grip to the reverse one. The result will be noticeable within 2-3 weeks, but if difficulties arise during training, it is advisable to have someone as a backup. However, you need to hold not by the lower limbs, but by the shoulder blades, so that in case of a fall the athlete can group himself and not injure another person.

How to learn to do pull-ups from scratch

Even at home, you can equip a pull-up bar by installing it in the doorway. If you don’t know how to do pull-ups at all, start with regular hanging on the horizontal bar, increasing the hanging time daily. The hands need to get used to the load in order for the grip to become stronger. Next, you can begin lifting your body.

Many novice athletes want to independently develop a pull-up system for themselves on the horizontal bar. Of course, no beginner can do 50 pull-ups, which is why many of them strive to achieve good results through their efforts. Unfortunately, most people fail to do this, because not every person who has not previously been involved in sports knows how to do pull-ups correctly.

When doing pull-ups, your back and legs must be straight. It is necessary to raise the body until it stops so that the chin touches the bar. The horizontal bar contains many secrets that can lead to the success of any athlete. Fortunately, there is no need to solve them, because other people have already done this a long time ago:

1. In order to increase mass, it is necessary to rise as slowly as possible, and, on the contrary, to descend quickly.
2. To strengthen muscles and increase endurance, you will need to climb quickly, but you will have to descend slowly.
3. To improve stretching and flexibility, you should go up and down at a fast pace, and in the periods between approaches it is recommended to simply hang on the horizontal bar for ten seconds.

Training programs

American

Good development will be facilitated by weekly performance of the “American” exercise, with the participation of several athletes. The competition consists of pulling up on the horizontal bar from 1 to 10 times, each time adding one lift: 1, 2, 3 ... 10, then in descending order. The one remaining at the end wins if he has the strength to complete the exercise. This complex is effective for working out muscle definition at home, and the competitive factor stimulates significant physical activity.

Program to increase the number of pull-ups

A training program is a must because it makes it difficult to do the same number of pull-ups every day, but to increase it weekly. In just 30 days you can achieve 82 times the result.

This training program is simple. The pull-up table will help you develop the correct system.

Workout program "from 0 to 82 in 30 weeks." Its effectiveness has been proven. Not only quantity is important, but also quality of execution

Important! To increase the number of pull-ups, you need to follow it and not skip workouts. This exercise should be performed on a daily basis, giving just one day a week to rest the muscles.

This pull-up pattern on the horizontal bar gives a good effect. The main thing when doing pull-ups is to try to do them efficiently. When following this system, the methods of pulling up can be alternated. That is, with each approach the grip will change.

We also recommend that you pay attention to the article: The “50 pull-ups in 7 weeks” program.

This material will be perfectly complemented by the following publications:

• When choosing yoga, choose the right ASANA
• Swimming crawl: features of proper technique

Tips for beginners

Beginning athletes who have never done a pull-up in their life or have done it for a very long time should definitely listen to the recommendations given by real professionals. Experienced athletes can recommend some great ways to help you learn how to do pull-ups from scratch. Among them:

1. With a stool. Standing on it, it will be much easier to do pull-ups. Having reached the highest point, you need to stay in this position for about three seconds, and with each subsequent rise, gradually increase this time.
2. Insurance with tires. This method involves tying yourself around your belt with a special sports rubber band, which at the other end is attached to the horizontal bar. Thanks to this auxiliary element, it will be easier to get to the top point.

Program for trained athletes

Monday

• Pull-ups with a medium straight grip - 3 sets of 2 reps.
• Narrow straight grip - 3 sets of 2 reps each.
• Wide straight grip - 3 sets of 2 reps each.

• Medium reverse grip pull-ups - 3 sets of 2 reps.
• Narrow reverse grip - 3 sets of 2 repetitions each, holding the chin at the bar for 3 seconds.

Friday

• Medium grip pull-ups - 1 set of 5 reps.
• Wide grip - 1 set of 5 reps.
• Close grip - 1 set of 5 reps.

Monday

• Medium grip pull-ups - 5 sets of 5 reps.
• Close grip - 5 sets of 5 reps.
• Wide grip - 5 sets of 5 reps.
• On one arm - 3 sets of 3 repetitions.

• Medium grip pull-ups - 5 sets of 10 reps.
• wide grip - 5 sets of 10 reps.
• narrow grip - 5 sets of 8 reps.

Friday

• Medium grip pull-ups - 6 sets of 5 reps.
• Wide grip - 5 sets of 5 reps.
• Close grip - 5 sets of 5 reps.

Saturday

Weighted sit-ups - 6 sets of 5 reps each.

Different Purposes of Pull-Ups

You can do pull-ups for different purposes. This could be increasing muscle endurance, giving them more volume, or tightening to make the muscles stronger.

All this is possible, but the main thing is to know how to do pull-ups in order to pursue the goal with which you approached the horizontal bar.

Endurance pull-ups

To make the body and target muscles more resilient, you need to perform pull-ups as often and as much as possible, again within reason, of course.

Thus, the most optimal endurance training program would be to perform 4-5 sets of pull-ups with the maximum number of repetitions. It is worth exercising in this mode 4-5 times a week.

Pull-ups to develop strength

A slightly more cunning method already works here. During any exercise, muscles work in two phases - “positive” and “negative”.

When the weight is lifted (in this case, lifting the body), the muscles work in the “positive” phase, and when the weight is lowered, in the “negative” phase. The growth of strength and volume indicators of your muscles directly depends on these two phases.

Thus, in order to extract maximum strength results from pull-ups, it is necessary to force the muscles to work predominantly in the “positive” phase. This means that when doing pull-ups, you should do slow lifts and fast lowers. Approximately 2-3 seconds to rise and 1 second to lower.

This type of pull-up is quite heavy and therefore you need to train in this mode for 3-4 approaches with a number of repetitions of 6-8; if you get more, then you should start doing pull-ups using weights, for example, hanging a weight from your belt. You should exercise in this mode no more than 3-4 times a week.

Pull-ups to develop mass

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar make it possible to acquire a decent volume of muscles and their mass. To do this, it’s worth using the rules of the “positive” and “negative” phases to force the muscles to work mainly in the “negative” phase.

Pull-ups should be performed by quickly raising the body and slowly lowering it. I use 2-3 seconds to lower and 1 second to rise. Do 2-3 sets of 8-12 times, again, if you can do more, use weights.

This regime involves a strong load on the muscles, because it is in the “negative” phase that the muscle fibers receive the maximum micro-tears. Therefore, muscles need more time to recover and you should train in this mode no more than twice a week.

Conclusion

Of course, pull-ups, to one degree or another, involve all the goals described above, but using a certain pull-up pattern you can place maximum emphasis on increasing endurance, strength or muscle mass.

Having analyzed all of the above, we can conclude that pull-ups are a truly universal exercise, which, despite all its simplicity, has an amazing effect!

By the way, here’s an optimistic and motivational video of a man doing 80 pull-ups! Too bad to repeat? :)

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Pull-up system on the horizontal bar for beginners: program

An ideal program, understandable and accessible to everyone, would be the following table.

As you can see, the load increases gradually and carefully enough to protect the athlete from unnecessary injuries, as well as overwork. Having successfully completed the first month of training, the load needs to be increased by about 2-3 times.

This system was used by the well-known Major of the United States Marine Corps, Charles Lewis Armstrong. The program includes all the necessary points that contribute to physical improvement: overload, variety, regularity.

People who have already tried this system on themselves have achieved incredible results in just 5-6 weeks. At the end of the program, almost all beginners could already perform more than 20 pull-ups in just one approach.

Rules

Before you start exercising on the crossbar, you need to learn the rules that are guaranteed to help you avoid injuries and get the desired effect as quickly as possible. These include the following points:

1. As before any workout, you need to do a short warm-up before starting pull-ups. Just 5-10 minutes of cardio (running, jumping rope, cycling, walking at a fast pace, etc.) will be enough.
2. In order to increase weight, you need to reconsider your diet. It should include more proteins, and the consumption of sweets should be reduced to a minimum. You should also slightly increase the number of calories consumed daily, which will protect against drying out muscle mass.
3. Absolutely every workout should be completed with stretching. This will allow the muscles to recover faster after training.