Calisthenics is a training method that uses minimal equipment and relies almost entirely on your own body weight. Typically, various exercises from gymnastics, fitness, and strength training are combined, expanded upon, or reinterpreted.
This article describes the four most important pulling exercises that form the foundation for almost all complex calisthenics movements. You can see other basic exercises in the video embedded below. If you want to learn more about calisthenics and fitness, then check out the guide from klimmzugstangen.de.
Pull-ups, Inverted Rows, Negative Pull-ups, and Pull-up Holds
In pulling exercises, you pull your body towards another object. This could be a bar, a wall, a ceiling, or generally any anchor point. The classic pulling exercises are pull-ups, which come in many variations. The best-known are overhand grip pull-ups, performed with hands shoulder-width apart. Alternative and sometimes much easier pull-ups include inverted rows, negative pull-ups, or pull-up holds.
Pull-ups
With pull-ups, you train your forearms, shoulders, upper back, biceps, and to some extent, your triceps. The difficulty of pull-ups can range from low to hard, depending on your fitness level and how you perform them. The equipment needed is a pull-up bar, a pull-up machine, a staircase, or any other object you can grip and pull yourself up on.
For a pull-up, you grip the bar shoulder-width apart from above, meaning your palms are facing down. Then you pull yourself up from a full dead hang in a controlled manner, until your chin is over the bar or you simply can't go any higher. With pull-ups, you should always use the full range of motion, avoid kipping, and don't use momentum. This ensures the greatest effectiveness of the exercise.
Tip: Really grip the pull-up bar from the very top, and then let the back of your hands slide down a bit. This way, the bar doesn't press on your fingers but partly or entirely on your palms. This will allow you to hang on the bar longer and do more pull-ups.
Inverted Rows
With inverted rows, you train with only a portion of your body weight. The angle of your body controls the intensity of the load. Overall, the load in inverted rows is less than in classic pull-ups, as some of your body weight rests on your legs.
For the exercise itself, it's best to grip the bar from above, shoulder-width apart with both hands. Your body should remain tight throughout the entire movement. Your arms should use the full range of motion, meaning you let your body fall back as far as possible, then pull it towards the bar. The execution is correct when your chest almost touches the bar.
The easiest way to do this exercise is without any aids. For variety, or as an alternative, you can use suspension trainers or gymnastic rings with straps.
For inverted rows with a suspension trainer, you grab the handles and let yourself fall back in a controlled manner. Once you reach the maximum range of motion, you pull your body forward as far as possible. You can grip from above or below, or vary the distance between the two handles. You can also change the angle of your body to adjust the difficulty of the inverted rows to your performance level.
To avoid improper form, you should always pull towards your chest, so the bar almost touches it. Also, note that the closer your body is to the ground with your arms extended, the harder and more effective the exercise is.
Inverted rows combined with a suspension trainer are a very effective and versatile calisthenics exercise overall.
Negative Pull-ups
If you can't do any pull-ups at all yet, you should start with negative pull-ups or pull-up holds.
For negative pull-ups, you jump up to the bar from a standing position, so your chin is at or slightly above the bar. Then you slowly lower yourself down through the entire range of motion. Your body should remain tense throughout the entire movement. Once you're at the bottom, you jump back up to the starting position on the bar to perform another negative pull-up.
Pull-up Holds
Like with negative pull-ups, for pull-up holds you jump up to the bar from a standing position. Then you slowly lower yourself, but you stop at a certain position and hold it for as long as possible. You can hold the position at different points—at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the range of motion.
Conclusion
Pulling exercises like pull-ups, inverted rows, negative pull-ups, or pull-up holds are really effective. They can be performed in many variations and also form a foundation for complex calisthenics exercises. If you want to know more about calisthenics, pull-ups, or fitness, subscribe to this site or our feed.
Photo by GMB Monkey on Unsplash: GMB Monkey
Video from Danube Calisthenics see Youtube
