Do Pull-Up Exercises in Moderation Work?

Moderate training with pullups can develop a solid base of upper-body strength if done correctly. The precise level of moderation will depend on your current level of fitness. For example, if you’re a novice or haven’t yet developed significant upper-body strength, a moderate level of pullups will be less than that of a person with a well-developed upper-body strength capacity. Moderate pullup exercise should be thorough enough to tax your muscles, but not to the point of failure.

  1. An Ideal Exercise

    • The pullup has a couple of unique factors that make it an ideal body-weight exercise that you can perform in moderation and still build strength. First, the pullup targets most of the major muscle groups of the upper body. These muscle groups are the lats, the deltoids, the traps, the pecs and the biceps. One simple motion activates all of these muscles. Also, because of the form of the pullup, these muscles get the resistance of most of your body’s weight, making each repetition difficult enough to break down muscle tissue quickly.

    Add Some Weight

    • Eventually, your body is going to adjust to your moderate number of pullups each workout session. To continue your progress, you can increase the difficulty of each pullup by adding more weight. A number of devices will add more resistance to every repetition, including a weight vest that features fitted pockets to which you can add weight incrementally. You can also wear a weight-training belt, tie a rope to it and attach a free-weight plate to that rope, then perform your pullups.

    Keeping Count

    • A moderate pullup workout varies in how often you do them, and in how many you ultimately do. In general, no more than 10 pullups per set, and no more than two sets per workout, is considered moderate; for beginners, anything between four and six pullups per set can be considered moderate as well. Pullups done without additional weight can be performed up to four times each week, but the moderate approach should cap that frequency to no more than three times a week.

    Rest and Recovery

    • The most important aspect of any strength development plan, even a moderate one, is to get enough rest time. Body-weight exercises don't necessarily overload the target muscles to the point of complete tissue breakdown. The motions of a pullup, however, combined with the concentration of most of your body's weight stressing the target muscles, requires at least one day's rest to let broken-down tissue regrow. For a three-day-per-week schedule, avoid doing pullups on consecutive days. This will allow for tissue recovery and development of strength, even for a moderate pullup workout.