Pre-Warmups for Pullups

Pullups are an effective way to strengthen your latissimus dorsi and biceps muscles. However, pullups involve pulling your entire body weight up to an overhead bar using just your arms so they are a strenuous exercise. Jumping right into your workout with pullups is a recipe for injury, so it is important you ease into more demanding training by warming up properly. Not only will you reduce your likelihood of injury, you'll also ensure your workout is as effective as possible by priming your muscles for what is to come.

  1. Raising Your Pulse

    • The first part of a warmup should leave you feeling warm and the best way to do this is with some light cardio. This part of the warmup is called the pulse raiser. Pulse raisers can include cycling or jogging, but as pullups are a strenuous upper-body exercise, activities such as rowing and using an elliptical trainer with a push/pull arm action are more appropriate. Three to five minutes at a moderate pace should be enough to have you feeling warm and ready to move on.

    Mobility and Dynamic Stretches

    • Your joints are lubricated with a substance called synovial fluid, which is a sort of naturally produced oil. Activity triggers the release of synovial fluid, and the better lubricated your joints are, the smoother your movements will be and the less wear and tear will occur within your joints. Pullups use a large range of shoulder and elbow motion so prepare your joints by performing shoulder shrugs, shoulder rolls, arm circles, arm curls and overhead reaches. Ten repetitions of each move will leave your joints feeling more supple. These exercises also gently stretch your muscles.

    Movement Practice

    • If you are able to do 10 or more pullups, you can continue your warmup by performing a couple of sets of two or three reps to practice your technique and further prepare your muscles for your coming workout. If you are unable to do 10 repetitions, a couple of sets of light lat pulldowns using the same width grip will suffice. If you do not have access to a lat pulldown machine, you could do band-assisted pullups instead. With both options, make sure you stop your set well before you feel any fatigue in your arms or lats. This is a preparatory exercise and not the workout itself.

    Over Warmup

    • If you are a more advanced exerciser and intend to do a lot of pullups, you can enhance your pullup performance by doing a few reps with a weight fixed around your waist. These heavier-than-body weight reps will really fire up your muscles so that, when you do your normal pullups, they feel much easier than they otherwise might. This is a neurological trick that should allow you to perform more reps than normal.