Pull ups are a functional exercise!

Today I will explain why and why your should consider adding them to your arsenal.

Pull ups are a Multi-joint Compound Movement

Pull ups are a multi-joint, compound movement. This means they allow natural movement patterns, and train multiple muscle groups at a time.

More natural movements will more directly enhance sporting positions and activities and are probably more functional exercises from an athletic perspective.

Athletes should focus primarily on free weight and body weight movements like the pull up in a complete strength and conditioning program.

Pull ups require Coordination and Motor Control

In Supertraining, Mel C. Siff and Yuri Verkhoshansky note that body weight exercises are probably better for developing coordination and motor control and better enhance sporting activities and athleticism than machine based alternatives like lat pull downs.

Pull ups are a body weight exercise and they require a coordinated effort between your upper body and core muscles.

Pull ups Bring you Closer to your Goals

And finally, pull ups are a functional exercise if they serve a specific function towards helping you achieve your goals.

If bigger/stronger lats and biceps, better muscular balance and core strength are some of your goals, then pull ups will serve you in your mission.

This alone means pull ups can be an incredibly functional exercise.

What is a Functional Exercise Anyway?

Back in the early 2000’s, functional training was all the rage. Personal trainers instructed clients to do exercises on bosu balls and instability trainers. Coaches had their athletes performing their sport while wearing ankle weights or vests in an attempt to make them more functionally fit at their sport. Soccer moms were put through circuits with “Functional training equipment.”

For some reason, this new type of training looked cool and it seemed like the trainer prescribing these special exercises really knew what they were doing. But it turned out, functional training was difficult to even qualify or quantify. Was lifting a barbell functional? Or did you have to lift a barbell on one leg and barefoot for it to be a functional exercise?

In reality, these training methodologies had no rooting in science or reality. They were just flashy exercises that did not even work as well as old school exercises for improving sport performance, athleticism and falls prevention.

Suddenly, the evidence-based and science-based fitness community jumped in and made all the functional training fitness charlatans look like dummies.

These evidence-based professionals rightly called out the gurus and told the world that this special training was nonsense.

They re-defined functional training for the fitness layman as any training that helped an individual get closer to his or her goals.

Using this new definition, old school and science based exercises were favored and the bosu ball received it’s deserved place in the trash can.

Unstable exercises were actually less functional for improving strength or athleticism than straight old strength training exercises.

And practicing a sport with weights attached was a silly and ineffective way to actually get strong for sport.

So functional training became rightly known as any type of training that improves functionality or serves a function.

So a well-designed weight training program can fit the bill here!

How are pull ups functional?

Well, depending on your goals, pull ups help you serve your purpose.

They serve the function of helping you to develop upper body strength, to build a strong back, to build your bone strength and connective tissue. IF you need to be stronger for sport, pull ups may also serve the function of helping you improve your strength capacity and sport performance. And if you are one of millions of people that want to improve your body composition and build muscle, pull ups will help you with that specific function as well! These facts are true regardless of whether pull ups are a basic, fancy, flashy or boring exercise, so keep that in mind!

Conclusions: Do your pull ups!

As you can see, pull ups can benefit athletes and lifters alike.

Even if you just want to get bigger and stronger, pull ups are a functional exercise that will help you to reach that aim!

Have I convinced you yet on the functional merits of pull ups? I can only hope so !

Hopefully you take this post as just more ammunition to get to work on your pull ups sometime soon, preferably today!