Do Pull ups Build Muscle?

Do pull ups build muscle?

Yes, pull ups build muscle!

While some people may believe that body weight pull ups may be an inferior exercise for muscle growth, the truth is that everyone can gain muscle and strength with pull ups.

If you don’t believe me, go Google some Olympic Male Gymnasts. These guys have phenomenal lat and arm development despite the fact that very few of them train with weights. Gymnasts do a huge volume of pullups and rope climbs, among other upper body pulling exercises and routine work.  Huge training volumes with these exercises account for their jacked upper bodies.

Do Pull ups Build Muscle, and if so, which ones?

Pull ups provide the most potent training effect for the lats and biceps. Other muscle groups involved in the pull up include the lower trapezius muscles, the rhomboid muscles, deltoids, external obliques, spinal erector muscles, and the small muscles of the forearm.

Do other types of pull ups build muscle too?

The chin up and the wide grip pull up are still excellent exercises for arm and back hypertrophy. The muscles involved are largely the same in all three exercises, however, the recruitment patterns differ.

The chin up works the bicep muscles a little harder while the wide grip pull up emphasizes the lats more.

My recommendation is to include all three variations, but focus on the regular pull up.

The pull up with overhand grip is an excellent lat and arm developer. Keeping your hands at shoulder width will also minimize stress on the shoulder joints while maximizing the range of motion .

What makes the Pull up Such an Excellent Exercise for Building Muscle?

The pull up is an excellent exercise for muscle growth because it works multiple upper body muscles at one time. It is simple to add weight, reps, or sets over time (training volume).

Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at one time. This makes them an excellent choice for training economy.

The pull up is also a closed kinetic chain exercise. Closed kinetic chain exercises are those that keep the hand(s) or foot (feet) planted and allow the body to move through space freely. Other closed kinetic chain exercises include the barbell squat, the push up, and the handstand push up.

Usually, closed kinetic chain exercises are very joint friendly because they distribute the joint load among multiple joints.

The pull up is a relatively low-joint-stress exercise. It is an excellent choice for most trainees interested in improving their size and strength without getting banged up.

Do Pull ups Build Muscle: Progressive Overload with the Pull up

Progressive overload is the most important factor in muscle growth for natural trainees. To get bigger, you have to add volume and tension to your exercises–we call this progressive overload. You can do this by adding a combination of weight on the bar or to your body, adding sets or reps, adding training days, or adding time under tension. Basically, you are increasing the challenge to give your body a new stimulus to adapt to by laying down new muscle tissue.

You can progressively overload the pull up in many different ways. You can add weight to your pull ups (or decrease the amount of assistance you use), add more reps, add more sets, or add more training days with the pull up.

All these methods involve progressive overload. By adding weight, reps, or sets (per session or per week), you are progressively making your pull up training more difficult.

Your body will have no choice but to add muscle to your lats, biceps, forearms, and upper back to meet the increased demands you are placing on it.

Many trainees wrongly believe that pull ups are only good for beginners. This is like saying the bodyweight squat is no longer appropriate for the advanced weightlifter who is capable of squatting 500 lb. The advanced trainee will have to progressively overload the bodyweight pull up. He or he can do this by adding weight. Aim to complete pull ups with 20 percent of your body weight and you are sure to see muscle growth.

Do Pull ups Build Muscle? Muscle Damage

Another proposed method of muscle hypertrophy (growth) is muscular damage. When you train hard, your muscles and connective tissue accrue microscopic tears that your body has to repair. During the repair process, your body super-compensates by laying down more muscle in order to prevent future damage to the muscle.

Long eccentric contractions and heavy negatives (lowering portions) can help to produce a lot of muscle damage.

You can emphasize the negative portion of your pull ups to maximize muscle damage.

Do Pull ups Build Muscle? Metabolic Stress

Metabolic stress is a third proposed mechanism of muscular hypertrophy.

When you train with weights, especially with short rest periods or higher rep ranges, metabolites accrue in the muscle tissue. The accumulation and then clearing of these metabolites in the muscle cause a growth response in the muscle.

You can increase the metabolic stress component of the pull up exercise by training it with short rest periods or for high repetition sets.

Do Pull ups Build Muscle? Rep Ranges

What rep ranges with the pull up are best for muscle mass? Muscle growth can occur using high reps (12+), medium reps (8-12), and low reps (1-8).

Muscle growth can and does occur with heavier weights/lower rep ranges. As long as volume (sets x reps x load) is equated to that of higher rep training, muscle growth is likely to be similar to traditional “bodybuilding” rep ranges with 8-12 reps per set.

While sets of 8 to 12 have been traditionally thought of as the most effective rep ranges for muscle growth, in reality there is nothing magical about this rep range. In reality, sets of 8-12 are just convenient for most trainees. Training equivalent volumes with heavier work (8 sets of 3, for example) often takes much longer and feels more taxing, while sets of 15+ can cause a lot of painful muscle damage.

Heavy Lifting

Heavy work (1-8 reps) is important with the pull up because heavy work allows you to recruit all your motor units, including some stubborn high threshold units that won’t be recruited if the weight or tension is lighter or not as challenging. Including heavier sets of your pull ups (heavy weighted pull ups) will help you build strength and recruit your fast twitch muscle fibers. Additionally, including some heavier work with your pull ups will allow you to approach your traditional muscle building rep ranges (sets of 8-12) with more intensity, making that rep range more beneficial and effective for muscle growth.

Light and Not-so-Easy

Light work (15+ reps) can help build muscle endurance, and as long as sets are taken to failure, will likely recruit all your muscle fibers (not just your slow twitch fibers) and cause just as much muscle growth as heavier or lighter work. This rep range is very easy on the joints and connective tissue. Doing some sets of pull ups in this rep range can help you maximize muscle damage and metabolic stress, as well as improve your lactate clearing ability.

Like I mentioned earlier, it is relatively easy for most trainees to accumulate training volume with sets of 8-12 without spending forever in the gym or crippling levels of soreness.

The programs I have created for you below help you accumulate work in all three rep ranges, which is likely your best bet for optimal muscle growth.

Do Pull ups Build Muscle? Training Plans

Follow these simple pull up progressions to gain muscle in your upper body. Add these programs on to a solid full body program and you will be well on your way to gains.

Beginner (You can do less than 6 pull ups): A simple pull up routine that incorporates the exercise 2-4 times per week will be plenty of stimulus for you to gain size and strength in your upper body.

Tuesday: Pull up 5 x 2-3

Thursday: Chin up 6 x 3

Saturday: Band Assisted Wide Grip Pull up with 3 second negative 3 x 8-10 reps

Intermediate (You can do 6-10 pull ups)

Tuesday: Pull up 5 x 4 reps

Thursday: Chin up 6 x 4

Saturday: Band Assisted Wide Grip Pull up with 3 second negative 3 x 8-12 reps

Advanced/Super-Advanced (10/20 + Pull ups in a Single Set) :

Accumulation Phase (4-8 Weeks)

Tuesday: Pull ups 4 x 8

Thursday: Chin up 4 x 10

Saturday: Wide Grip Pull up 3 x 8

Intensification Phase (4-8 Weeks)

Tuesday: Weighted Pull ups 5 x 4

Thursday: Weighted Chin ups 5 x 5 reps

Saturday: Weighted Wide Grip Pull up 4 x 3