Pain in the Pull up

Do you have pain in the pull up? Do your shoulders, elbows or lower back ache after you do them? If so, this article is for you! I discuss seven issues that could be causing your pain, plus quick fixes for each.

Address the issues causing your pain, and you will be back to pain-free pull ups in no time. In fact, addressing your issues will probably make you stronger at pull ups, and more resilient to re-injury!

What’s Causing your Pain in the Pull up?

1. Pain in the Pull up: Pushing past your Body’s Limits

Strength training is one of the safest sports you can do. Still, pushing the envelope can stress out your body.

Believe it or not, your body is constantly repairing the damage you accrue in your workouts. After intense training, your joints, tendons and ligaments must go through a repair process. In “eustress,” your body can recover and adapt to the stress. During “distress,” your body can’t and will eventually face impaired performance or injury.

In distress, your tendons, joints and ligaments are prone to a little injury or damage. This can result as joint pain or injury, ligaments sprains/strains, tendonitis and tendon tears.

If you have recently ramped up your program and are becoming injury prone, you may need to step off the gas a little bit.

The Fix:

Assess your current training volume, frequency and intensity. If you are in a state of injury, decrease your training volume and intensity to give your body a chance to heal.

If you are used to lifting heavy weights, decrease the weight and work in higher rep ranges to give your body a break.

Bump up your training volume or intensity slowly only once you start feeling better, and pay attention to any nagging pain. You might want to get checked out by an MD or physical therapist if you can’t shake your pain.

2. Pain in the Pull up: You are Overweight

Extra weight puts more stress on tendons and joints. If you are overweight, you also likely have higher levels of inflammation. This systemic inflammation can wreak havoc on otherwise healthy joints and tendons.

This may explain why overweight people have more arthritis in non weight-bearing joints like the fingers and hands.

The Fix: 

Slowly and steadily address your weight problem. Enlist a trainer, nutritionist/RD or other medical professional.

Aim to eat about 80 percent whole, unprocessed, nutrient rich foods first and consume 8-10 glasses of water per day.

Eating mostly whole foods–fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds–is best. This type of diet can help reduce systemic inflammation, which will probably help you reduce  your pain.

Most importantly, calculate your calorie needs for weight loss. About 10-12X body weight is a good place to start for weight loss. You might need to eat a bit more than that if you are very active or very lean. The closer you are to your ideal body composition, the more conservative you should be with your weight loss to prevent muscle loss. Leaner people should set their calories at about 13 x body weight and progress from there.

Protein: Make sure to consume about .8-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight to prevent muscle tissue wasting.

3. Pain in the Pull up: Poor Posture

         

Poor posture versus better posture

Poor posture–caused by too much time at a computer, chronic muscle tightness or too much bench press– can all affect your posture.

Not only do your shoulders slump forward, but your head sits forward and your neck seems to slope forward as well. This posture can lead to trap tightness, tightness in the neck, shoulder pain, neck pain, more stress on the cervical spine, and poor overhead mobility.

Your poor posture can result in pain when you put your arms overhead and even more when you try to hang from a pull up bar and perform the exercise.

Take a picture of yourself facing forwards and sideways. If you notice forward sloping shoulders or a forward neck position, your posture could probably use some work.

The Fix: 

Start rowing more and try this neck retraction exercise.

Do more face pulls and rear delt flies to strengthen the back of the shoulder girdle and correct your muscular imbalances.

Start stretching your pecs and shoulders every day.

4. Pain in the Pull up: Poor Overhead Mobility

      

Poor Overhead Mobility versus better overhead mobility

If you have poor posture, you probably also have a hard time getting your arms overhead. This is likely due to muscular tightness in your lats, pecs, and triceps.

The Fix:

Use stretching and active mobility drills. Make sure to perform the pectoral stretches shown above, as well as stretches for the lats and triceps. You will need a band for the ones I show in the video. If you are able to hang without pain, go ahead and do it! Vertical hanging is a great way to stretch out your lats and improve your overhead positions.

Use the Pretzel Stretch to promote rotation in your T-spine (thoracic spine).

The reach, roll and raise is a great active mobility drill for getting your arms overhead into a better position. It can help improve your overhead mobility so you can move properly in your pull ups.

5. Pain in the Pull up: Poor Overhead Stability

Coupled with poor overhead mobility, you may have poor overhead stability. Poor overhead stability means you are unable to use good shoulder mechanics in the overhead position–and can lead to shoulder pain or injury.

How do you know if you have poor overhead stability? Do you struggle maintaining tightness through your upper back through overhead upper body exercises? Do your weights shake overhead or just feel very unsteady? If so, your overhead stability could probably use some work.

The combination of poor mobility and stability can make you more likely to experience shoulder pain and impingement. Normal, proper shoulder mechanics allows for space between the Acromium and the rotator cuff tendons. If you lack overhead mobility or stability, your overhead movements will rely on improper shoulder mechanics and will make impingement between your Acromium and Rotator Cuff more likely. This impingement can lead to premature fraying and degeneration of the rotator cuff tendons.

The Fix:

Once you have addressed your overhead mobility it is time to start addressing and improving your overhead stability. Good exercises include Kettlebell Single Arm Overhead Presses, one arm waiters walks, and handstand walks.

With the Kettlebell Single Arm Overhead Press, your goal is to work each side at a time. You want to keep your shoulder packed back and down while you press overhead, using your upper back muscles to maintain this position. Apply this same technique to the pull up to make sure your upper back is helping to enhance your stability.

You can also apply this same concept to the Overhead Kettlebell Walk. This exercise incorporates a single arm overhead press and then a static hold to keep the bell overhead. You want to keep tension through your upper back here and complete equal sets on the left and right sides of your body.

These exercises should improve your overhead stability and teach you how to use your upper back to protect and stabilize your shoulders in the pull up–helping you get back to pain-free pull ups.

6. Pain in the Pull up: Loading the Elbows First

If you are performing your pull ups by bending your elbows first, you are loading your elbow joints first. This can cause pain in the elbow joints. You should always initiate the pull up by pulling your shoulders back and down–activating your upper back and lats.

The Fix:

Always think about pulling the shoulders back first and then bending the elbows.

If you are experiencing elbow pain, you might need to step back to a lower load alternative like banded pull ups with proper form while your elbows heal up.

7. Pain in the Pull up: Poor Core Bracing

Pull ups are an excellent exercise for lower back pain as they decompress the spine (read this if you need more convincing), but you might still have back pain if you are not doing them correctly.

You want to use a neutral spinal position in the pull up. The neutral posture is the safest posture for lifting and weight training.

The Fix: 

Keep your abs and glutes tight during pull ups. This will help you keep your back in a safer position.

You should notice that your back pain decreases substantially if you use this good posture during your pull ups.

Pain in the Pull up: Putting it Together

These seven issues can cause pain in the pull up. Fortunately, you can address every one of these factors to help get out of pain and get back to making progress with your pull ups.

If you notice you have one of these issues but do not have pain, fix the issue now, before it limits your progress later.

An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. If you correct the movement patterns or factors associated with injury and dysfunction, you will be on your way to pain-free pull ups for years to come. Cheers!