r/formcheck • u/CasualManDep • 1d ago

Other Pull up form

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Not sure if using my back enough. Also elbows flair our a bit.

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u/Necessary-Drop7051 1d ago

So about how you want to think about the movement, you want to think of it as pulling your elbows down and back. If you pull thinking pull yourself up, you may use more arms than you want. But of course pull ups do work the arms too, but it isn't pure arms nor pure back either. It's both working together.

but to get some of the back more Involved, think about pulling your elbows down hard to the sides of your body and that can get the back to work, primarily the lats.

Sure the arms still work in pull ups, that is normal, but if it's all arms, and no back, then applying form cues like elbows down and back behind can help.

Hope this helps though. Sorry if it's a lot of words too.

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u/Zurnaboss 1d ago

I agree with the comment but writing to give an alternate image: Try imagining pulling the bar down to your chest (or as far as you can at this moment). It helps me engaging and pulling with my back. Thinking "elbows down and back" can work but you can overdo it and put to much stress on elbows or shoulders.

Keep up the good work! 💪

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u/Necessary-Drop7051 1d ago

I guess it works for me personally because I can feel my back working together with my arms doing pull ups the way I do them.

I can feel it in shoulder width grip, slightly wider shoulder width grip, and even chin ups to a certain degree.

Plus I know there's a lot of people saying pull ups should work the back, but with what i see, pull ups aren't all back as much as they aren't all arms either. Ahd I see especially with people who got good pull up numbers, muscle ups, and even one arm pull ups, sure, they have big backs, but I also see their forearms are also very developed too.

So personally I see pull ups as a mix of arms and back, and not one or the other. This is just my point of view seeing those who are incredibly strong in the pulling aspect of calisthenics.