Upper body wise, the pull up is one of the best exercises for practitioners of Parkour/Freerun. Not only is it exercising the muscles of the upper back and shoulders, which are used in a number of different techniques such as vaulting, cat leaps, laches, muscle-ups and handstands. It also is done with the practitioners own bodyweight, which makes it far more functional and effective. Many people who train in a gym, avoid pull-ups because they are deemed difficult to do. There are machines like the ‘Lat Pull Down’ that exercise the same muscles but at the end of the day, nothing is as good as a genuine pull-up using body weight as your resistance. That said, the Lat Pull Down is still a good machine to improve your strength but not everyone will have access to a gym and with the regular pull-up, finding suitable places to do them is fairly easy.
The difference between a pull-up and a chin-up involves hand placement. A pull-up means the palms of the hands are facing away from the body in an over-grasp grip. A chin-up is the opposite, with palms facing you in an under-grasp grip. The pull-up is the more difficult of the two to execute and with the palms away type positioning, is the most applicable to Parkour/Freerun (wall hops, climb ups, muscle ups, cat leaps etc).
Regular Pull-Up
The exercise should begin with a dead hang from a bar or beam with palms facing away from you, arms just over shoulder width apart. (pic one below). Notice the legs and feet are together with the legs being kept straight. The body is then pulled up so that the chin passes the bar/beam and the chest is brought as close to the beam as possible. Although shown on a higher beam (pic two) you still get an idea of the final position. The legs and feet remain straight and together. The body is then lowered to the dead hang start position and the exercise is repeated. Try to execute the whole exercise using controlled form. Avoid jerky movements, bringing your knees up for extra propulsion and coming down only half way. By doing so, you’ll only be cheating yourself.
Reps: Try to remember ‘quality over quantity’ as the key phrase here, as 5 repetitions done with correct and deliberate form, are worth more than doing 20 or more using incorrect form. If you can only do a few reps, no problem. Set yourself simple goals and you’ll find your strength improving naturally as you go. Eventually aim to do sets of 10, 20 or even 30 for a real challenge.
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Dynamic Pull-Up
Most Parkour/Freerun techniques (specifically for the legs), are explosive in some way. The upper body is no different, for example; a muscle-up or a climb-up requires an explosive movement from the upper back muscles to propel yourself up and over a wall or bar. This is where drilling Dynamic Pull-Ups can really help.
To train this movement, two bars/beams are required. If lucky, the pull-up bars in your gym will have the type of frame pictured below.
As with the regular pull-up the start position is dead hang under the bar/beam, legs straight and feet together. A pull-up is then performed as quickly and powerfully as possible to allow you to release from the first bar/beam and reach up and grab the second bar/beam. Once you have grasped the second beam, perform a pull up on it to take the chin over the bar/beam and chest as close to the bar/beam as possible. The arms then lower the body from the upper beam, release and catch the lower beam, return to the dead hang start position and repeat.
As far as possible the legs should remain together and straight, this will help training core stability strength, as well as to ensure that your back muscles are being worked properly.
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Reps: Ensure you can do normal pull-ups comfortably before moving onto this exercise. It is an advanced exercise to do, so start slow with 2 or 3 reps and build up. Doing 10 of these correctly and with proper form each time is impressive.
Safety: Keep an eye on the bars before and while performing this exercise. Doing so will prevent you from hitting the bars/beams on the way up or on the way down.
More About The Authour - Sean Lerwill
Sean is a Royal Marines Commando Physical Training Instructor (PTI) with numerous sports, exercise and fitness qualifications under his belt including; REPs (Register of Exercise Professionals) Advanced Instructor Level 3 (Fitness Manager and Personal Trainer), British Weight Lifting Association (BWLA) Coach, Kettle Bell Instructor, and SAQ (Speed Agility Quickness) diploma. He also has a BSc Honours degree in Molecular Genetics from King’s College London, and is a qualified teacher, with a Post Graduate Certificate in Education. His personal sporting background includes athletics (running), cross country, triathlons, football, rugby and martial arts. Sean’s personal website can be found at www.commandoconditioning,com Our intention is for the information here to be used as an open resource, so anyone wishing to use our material on their own websites may do so. All we request is that a courtesy email is sent to us first at parkour@urbanfreeflow.com and that a link back to Urban Freeflow is provided and a credit given to the author of any articles used.
Disclaimer
All of the information contained within these articles on the Urbanfreeflow.com website are provided for informational and educational purposes. This includes any videos, fitness programs, fitness workouts and general articles. In no event shall Urban Freeflow or any individual or company involved with the development of these articles be liable for special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages of any nature, including but not limited to personal injury, loss of anticipated profits or claims from third parties. If you are unsure about your fitness levels, please consult with a doctor before you carry out any exercises demonstrated here.
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i cant find bars like that :’(
na me neather
I got a bar in my garage and I do atleast 50 pull ups a day now, been doing them forever, and I can do a handstand forever
I got an Iron Gym. It works great but it doesn’t have double bars like that though :/
Just by two bars that attach to your door frame, put one a good few inches above the other
Thats what i done, works fine