Wisdom of the Week - 'How To Do A Strict Pull-up'
Hey everybody! Aimee here with VoyEdge RX to talk about the importance of developing the strict pull-up.
You probably don't speak Latin, but here's a diagram of all the muscles involved in a pull-up.
Okay. Let’s be honest. We all know that the kipping pull-up is one of the first movements that people new to CrossFit want to learn. For those of you who don’t know, the kipping pull-up is a gymnastics movement using hip momentum to help propel your chin over the bar.
While it makes high volume pull-ups much easier and quicker to attain, it is not something that should be attempted before being able to string together at least a handful of strict pull-ups. Kipping pull-ups have a lot of benefits, but we will save that for another day! I’m here today to stress why strict HAS to come before kipping.
First things first: The strict pull-up is a movement that develops pulling strength, shoulder stability, and primary and stabilizer muscles like the traps, lats, delts, rhomboids, pecs, biceps, triceps, obliques, and more. That’s A LOT of muscles working for a perceivably “simple” exercise.
So, why work strict before kipping? One of the main reasons is for safety purposes. The kipping pull-up puts stress on the shoulders and elbows, and if the body isn’t prepared for that stress, injuries will occur. The strict pull-up strengthens the muscles surrounding the shoulders and elbows to save them from strain and tension.
In CrossFit we learn to perform functional movements. We squat so we can sit down and stand up from our work chairs or from the toilet on a daily basis without help. We deadlift so we can safely pick up that that pen that we dropped or our bag off the floor on our way out the door. The strict pull-up is no different. If I fall and break my leg, how am I going get myself up? By pulling up. How do I get out of the pool after swimming? By pulling up. How do I get over that wall during the Tough Mudder? By pulling up.
When it comes to your fitness, you can’t take short cuts. More advanced movements including kipping pull-ups will come, I promise, but you need to pay your dues first and build that foundational strength through strict work. Try this out in small sets and build your base. If you are not physically able to do this yet, don’t worry!! Our next few videos will focus on appropriate scaling to safely and successfully build pulling strength towards this movement.
So stay tuned and we will see you next week! If you have anymore questions, feel free to shoot me an email via the button below!