Quick Fixes: Pull Up Weak Links and How To Fix Them

December 3, 2020

Weak links are the fastest way to fail your pull-ups.

“Weak links” are weak muscles or patterns that limit your overall performance. If even one of your muscles is too weak, you’ll not get your pull-ups.

Today we’ll give you everything you need to fix your pull-up in a few hundred words!

Weak Links: Stop Holding Yourself Back

Here’s an example: your lats and other back muscles can lift 120% of your bodyweight, but your biceps can only handle 90% of bodyweight.

The result? No pull-ups, because being strong everywhere else doesn’t get you through the whole rep. Everything else works fine, but this one muscle sucks – and fixing it might take you from 0 reps to 5, rapidly!

This is why fixing weak links is key. Working your weaknesses brings the fastest, most sustainable gains.

Common weak links for pull ups

The pull-up is a compound movement: it involves a lot of muscles. Because there are so many moving parts, there’s a lot to go wrong.

Let’s look at some of the most common…

GRAVITY FITNESS PULL UP BAR

Portable, versatile, home fitness

Highly versatile- suitable for a full range of exercises including pull ups, dips, leg raises, incline press ups and front and back levers
Extended height: 192cm
Compact position height: 120cm
3-year warranty against manufacturer defects
Carry bag included

ONLY £139.95 £109.95

Scap control

This is usually the reason you struggle at the bottom of a pull-up, or why you struggle to do multiple reps. The scap is crucial for a good pull-up.

Scap pull-ups are a great way to build strength at the bottom of the movement. These build strength in retracting your shoulders and staying tight between reps.
Wall slides just take your body, a wall, and a foam roller. They’re great for strengthening the under-trained stabilisers around the shoulder (like the serrati) and activating the scap.
Horizontal ring rows are a key exercise for gymnastic strength. They build up the biceps, as well as the rhomboids and lower traps. Great for building strength and pull-up posture!

Lats

The lats are one of the muscles we use pull-ups to develop. They’re the big prime mover that covers the middle portion of a good pull-up. Being weak here means being weak at pull-ups.

Slow Eccentric Pull Ups are great here. Lower yourself as slowly as possible and think about keeping your shoulders down and away from the ears.
Vertical Ring Rows are a great way to build lat strength. They’re similar to pull-ups but reduce the overall difficulty, allowing you to build strength and familiarity.

Biceps

They’re not just for the beach: strong biceps make up a big part of a good pull-up. They’re useful at the top and bottom of a pull-up, so don’t be afraid to get jacked.

Vertical rows and slow-eccentrics are useful again here, so try combining them with some bicep-specific training:

Chin Ups are like pull ups but more bicep-dominant. They tend to be a little easier and will strengthen your biceps faster due to the increased involvement.
Top-half pull ups are an unconventional method for building bicep strength. They’re the opposite of scap pull-ups and focus on the role of the elbow, building strength where it counts.

Core

The core is key for a good pull-up. It stabilises the midline and helps you transfer force through the upper body.

The hollow position for the core is a great training accessory, but it is also important when performing your pull ups.

Keep the position during all your pull-up and gymnastic variants to build greater strength in the mid-section.

Hollow holds are a great way to develop this strength when you’re not training pull-ups. Building isometric strength will carry over to your pull up and stop you coming undone in the core.