6 Pull-Up Bar Exercises for Total Body Workout

Soniya
Pull-up bar exercises help in strengthening your arms and back. (Image via Unsplash / Lawrence Crayton)
Pull-up bar exercises help in strengthening your arms and back. (Image via Unsplash / Lawrence Crayton)

Pull-up bars can be used for quick full-body workouts. That's why they are on top of every fitness enthusiast's list of workout equipment. Whether you want to tone your arms or strengthen your chest, a pull-up bar can help you increase your back and arm strength. As they are inexpensive and easy to install, pull-up bars are good investments for health-conscious people who live busy lives.

If you want to get ripped arms quickly, here are some of the powerful exercises to help you achieve your goal. They are among the best bodyweight exercises to improve general strength, physical fitness, and muscle growth.


Effective Pull-up Bar Exercises for a Full Body Workout

Pull-ups work the upper body, which can help you build muscle mass and strength. They allow you to exercise the arms, back, shoulders, core, and muscles in the upper body. In addition, pull-ups make you sweat more than many other exercises do.

1. Chin-Up

Chin-ups are the ideal exercise for anyone who owns a pull-up bar. They tone your back and biceps and can be performed in many variations to create a full-body workout.

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To do chin-ups:

  • Hold the bar firmly and straighten your elbows so that your palms face you.
  • Tighten your body, keep your chest up, and keep your shoulders behind.
  • Pull yourself up toward the bar until you touch it with your chest.
  • To increase the intensity of this exercise, try hanging from the bar for longer or slowing down the movement when you pull yourself upward.

2. L-Sit Pull Ups

This exercise is excellent for the core and can be done with wall-mounted and door pull-up bars. Although it’s a floor exercise, its primary aim is to strengthen your core.

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Here's how to practice L-sit pull-ups:

  • Grasp the pull-up bar tightly with both hands.
  • Keep your legs parallel to the floor, and raise both legs off the ground.
  • Refrain from bringing your legs down.
  • If you need to, raise them higher.
  • Hold this position for a few seconds and then relax.

3. Hanging Knee Raises

Hanging knee raises are a good exercise for strengthening your core and getting you ready for more challenging exercises, like hanging leg raises and L-sits.

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Here's how you do hanging knee raises:

  • Grip a pull-up bar with your hands shoulder-width apart, palms facing away from you, and hang at arm’s length.
  • Lift your feet off the ground and straighten your legs as much as possible.
  • The bar should be high enough that it doesn’t touch your toes when they’re pointed straight down.
  • Keep your shoulders back and down while tightening the rest of your body into a straight line.
  • Tuck your knees up toward your chest, then lower them back down again.
  • If you have a low bar or a doorway bar, you can bend your knees to keep them from hitting the floor.

4. Hanging Leg Raises

For some more core strengthening, try hanging leg raises. This exercise works on your control and challenges your grip.

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To do this exercise:

  • Grab onto a pull-up bar with your palms facing away from you and your shoulders pulled back and down.
  • Lift your legs straight up in the air until they are parallel to the floor.
  • Hold for a second, then lower down slowly. To make it harder, bring your toes all the way up to the bar.
  • Focus on keeping your knees straight and don't use too much momentum!

5. Around the World

The around-the-world pull-up is an advanced variation of the classic pull-up. It can help you build up to a one-arm pull-up, or it can simply increase the difficulty of your workouts.

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To do this move:

  • With your hands outside shoulder width, hang freely from an overhead bar as you would while doing a pull-up.
  • Once you are in position, contract your lats to go in a counter-clockwise motion, pulling yourself partway up to the right side as you move back toward the center of the bar.
  • Your chin should meet the bar at the apex of the move.
  • Repeat the motion until you are back at your starting position, with arms extended straight in front of you.

6. Toes Above Bar

When you kip, your core, lats, and hip flexors are in motion. Toes-to-bar is a full-body gymnastics movement that puts those muscles to the test.

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To do the toes above bar exercise:

  • Hang from a chin-up bar with an overhand grip that is slightly wider than shoulder width.
  • Bring your knees up so that the calves are perpendicular to the floor and the thighs parallel to it.
  • Pull your legs up as you breathe out until you almost touch your shins with the bar above you.
  • Bring your legs down slowly until you return to the starting position.

Takeaway

Working out with a pull-up bar will help you get strong and show off your total body strength. It can be used in a number of ways to make workouts interesting and to target different muscle groups. Plus, pull-ups are easy to do, require minimal equipment, and can be done almost anywhere.

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