American Parkour - Parkour and Freerunning

The Pull-Up is one of the most functional exercises around, combining strength, power and coordination in a movement that most untrained individuals struggle to complete. For a Traceur, however, the skills gained from the pull-up are of utmost importance.

1.) Hang from the bar, arms at full extension. Hands can be facing towards or away from you. Mix it up to balance out muscular development, but spend more time on the grip that is weakest.

2.) Tilt your head back and pick a spot on the ceiling. Pay attention to shortening this line through the range of motion.

3.) Start the pull by engaging your upper back muscles, opening your chest and bringing your shoulder-blades closer together.

4.) Rather than thinking of bending your arms, imagine pushing your elbows towards the ground, this keeps your back engaged.

5.) Pull the bar to your chest, elbows tucked into your body. This ensures that you recruit the maximum amount of available muscles, rather than just your biceps.

6.) Lower completely to full extension. Repeat. For workouts that involve exercises for time, the kipping pull-up helps maximize power output over a given time frame. It also improves full body coordination in a wholly functional way.

Users' Comments

Display 46 of 46 comments

1. 12-21-2006 11:39

i have seen all this posts and i think they are of great help to me, i cant do most of them yet , but im decided to make them, thanks and keep the good work.

tron

2. 01-06-2007 22:07

hehe im going to try a lot of these i want to start so...it's going to be tough but i think eventually ill get it

Teh_pwnage

3. 03-09-2007 10:52

this is quite hard..

Dr4k3

4. 03-20-2007 09:03

I feel comfortable with this exersise while I do it with my hands facing towards me but it gets hard when I turn them around.

LooptroopRocker

5. 04-11-2007 19:46

doing these with your palms facing you may be a bit easier, but as soon as you can do them with palms facing away, you should do the majority like this. They are much more applicable to real activities (pulling up a wall).

devoq81

6. 06-02-2007 18:59

instead of dong them with 2 hands on the bar can u do it with one hand on the bar and one on your wrist

ShadyLimited313

7. 07-17-2007 16:46

I don't have a place to do these at my house. Anyone know of a good substitute?

Maddragon

8. 07-17-2007 16:47

I don't have a place to do these at my house. Anyone know of a good substitute?

Maddragon

9. 07-26-2007 16:39

godsmack1985

10. 09-20-2007 07:00

if you don't have a bar to grab, try doing them on a smooth wall so that your body slides up and down. it will be harder but will also develop the hands and grip. remember as you train of the functional end result and tailor your exercises to better achieve that result. turn your head to keep your face off the wall, but do half of your set facing left and half facing right. this will prevent tension in the neck from over developing one side of your trapezius muscles and will help you to avoid favoring one side as you execute the real thing.

hucfinn

11. 11-24-2007 11:05

I plan to start this part of the exercise as soon as i find a place to do it. :-)

john0692

12. 12-03-2007 09:03

im just starting and really looking forward to thish, but to answer your question, a place that just came to mind is a playground, seeing as i live right by one... one question though: is it o.k. to bend your legs to keep them from hitting the ground?hope my post is helpful :grin

JSB777

13. 01-31-2008 10:46

yeah doing them with plams towards you is a TON easier than with palms away, but once you can do about 5 or 10 with palms away, stick with that for it helps the most with pulling yourself up walls which is basically what you HAVE to be able to do

DCKID725

14. 02-03-2008 05:27

now i might be able to do 1. :grin

archerkid932

15. 02-05-2008 16:16

does anyone know where i can do this??like in my house or something, i dont want to go to a playground.. :upset

ailina

16. 02-18-2008 17:15

they sell pull up bars that can go in house doorways for about $10-$20 at alot of fitness places. that is what i have.

aplauche

17. 03-20-2008 10:19

we have a pull up bar in the locker room of the gym at the highschool. and everytime i walk under it i have to do 20 of them w/ my hands facing away from me.
and i walk under it at least 4 times everyday
within 45 minutes

sirfoxalot

18. 04-05-2008 12:42

is there an alternative that you can use if you don't have some thing on hand to do the pull ups on and can't get something

Gavriel

19. 04-06-2008 19:10

yeah, a schoolyard is a perfect place to do a lot of exercises especially on the playground theres bars and complicated architect perfect to practice balancing and climbing, as well as the monkey bars for pullups

PunkRock1337

20. 04-12-2008 06:17

I can't do even one with palms away :cry

deviance

21. 04-18-2008 18:22

I can only do around five at a time with my hands facing away from me, and ten at a time with my hands facing towards me. But I have a pull-up bar in my house, so I'm working on it :grin

kswiss

22. 04-20-2008 12:10

yep this is defintly a good exercise

BeautifulDisaster

23. 05-01-2008 19:33

i can do 20 facing away :D
and none in :S wats up with that?

Falcon_wind

24. 05-27-2008 14:35

cuz its your brachiadolias muscle when your hands are facing inward. at least thats what i think its called...
anywayy point is the muscles you use when your hands face away are stronger than the ones you use facing in.

an example would be your legs versus arms.

your legs are stronger than your arms simply because.

i can do 15+ of each so i figure im decent

Dougland

25. 05-28-2008 15:18

What's an alternative exercise besides pullups??

May Gun

26. 06-04-2008 14:46

The bars at the local elementry school is to small for me to do pull-ups on and I only have gym on Monday and Tuesdays so my only alternative is to do pull-ups on trees.

Moran

27. 06-10-2008 04:23

I weigh 150 lbs. and I'm 6'2". I can't even do one!!! I make it to my chin, but that's it. I can do plenty with palms away, but it doesn't work the same muscles. I need practice!!!

Stoic1209

28. 06-16-2008 20:12

If you are really struggling to start pull ups. Go somewhere where you can stand and hold the bar. Jump up and pull yourself to the top... easy. Now lower yourself as slow as possible do 10-15 to start. Its good to do these once in a while even if your good. In that case do 30-50.

jordang01

29. 06-22-2008 00:35

im 14 and can only do 5. is that considered weak?

Yotimbob

30. 06-22-2008 20:50

everyone starts out somewhere so its fine if you can't do as much as other when I started I could barely do 10 :cry

but with practice I've gotten much better and can do them for a good 30 minutes of nonstop pull-ups.

So don't worry with practice you'll get a lot better.

BboyRain

31. 07-20-2008 08:39

wow i never knew how much in shape i am lol i can do all of thies and more lol i should be parkouring in no time thx peeps for the training

the green monster

32. 09-08-2008 20:22

falcon_wind, that is very unusual that you can do 20 with hands facing away but none with palms facing you...it might be biceps & brachialis strength.

btw, 20 with hands facing away is very respectable, and for functional movement it's all you need.

Waninko

33. 09-12-2008 19:47

Whats the progress of the whole exercise program when shold i see results because i know that i will feel them but how do u know if its working

pac339

34. 09-14-2008 08:49

just trust that it is working

if you are doing it right, there is no way that it will not make you stronger.

Silvan67

35. 11-13-2008 06:26

ha i dont haft to go to park for pull up bar bpps i have a pull but i cant now flu and strept thbecuse i have the :cry

fatyfat77

36. 11-21-2008 11:21

kwlio

curtis da free runner

37. 11-22-2008 10:50

I CANT EVEN DO ONE PULL UP LOL

Traceurgent14

38. 11-22-2008 23:17

i can do about seven, is this enough

Urban freeflower

39. 11-25-2008 17:12

Well when you have your palms facing TOWARDS you isn't it called a chin-up? :zzz

Wall2Wall

40. 12-02-2008 15:09

About buying a pull up bar that you can put in any doorway, is there any noticeable difference from using any old bar or that perfect pull up

That_Tall_Guy

41. 01-21-2009 16:24

i'm really double-jointed, and for some reason when i try to do a pull-up with my palms facing in, my shoulders stretch out of place temporarily and i cant go any higher...it's not dislocating or anything so i'm not too worried...but any suggestions?

JoshHauf27

42. 02-17-2009 15:49

I use a nearby elementary school's playground for my training needs, after school of course :P

blackoracle16

43. 04-29-2009 23:39

i can do 5 facing my palms away.

indiantraceur

44. 08-19-2009 13:44

Aw i've been doing this the wrong way. :sigh