Women Doing Pull Ups

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/why-women-cant-do-pull-ups/

Well, that was entertaining.

So, a group of women did biceps and lats exercises for 3 months, and at the end of that time they'd decreased their bodyfat%, increased back strength, and for the most part still couldn't do a single pull up.

What went wrong?

Honestly, I don't know. I didn't conduct the study, and the link doesn't tell us specifically what they did, other than that it involved their lats and biceps but no pull ups. So, how can we improve on this? No idea, since there's no clear baseline to improve upon.

But, if you're a woman (or man, for that matter) working up to your first pull up, here's what I recommend:

Lat pull downs and rows. Do these for highish reps at least once a week, and lowish reps at least once a week. The first time you do a pull up, it's going to be about a 1RM, so get used to doing the movement with as much effort as you can (whilst keeping solid technique, of course).

I think I see 3 plates being pulled there. In case you're wondering,

on the heavy day I expect better from you. That's your warmup set.

Look closely at the colour of this dumbbell. See how it isn't pink?

I'm hoping you'll learn something right now.

Pull ups variations. These include, but are not limited to, scapular pull ups (hanging at the bottom of the pull up and just trying to squeeze your shoulders down, without bending your arms), partial pull ups (just doing the top part of the pull up or the bottom part, maybe alternate between the two every time you go to the gym), slow negatives (use a box or step to get up to the top position of the pull up, then very slowly lower yourself to the bottom position; aim for a longer descent rather than more reps), and assisted pull ups (using either a band, machine or partner to help you up). Just like lat pull downs, some of these should be done for more volume, while others should just be done as heavy as you can without form breaking down. The volume helps to ingrain the movement and teach you to keep keep tension on the muscles used (as well as building grip strength), while the heavier movements bring you closer to the amount of effort required for your first pull up.

Address any issues that may be preventing you from doing full pull ups. These may be postural issues, muscle imbalances, issues with your muscles firing properly, technique issues, equipment issues (a pull up on a bar is generally easier than a pull up from rings or on a tree, for example), mental issues or something else entirely. Sort yourself out.


HARDEN UP. The most common excuse given for why a woman can't do a pull up is that women have less muscle than men. Well guess what? Once upon a time, I had less muscle than the average woman, and I was regularly doing more pull ups than I could count on one hand. Lack of muscle mass isn't a good excuse to not do pull ups. In fact, the more you weigh, the harder pull ups become, so if you're a woman with a healthy bodyweight, I'm under the impression that you probably just need to try harder. This is especially true if you can do chin ups but can't do any pull ups. Refer back to the first point. The first pull up you do will probably be about a 1RM. And 1RM's require a tremendous amount of effort. So harden up and pull with everything you've got. If you can honestly say "I'm givin' it all I've got, Captain!" and you still can't grind out a single pull up, I'll be nicer to you from now on.

One last note. The linked article definitely does not excuse women from doing pull ups. If you don't want to do pull ups, you don't have to, but the research does not prove even for a second that women can't or shouldn't do pull ups. Of 17 women, 4 of them were able to do pull ups at the end. The rest just need more work to get there, and so do you.

PS.