pull-ups

How To Build Up Strength To Do Pull-Ups With Hugo & Rodzilla

In today’s natural bodybuilding video blog, I cover with my good friend Rodzilla how to build up strength to do pull-ups.

How To Build Up Strength To Do Pull-Ups With Hugo & Rodzilla

A lot of people stay away from pull-ups as they cannot do them at the beginning. In fact, I remember when I was an overwight little boy and at physical education class the coach would stick me at the pull-up bar and I would just hang there clueless as there was no way I could pull myself up.

There are many ways however that you can train yourself in order to have the strength to do the pull-ups.

If You Are Just Getting Started With Bodybuilding Training
In this case, I suggest starting out with the pull-down machine. The pull-down machine simulates the pull-up movement. It is not as effective of course since with the pull-up you are moving your body through space. Therefore, you need to activate many more muscle fibers during the pull-up than you need to with the pull-downs. I suggest doing:

Wide Grip Pull-downs
Close Reverse Grip Pull-downs
Neutral Grip Pull-downs

Spend 6 months working with the pull-down machine in order to learn how to activate your back muscles and grow strength in this area.

What To Do After 6 Months Of Doing Pull-Downs?
At this point you should be able to do at least 1 pull-up and thus, you can graduate to the smith machine. You will set the smith machine bar at the highest level and then you will use your feet in order to self spot yourself once you cannot perform any more pull-up repetitions on your own. In this manner, you will be able to do as many pull-ups as you want and you will be able to self-regulate how much assistance to give yourself.

What About The Chin Assist (Or Gravitron) Machine?
If the gym has this machine, instead of starting with the pull-down I would start with this machine instead as there is nothing better than training the body to move through space from the beginning. The way that this machine works is that you can select the amount of weight that will assist you on the way up. As you get stronger, you will use less weight to perform your repetitions. This is the best way to learn how to do pull-ups.

Conclusion
Be patient and consistent. If you persevere, your pull-up strength will grow and your back muscles as well. In my opinion, pull-ups are the king of back exercises. Learn how to do these and a wide, thick and powerful back will be yours in no time.

I hope that you found this video blog useful.

Until next time, take care and train hard!

Filed Under: Beginning Bodybuilding (Beginners Start Here), Bodybuilding Training, Bodybuilding Videos, Natural Bodybuilding Q&A, Teen Bodybuilding · Tagged: build up strength, Hugo Rivera, natural bodybuilding faq, pull-ups, rodzilla

Natural Bodybuilding FAQ: Are Bodyweight Exercises Good For Muscle Mass Gains?

by Hugo Rivera · Leave a Comment

Today I want to share with you a video blog on whether bodyweight exercises are good natural bodybuilding choices for gaining muscle mass.

[Note: For more videos, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel by either clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button on the video or by visiting my YouTube Channel here and clicking subscribe: www.youtube.com/hugoriverafitness]

Natural Bodybuilding FAQ: Are Bodyweight Exercises Good For Muscle Mass Gains?

Are Bodyweight Exercises Good For Muscle Mass Gains?
Yes. Bodyweight exercises are great for gaining muscle mass. Since you have to carry your own bodyweigh through space you activate more muscle fibers and thus, that activates more muscle fibers than doing the exercise in a machine which constricts you to a 2-dimensional universe where not nearly the amount of muscle fibers is needed in order to move the resistance.

How to Make Bodyweight Exercises More Effective and Challenging
You can do this by slowing down the motion and using perfect form! So for example, take 4 seconds to go down, hold yourself as you contract the muscles at the bottom of the movement, go back up taking 2-3 seconds and then taking a full 1 second contraction at the top of the movement.

Remember that Time Under Tension is one of the key variables for gaining muscle mass. At the beginning it may be hard for you to feel your muscle contractions but as the brain learns how to activate your muscle fibers you will feel your contractions that much better.

What Are Good Natural Bodybuilding Bodyweight Exercises?
Bodyweight exercises are an awesome way to train at home when you have no equipment available. Below are a list of exercises that you can do at home:

Chest: various push-ups
Back: various pull-ups (do need a pull-up bar for this)
Shoulders: Hand stand press
Biceps: close grip chins
Triceps: close grip push ups, triceps dips
Quads: squats (press with ball of the foot), various lunges (press with ball of the foot), sissy squats
Hamstrings: squats (press with ball of the foot), various lunges (press with ball of the foot), sissy squats
Calves: standing two-legged calf raises, one legged calf raises
Abs: various forms of crunches and leg raises

Advice For Beginners
Just do 1 set of each of these exercises 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday for example). After 3 weeks you can go up to 2 sets. By week 6, you can increase again your sets to 3.

As you get more advanced, depending on what your goals are, you can opt to split your exercises by having an upper body day and a lower body day. At this time you can add more sets as well (4-5 per exercise doing between 10-15 reps and resting 40 sec to 1 min in between sets).

If you have found this knowledge useful you may want to check out the MI-40 program, which is jam packed with muscle building information. And if you choose to get it, I will also give you my Body Re-Engineering program (with over 21 weeks worth of workouts) for FR E E. For details and review of the MI-40 program click here.