Being able to pull your body weight from a dead hang to above chin level is a good marker of upper body strength. This movement requires adequate strength and coordination of your lats, upper back, rear shoulders, biceps, and abdominals. Because of the involvement of multiple muscles in this movement, the benefits of pullups for your physique are many.
Mechanics
Before we dive into the benefits of pullups, it’s important to discuss the mechanics. If you are unable to do one pullup, check out this guide.
If you can do a pullup, range of motion is key. Going all the way down to almost a full lockout and then getting your chin fully above the bar will unlock all of the benefits of this exercise. Since the movement uses so many muscles, going through a full range of motion will strengthen and grow all of the muscles most effectively.
Your grip can determine which muscles the movement will emphasize. A supinated grip, with palms facing towards you, commonly referred to as a chinup, will recruit more of the biceps than the pronated grip (or palms facing away). Despite popular belief, a narrower grip will focus more on the biceps and latissimus dorsi (or lats), while a wider grip will recruit more of the inner-back muscles.
No one grip or hand placement is “better” than the other. Whatever muscles you want to emphasize and your grip comfort should determine which technique you choose.
Also, you should avoid “kipping” (kicking your legs to create momentum to complete a pullup). This movement is a shortcut and has no benefit to building the targeted muscles. In fact, it can de-emphasize some of the muscles needed for a strict pullup, which will sabotage the benefits to your physique.
Physique benefits
The biggest obvious benefit of pullups is developing your lats to create the masculine V-shape in your upper body. Well developed lats and shoulders are the main components of this aesthetic shape (in addition to a trim waistline).
Since pull ups also work the rhomboid muscles (between the shoulder blades), being proficient at this exercise will create a thicker look to your back. This thickness and muscle definition is very apparent with your shirt off, and it adds more dimension to your frame when wearing clothes.
Most people have poor posture due to the entrapments of the modern world, with shoulders slumped forward and a rounded upper back. We’re all on our screens way too much! This type of posture does not naturally inspire the confidence of others.
Pullups develop the muscles to fix these posture issues, so you can more easily stand straight and tall with your shoulders back. This posture improvement will make you look like a man who can accomplish something.
If you can do 10+ pullups, the combination of stronger lats and back muscles, more stable abs, and a low enough body weight to execute this amount of reps will almost guarantee you the ideal V-shaped upper body and improved posture. It will be hard not to look good with your shirt off if you can reach this standard.
Pull up variations
We already discussed the different grip and hand positions, and there are other ways to mix up this exercise.
If you can’t quite do one pull up, you can do partial pullups or negatives (starting at the top and slowly lowering yourself down) or bodyweight rows. Progressing on the lat pulldown machine can help if you’re building up to doing one pull up.
If you can do more than 15 pullups, adding more challenging variations is a fun way to mix up your routine. Weighted pullups are most common way to increase difficulty. You can keep adding weight to progressively overload this exercise and to continually increase the strength and aesthetic gains.
Archer pullups are another more difficult variation. You can also try pulling all the way until the bar touches your chest (requires more power from the lats). If you’re very strong with pullups and can execute bar-to-chest pullups, you work up to muscle ups. These require even more body coordination and core strength and is one of the most satisfying movements to execute.
Whatever your workout routine, and the modern gentleman should have one, the benefits of pullups make this exercise a basic requirement of any complete regimen.