Beast Life: Pull Ups/Lat Pulls

The Pull Up is the best back exercise. It hits your entire back and requires no equipment. Unfortunately, there are a lot of men who are either too weak or too fat to pull up their own body weight. While this exercise used to be a staple of basic physical fitness, taught in every P.E. class across the nation, it has now become forgotten. So for those poor souls who aren’t there yet, I’m going to also talk about Lat Pulls.
To do a pull up, grab a bar that hangs above your head and is parallel to the ground. Shoulder width is fine, but I prefer wide grip for extra lat work. Now from a dead hang, with your legs slightly bent to reduce swing, pull up to at least a point where you can see above the bar. Some folks will say the standard is below your chin. Do what makes you happy. Now lower yourself to either a dead hang or at least elbows to ear level. Do these to failure. If you get to a point where you’re doing more than 20, grab a chain belt and start hanging weights from your waist. Start with 5lbs and work your way up.
Now if you can’t do a single pull up, Lat Pulls are a very good substitute. However, before you sit down at a station, I want you to go to the pull up bar and make attempts. From a dead hang, pull up as hard as you can. Drop to a dead hang and repeat. Do 3 sets of 5 before you go to the lat pull. These Dead Hang attempts will go a long way toward increasing your strength for pull ups.
At the lat pull station, select a knee pads height that will allow you to sit comfortably while still locking your lower body down. Reach up and grab the lat pull bar, which is usually shaped like a short bow. Shoulder width is fine, but I prefer wide grip. Pull down to your chest, keeping your lower back tense to prevent you from “bending” the weight down with your back. Let it return to about 90% extension, or elbows to ear level. Aim for 3 sets of 10.
Once you get to a point where you can do pull ups, make pull-ups your back routine starter, and build from there. Add lat pulls if you want, but pull ups are just plain superior.