Pull Ups: What Are Your Legs Doing?

For free programs, training courses, recipes, consultations, or to join the free community, visit https://www.kboges.com Unintentional and random leg movement during pull ups is very common. Intentional kipping can definitely be useful in certain contexts (like working on a muscle up), but when it’s unintentional and a compensation to accumulate reps beyond one’s strength capability, they can create all sorts of problems for measuring volume, controlling proximity to failure, and assessing progress. Kipping and lower body momentum unload weight from the pull up. Using it as a strategy to get more reps than you otherwise would is like stripping random amounts weight off a barbell when things get tough during a max rep test. It introduces unknown variation and imprecision into your sets. It’s makes it unclear how much you actually did, how close to failure you got with your original load, and how well you did compared to previous performances. The fix? Lock out the lower body! Specifically, keeping the hips extended. Keeping some quad tension if your legs are hanging straight below you or in the hollow position is also very useful. If you are short on room, bend your knees, extend your hips and get some external rotation in them to fully engage the glutes to prevent them from contributing. This will elevate your consistency. More consistency means you can better observe your training, learn more, manage recovery, control your intensity, and ultimately make better progress.