Why are pull-ups so great for healthy aging and why do you want to master them? If you want to maintain your independence, reduce your risk of falls and injuries, decrease your risk of chronic disease, enhance your bone strength and feel really competent when it comes to managing your body, get yourself a pull-up bar and make a single strict pull up a non-negotiable in your life.
Today I’m talking about 7 reasons to conquer the pull-up bar.
7 reasons why a pull-up supports healthy aging
1. It is a functional movement. If we took away the ability to pull objects to ourselves or pull ourselves up off the ground, onto our bed, into or out of our car, we would be in a tough spot. The pull-up movement supports all these activities. Check out this post for why functional strength training matters.
Being able to do a pull-up is you saying “I can take care of my own body.”
2. Pull-ups improve grip strength. Once again this supports daily life. Whether it’s carrying groceries, holding your child’s hand, opening a jar, or holding on for dear life off the side of a cliff (you never know), grip strength is invaluable.
3. Pull-ups engage so much more than just our biceps and forearms. They work our shoulder muscles, of course the biggest muscles in our back as well as our core. If you don’t believe me, go do exercises that tire out your abdominal muscles and low back muscles and then see how many pull-ups you can do.
A strong core keeps our spine lined up and takes pressure off the discs in our spine. I can assure you nobody wants to endure the pain of a bulging or slipped disc.
4. Pull-ups are awesome for posture. In a world that is constantly pulling our chin, neck, and upper back forward, engaging muscles and activating under tension postural positions that do just the opposite is of great value.
Do you want to be able to do a pull-up but not sure where to start?
Through a helpful video and PDF, Dr. Matt walks you through a progression of movements to effectively train your body to do an unassisted pull-up in 6 weeks.
5. Pull-ups are also convenient. All you need is a bar or a beam to hang on to. You can do it at most parks, you can put a bar in your garage or spend $20 and put one in your doorway. Before I had multiple pull-up bars in my garage, I had one in the doorway that I would put up and take down.
6. Pull-ups build life confidence. Don’t believe me? Then I dare you to follow the pull-up progression program I put together at the link below and see if you don’t have a sense of accomplishment when you finally get your chin over the bar all by yourself.
I have had multiple patients over the years who after getting their first pull-up, tell me how they were moving, getting a new job, getting out of a toxic relationship, and they attributed the ability to do these things to overcoming the bar.
7. Pull-ups are a full range of motion, body weight movement. It is really challenging to hurt yourself doing a pull up. You can hurt yourself quite easily by throwing weights around, if you are not trained in how to properly use them.
Pulling yourself from the ground over a bar is very low risk, no matter how novice you are.
