On the horizontal bar? Any young, confident guy, or middle-aged man, dreams of beautiful and sculpted pectoral muscles. For many, pumping up the pectoral muscles turns into torture, because the time and effort spent do not give the expected result, but only tire them physically and mentally.
How to pump up the pectoral muscles on the horizontal bar? There are several simple exercises. There are many ways to quickly and effectively pump up using expensive exercise equipment. Many people naively assume that there is no more effective way to pump up the pectoral muscles than long daily exercises using special programs. In fact, it is enough to have only the most ordinary horizontal bar and ordinary dumbbells. Cheap and effective. The horizontal bar will help any athlete comprehensively pump up all the muscles that are located above the waist, and dumbbells will emphasize their relief. The simulator pumps up only certain muscles to the detriment of other groups; with the help of a horizontal bar, on the contrary, the maximum number of muscles is tensed. Many novice athletes do not know how to pump up their pectoral muscles on the horizontal bar. You can perform many exercises for all muscle groups, focusing on certain ones, the pectoral muscles, for example. In any case, not only the pectoral muscles will be pumped, but also the back muscles, abs, shoulders and arms.
The horizontal bar is designed to allow you to pull yourself up on it, so most of the exercises performed on the horizontal bar are still modified forms of the most common pull-up. Only a number of details are corrected, for example, changing the distance between the hands and the type of grip. Even with a slight increase in distance when performing an exercise, the load on some muscles significantly decreases and increases several times on others, body weight is redistributed. How to technically correctly pump up the pectoral muscles on the horizontal bar?
The simplest and most effective method to pump up the pectoral muscles is pull-ups on the bar. It would seem that nothing is simpler, but there are a number of details that are important to observe when performing this exercise. Firstly, you need to do pull-ups on the bar regularly to achieve results, preferably every day. Secondly, the exercise must be performed smoothly, slowly, without sudden jerks or swaying of the body, this will increase the effectiveness of the exercise many times over. We place our hands shoulder-width apart, and our palms should be turned toward ourselves. Exhale when lowering the body, and inhale when raising it. It is better not to interrupt your breathing, otherwise your heart rhythm will be disrupted and, as a result, you will perform fewer pull-ups.
Pull-ups can also contribute to the development of the pectoral muscles, but for this muscle group it is not the best exercise. It puts more stress on the arm muscles than the pectoral muscles. And besides, like all bodyweight exercises, it has limited potential for increasing load. With active training, a moment comes quite quickly when your own weight becomes too little. And if the problem with the load can be partly solved by using weights (for example, by attaching weights from a barbell to the belt), then the problem with insufficient activation of the chest muscles will be more difficult to solve.
To do this, you can use a reverse or cross grip, perform pull-ups immediately after push-ups, etc. But in general, it should be noted that without using other exercises, you won’t be able to pump up your pectoral muscles with just pull-ups. However, it is unlikely that anyone will seriously limit themselves to just pull-ups.
Pull-ups are an excellent exercise that develops the muscles of the arms, shoulders, chest and back. Therefore, it is great for beginners who want to improve their health, build muscle, develop strength and see progress firsthand. But if you want to go further - to become bigger and stronger, then pull-ups will move into the warm-up area and give way to more serious exercises.
Nevertheless, as an element of a training program in the fresh air - in the yard or in the country, pull-ups bring a lot of benefits to the athlete and aesthetic pleasure to surrounding observers.
So, who benefits from using pull-ups to develop chest muscles?
- For beginners who want to strengthen and develop the muscles of the upper body and arms.
- For those who, for some reason, cannot attend the gym and do not have barbells and parallel bars at their disposal.
- For those who wish to further master complex gymnastic exercises (“Prince’s Walk,” “God’s Walk,” etc.).
Pull-up technique
The technology of pull-ups is very simple. You need to approach the horizontal bar, grab the bar with the right grip, bending your elbows, lift yourself up so that your chin is above the bar. Then slowly lower down.
1. The movements must be performed smoothly, without jerking, using muscle strength rather than inertia. The time to rise to the top point should be equal to the time to lower. It should be remembered that the exercise already heavily loads and stretches the muscles and ligaments involved, so jerking can cause injury.
2. Try to breathe through your nose. Here, as in other exercises, exhalation should accompany the effort - in this case, lifting, and exhalation - lowering to the starting position.
3. Do not straighten your elbows completely in the lower position, and do not relax your muscles - this creates a dangerous load on the elbow and shoulder joints. You should try to lower your shoulders and keep them tense throughout the exercise.
4. As soon as you notice progress, you don’t need to rush to set records for the number of pull-ups at one time. It is necessary to fully master the technique, working it until it becomes automatic. Work according to plan, drawing up a schedule for increasing the load.
5. The basis for muscle growth is increased load. Here the main load is one (your own body weight), so at the very beginning, progress will be expressed in an increase in the possible number of repetitions, and then (when you can do more than 15 pull-ups) this load will become too small, so you will need to add additional approaches, and then weights (for example, wearing a backpack with a heavy load or attaching something heavy to your belt).
Subtleties in performing stretches to develop the pectoral muscles
- Narrow grip. The wider your palms are placed on the horizontal bar, the more load is placed on your back muscles. Therefore, when trying to work your chest, use a narrow grip.
- Leaning the body back allows you to slightly increase the load on the pectoral muscles.
- You need to perform the exercises slowly and smoothly, trying to feel how the muscles work.
- The reverse grip is better for developing the pectoral muscles.
- Perform partial pull-ups - in the part of the amplitude in which the pectoral muscles tense the most.
How can a beginner learn to do pull-ups?
Not everyone can learn how to do pull-ups right away. As a rule, a young man, normally physically developed, without excess weight, who can do push-ups from the floor 10-15 times, can also do pull-ups at least 1-2 times. Then all that remains is to practice regularly and progress. But what about those who cannot do even one pull-up?
1. You need to carefully study the pull-up technique, choose the easiest (for you) option and start with it.
2. Ask your partner for help. Let him push you up while doing the exercises. As a rule, the most difficult part is the last third of the trajectory.
3. Place a stool (or chair) under the horizontal bar so that while standing on it you keep your head above the bar. Now grab the bar, lower yourself to the lowest point, tucking your legs, and pull yourself up, slightly helping yourself with your legs. Try to push off with your legs weaker and weaker over and over again, and after a while your arms will become stronger enough to pull yourself up without the help of your legs.
4. Use a special rubber band. Fasten it with one end to your belt and the other end to the horizontal bar. It will relieve some of the load and it will be much easier to pull yourself up.
5. Horizontal pull-ups. Try to find low bars somewhere in the yard on the playground, about chest high, hang under them with outstretched arms so that your body with straightened legs forms a straight line. And from this hanging position, pull yourself up to the bar.
6. Use negative pull-ups. Try to jump or from a chair to take the top position of classic pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Then slowly, as slowly as possible, lower yourself down. Negative repetitions load the muscles almost more than positive ones.
7. Try to strengthen your grip, especially if your fingers cannot stand it and do not allow you to hang on the horizontal bar for more than 20 seconds. At first, you can just hang like a sausage, trying only to hang longer. Then you can use magnesium to prevent your hands from slipping, or use wrist straps or hooks. But do not overuse these accessories - as soon as you can do normal pull-ups, try to do without them.
8. If the reason for failure in pull-ups is excess weight, weakness of not only muscles, but also joints and ligaments - do cardio training, review your diet towards a calorie deficit, perform various exercises to strengthen muscles and ligaments. Push-ups, exercises with dumbbells and expanders are great. And most importantly, warm up properly before approaching the horizontal bar.
9. Do not rock or jerk. Beginners often think it’s easier this way. But such movements place dangerous stress on the joints and increase the likelihood of injury, especially when the ligaments and muscles are not yet sufficiently strengthened. Don't take risks. The calmer and slower you pull yourself up, the more your muscles will work, which means they will grow faster.
Benefits of Pull-Ups
- Simplicity of the exercise technique. Pull-ups are difficult to do completely wrong. There are nuances, but basically mastering the technique of this exercise is very simple.
- Lack of complex and expensive equipment. Of course, for pull-ups you need at least a horizontal bar. But even if it is not at home, you can easily find a horizontal bar in the yard, the bottom rung of a fire escape, or any horizontal beam or pipe at the height of a person.
- The exercise is basic, multi-joint, and uses almost all the upper muscles - it is simply irreplaceable for beginners.
- For advanced athletes, pull-ups can also present a number of surprises: there are many variations of this exercise that are very difficult to perform even for a very strong person - for example, one-arm pull-ups.
Disadvantages of pull-ups
- Pull-ups don't work the pectoral muscles very well. To enable them, you have to use various tricks, or do pull-ups in combination with other exercises (push-ups, dumbbell flyes, etc.).
- Pull-ups are not easy to master from scratch. A fairly strong person can already fully perform the exercise. A beginner who comes to the gym for the first time (and even with excess weight) will have to do cardio for at least a month and strengthen his upper muscles with other exercises before he can fully do pull-ups.
- Weak potential for increasing the load specifically on the pectoral muscles. Because of this, pull-ups most often remain an additional exercise in the development of the pectoral muscles.
Other pull-up options
Parallel grip pull-ups. Many horizontal bars have such “horns” on the reverse side, perpendicular to the main crossbar, which you can grab with your hands so that your palms face each other. Using exactly the same grip, you can do pull-ups on high bars or stairs (the main thing is to get your head through).
Army pull-ups. You need to grab the bar with a mixed grip, palms side by side. The crossbar will be perpendicular to the plane of the body. Pull yourself up, tilting your head slightly to get around the bar. With each repetition, try to get your head to pass on one side of the bar, then on the other.
Horizontal pull-ups. Pull-ups from a position close to horizontal are used not only to prepare beginners for regular pull-ups, but can also provide additional load for an advanced turnstile if performed truly horizontally - with your feet on a second bar or other support, at the same height as the bar on which the hands rest.
Cross-grip pull-ups. This is a very difficult exercise. You need to grab the bar so that your arms are crossed - your left palm will be on the right, and your right palm, respectively, on the left. This type of pull-up will greatly complicate a familiar exercise and create a good load on the chest muscles.
Pull-ups for advanced athletes
Weighted pull-ups. If you already do more than 20 pull-ups, you can hang a backpack with a load on your back, or hang a load (for example, a weight from a barbell) to your belt.
One arm pull-ups. You can try to master this exercise if you already do more than 30 pull-ups in one approach. First, you can try a version of this exercise with support - for example, holding a towel hung on the bar with your other hand.
There are other very difficult types of pull-ups. But, as already mentioned, they develop other muscles much better than the pectoral muscles. Therefore, anyone who wants to pump up their chest must not only do pull-ups, but also perform other exercises -, or. Various exercises and...
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Many people wonder how to pump up their muscles on the horizontal bar without leaving home. The answer is simple: for this you need to adhere to the following order. A healthy lifestyle has become a real cult for many people. But most people mistakenly believe that just eating right and everything will be fine.
- It won’t be possible to do, you need to work for a long time to achieve good results.
But to have a beautiful body and good physical shape, healthy eating is not enough. And if you justify your non-going to the gym by the fact that you don’t have time, you yourself are going against all the traditions of a healthy lifestyle, the full observance of which only can give you a good figure and good health.
How to pump up muscles on the horizontal bar To keep your muscles toned, daily physical activity is simply necessary. Working out in a fitness center or gym is not suitable for everyone - some are on a budget, others do not like to depend on going there. But this is not a reason to give up sports activities; trainers will help you figure out your body composition. An option that is available to everyone in this case is a horizontal bar. It is easy to place and install in the apartment. If you are afraid of not being able to cope, then you will probably be reassured that each horizontal bar comes with installation instructions.
But finally, the horizontal bar is installed, it’s time to start the exercises directly. Below you can find recommendations that will help you pump up your muscles correctly, that is, without getting injured, but at the same time achieving the necessary physical shape.
Make your body perfect
There is a persistent misconception that only certain muscle groups can be worked, and that these are monotonous. This belief is wrong - you can easily perform original and varied tricks on it, and you can change the load by changing the width of your arms and different ways of gripping the horizontal bar with your hands. Moreover, the wider your arms are, the more tense the muscles of your back, chest and arms are.
We pump up the back muscles on the horizontal bar
You need to start shaping your figure with the back muscles. If you have an idea of how to pump up muscles more effectively, then you can very quickly and without health consequences acquire sculpted shapes. The main thing when performing exercises is not to overestimate your abilities and not to try to immediately perform exercises that are only accessible to experienced specialists - beginners can easily strain their back or dislocate their arm.
We pump up the back muscles on the horizontal bar - video
The most important exercise for loading is the classic pull-up. There is no need to reinvent the wheel here. You need to do pull-ups, following the classic scheme, which involves several approaches without various jerks, smoothly. At the same time, it is necessary to monitor the speed of raising and lowering the body - the lower the speed, the stronger the muscles work. Remember that breathing should coincide with the lifting and lowering movements.
- If you don't know how, it's not a problem, do the following exercise correctly. The grip of the hands should be straight, arms parallel to the position of the shoulders. The greatest effect can be achieved if your legs are crossed, your back is slightly arched, and when you reach maximum height during the pull-up, your shoulder blades are squeezed together.
Pumping up your biceps correctly
Many people want to know how to pump up their biceps. Most people have not heard of other exercises on the horizontal bar besides classic pull-ups that are effective for the back muscles. With these exercises you will learn more without spending a lot of energy.
If you do pull-ups using a reverse grip, then it is the biceps that will be pumped up. In this case, your hands should be placed next to each other - so that the edges of the palms are already in contact. After hanging, you need to stretch out, arch your back and begin simple pull-ups. The main thing you need to pay attention to is to squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull yourself up as high as possible, trying to reach your arms with your chest.
Pumping up your biceps correctly Another exercise for developing biceps is short pull-ups using a reverse grip, when your arms are parallel to your shoulders. Everything is done the same way, but to do this correctly, having reached the maximum point of lifting, bend your arms at the elbow at a right angle, then exhale and come back.
We pump up our shoulders on the horizontal bar
Worried you don't know how? It’s not worth it - there already are. The shoulder muscles receive stress during all exercises on the bar. But you can load them as much as possible if you perform deep pull-ups, while keeping your arms straight. And place them as close to each other as possible. The algorithm is the same - arch your back as much as possible and begin lifting. If possible, you should reach the bar with your lower chest.
There is a very effective exercise called “strength release”. It requires very good physical preparation due to its complexity, so it is not intended for beginners. During it, you need to raise your body above the bar so that your hands are below. Such regular exercises will give a big increase in shoulder muscles.
How to pump up ripped abs
To pump up a sculpted press, you need to pay attention to the two most important exercises, intended for the upper and lower parts of it. Here the starting position is a completely hanging relaxed body. Next, you need to tuck your knees and pull your legs closer to your chest, and if possible higher. You need to stay in the top position for a few seconds. The next stage is to raise your legs without bending your knees.
How to pump up ripped abs The upper part of the abs is trained by hanging upside down on a horizontal bar. From this position, you need to pull the body as close to the knees as possible, touch them and fix this position of the body for a few seconds at the reached point. If you compare it with the exercises that are required to pump up your arms and back on the horizontal bar, you will notice that pull-ups are not required here.
Correctly pumping the trapezius muscles of the back on the horizontal bar
There is a fairly simple, but quite effective exercise for pumping up the trapezius muscles. To perform it, you just need to spread your arms slightly wider than your shoulders; you don’t need to achieve the maximum. As you pull yourself up, try to relax your arm muscles, and don’t forget to squeeze your shoulder blades together. The main thing is how to properly position the trapezius muscle on the horizontal bar - touching the bar with your upper chest. And, of course, having completed the necessary rise, remain in this position for a few seconds. Do not arch your back, but bring your shoulder blades together and move your elbows to the side.
Properly pumping up the chest muscles
- Of course, the chest muscles receive a certain load during any exercise. But still, there is a certain exercise that coaches consider the most effective.
Pull-ups with your arms fully extended and not too wide apart allow you to quickly pump them up. Reaching the top point, lift your chin above the bar. This is difficult to do at first, but the back and chest receive increased stress. Also, when performing these actions, it is optimal to use a mixed grip of the crossbar, when one palm is turned towards you, the other, on the contrary, away from you. Hands are swapped with each approach. But in order for the muscles to develop evenly, there must be an even number of approaches.
Everything described below is suitable for guys and men who love fresh air and bodyweight exercises. How to pump up the pectoral muscles on the horizontal bar is a rather complicated question. To begin with, I’ll be honest: you will still need push-ups and parallel bars, without them you can forget about pumped up pecs. In general, no matter how you pull yourself up, it will be difficult to load your chest enough; other muscles, for example, the same latissimus and forearms, are more likely to get tired. It happens that there is only a horizontal bar available and there is no escape, so let's look at what can be done.
- The most important thing is to pull yourself up as smoothly and slowly as possible. Avoid upward jerks and sudden downward movements.
- It is imperative to observe correct breathing: down - inhale, up - exhale.
- While performing exercises on the horizontal bar, try to strain and feel your pectoral muscles as best as possible.
- In order to pump up the pecs, a reverse grip is best suited. You will have 3 hand positions in this method.
- Reverse wide grip - works primarily on the outer part of the pectoralis major muscle. Your hands should be one fist wider than your shoulders on each side.
- Reverse grip at shoulder level - works the middle part of the pectoralis major muscle.
- Reverse grip with a narrow hand position - works the middle inner part of the pectoralis major muscle.
- It is best to perform partial pull-ups to better pump up the pectoral muscles, that is, only the part of the exercise that works the pectoral muscles.
- For advanced ones, use horizontal pull-ups on a horizontal bar; they work the pectoralis major muscle well and include new muscle fibers.
- I have outlined the basic possible exercises on the horizontal bar; the rest of the tips will be nuances that should be applied.
- Combined method - do push-ups first and immediately go to the horizontal bar to do pull-ups. You can also do it the other way around. The chest will literally swell from the load.
- Increase the number of pull-ups every workout.
- Reduce rest time between sets.
- Put extra weight on your body.
I strongly advise you to add push-ups and push-ups to your training program. Whatever one may say, you won’t be able to pump up your pectoral muscles just by doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar.
A set of workouts for chest: horizontal bar, parallel bars, push-ups
Monday Thursday
In order to pump up the pectoral muscles on the horizontal bar, first of all you need to do push-ups either from the floor or from the uneven bars, but properly. These exercises are the basis for the chest; pull-ups are already used as finishing moves.
Read more about how to pump up your pectoral muscles on the uneven bars.
Dips- This is one of the best exercises for developing the pectoral muscles and triceps. In addition, when you do push-ups, you basically develop your entire upper body. Back, deltoids, forearms, core muscles - all this works actively or passively.
The technique of dips is crucial; it is very important to learn to feel the pectoral muscles.
- The pecs work best when the body is leaned forward, the elbows are out to the sides, and the knees are tucked near the chest. So that you understand, if the elbows are pressed to the body, the triceps takes a greater load. Therefore, the more you spread them to the sides, the more load there will be for the chest. If you estimate the position from the elbows near the body to the elbows completely apart, then you should take a position in the middle.
- The best grip is about shoulder distance apart or wider than your fist.
- Always start the exercise from the top position, gradually lowering down - the muscles tense and have time to mobilize. By initially taking the lower position, you will greatly stretch and strain unprepared muscles, thereby significantly increasing the risk of injury.
- Before you start doing dips, warm up and make sure your muscles are warm.
- It is important to perform dips at a smooth pace, feeling the muscles.
- At first, go down as far as your physiology allows you, do not injure yourself. Over time, you will be able to lower yourself to the handrails, stretching your pectoral muscles as much as possible.
- It is important not to overwork your pectoral muscles with frequent dips. Muscles can rebuild into the endurance stage and then forget about growth. Follow standard pumping rules, gradually increasing the load with weight, repetitions, and decreasing rest between sets. For beginners, no more than 5 sets of up to 20 repetitions will be enough.
- After 15 repetitions at a time, you need to attach the belt and gradually increase the weight.
- Perform strength training for 4-6 reps with weights.
- Perform workouts for 12-20 repetitions. Both methods will give you a good hormonal response; alternate them, for example, by weeks.
- Combine the 2 above mentioned training methods. First, strength training and then with a large number of repetitions, the main thing is not to overtrain. Know your limits.
- Try to occasionally change the angle of inclination on parallel bars, push-ups, and the width of your grip on pull-ups to recruit new muscle fibers.
- Rest is a prerequisite. If some muscle has not recovered, it is better to wait. The fact is that the balance of growth and decay is quite fragile, especially when the muscles are not fully restored. By training, for example, if your triceps are not fully restored, you will only limit the growth of your pecs.
- Nutrition. Eat 1.5 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight and increase the number of calories, eat every 4 hours.
P.S. Still, the best way and the most effective exercise to pump up the pectoral muscles is push-ups. You shouldn’t neglect them if you want to succeed; push-ups are also the fastest way to pump up your chest.
If you want to pump correctly and for your chest to grow after doing the exercises, train only when you have rested. With fully restored muscles, pumping up your pecs will not be difficult. From my own experience I can say that this will not happen. Because everyone hangs out on the horizontal bars almost every day. Therefore, most likely, your muscles will have to adapt to the constant load, in other words, they will grow, but up to a certain limit.
It is possible to pump up muscle groups on your chest not only in the gym, but even at home. Those who believe that apartments are not designed for training can use the adjacent areas. To understand how to pump up the pectoral muscles on the horizontal bar, you should study the basic rules developed by experts.
How to pump up a group of pectoral muscles on a regular horizontal bar?
The simplest type of simulator is considered to be a horizontal bar, on which ancient Greek soldiers trained. It helps strengthen muscles. Of course, if you stop only at pull-ups, it is unlikely that you can qualitatively develop the muscles on the chest.
Exercises on the horizontal bar are considered an excellent addition to the main training for the chest muscles. The dorsal and pectoral muscle fibers are considered to be opposing. When pulling up, all movements made must be smooth. Steady breathing helps you achieve success from your workouts.
It is important to control the load. It is forbidden to perform many repetitions in one approach. It is best to focus on the quality rather than the quantity of exercises. An increase in the number of repetitions is allowed with ideal technique. After adaptation, the muscles need additional “stress” in the form of increased repetitions.
When performing exercises, you need to correctly change the type of grip: wide, narrow, medium. The load on the muscle group depends on this. A narrow grip only increases the load. At first, 3 full approaches of 15 pull-ups will be enough for training.
Bars or crossbars for the chest
Strong crossbars with parallel bars become an excellent exercise machine for muscles. On the crossbars, you should perform an exit with straight arms, and then lower and rise to the chest line evenly, slowly. Thanks to simple exercises, in addition to the pectoral muscles, you can pump up the triceps.
The parallel bars strengthen the muscle complex, and the load directed to the chest will depend entirely on the position of the body on them. The best option is a perpendicular position that pumps the triceps. If you lean forward while doing push-ups on your elbows, straightened out to the sides, you can transfer the load to your chest.
With the help of such simple exercises and a clear pull-up technique, you can quickly pump up your chest.
How to pump up your upper chest yourself?
The generally accepted method is to press the barbell when the body is positioned at an angle. To pump different chest areas, the grip will have to be changed. Exercises using a barbell are alternated with exercises with dumbbells and an inclined bench. During such a workout, the main load falls on the internal part of the pectoral muscles.
Flying dumbbells on an incline bench effectively pumps up muscles. However, you should not use a lot of weight right away. You can add definition without building muscle by working out with not very heavy dumbbells.
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