Pull-ups on the bar is a fairly heavy, but effective basic exercise that solves various training problems.
The temptation to do pull-ups every day is great because there is hope that this will accelerate the growth of results.
Today we will take a look at whether this statement is true.
Is it possible to do pull-ups every day?
Theoretically, you can pull yourself up every day. But in practice, the question arises about the need for such a load.
All of the growth and improvement of results, occur in the body during the period of rest from physical activity.
Training is only half the battle. The second half is a full recovery of muscles and the whole body.
This scheme works no matter what your sports goal is. Whether it’s a set of muscle mass, improving the level of strength, endurance, or working on getting shredded. You can accelerate the growth of your results with the right combination of frequency of training and rest after them.
Pull-ups for endurance
When developing endurance on the bar, use the weight of your own body. It is believed that after such training, the restoration period is around 1 day.
Classic exercises for the development of general endurance are:
- walking
- running
- a ride on the bicycle
- swimming
These are the usual cardio loads, where the body functions in an aerobic mode.
Their standard duration is 40-60 minutes. In this case, the process continues continuously. During this time, the muscles contract thousands of times.
Pull-ups on the horizontal bar do not imply such work.
Here we are not talking about general but about strength endurance – the ability to perform strength work for a long time. Therefore, the recovery time for muscles and the body as a whole will differ.
A suitable frequency for developing strength endurance on the pull-up bar is training every other day. That is 3-4 times a week.
Pull-ups for muscle growth
In the case of working to gain mass, the frequency of training depends on the speed of muscle recovery after a power load.
To build mass, the recommendations are the following:
- Train 1 – 2 times a week
- Rep range 8 – 12 times
- Set range 3 – 4 sets
If it feels easy to perform the exercise more than 12 repetitions, then it is necessary to increase the load and add additional weights.
You can do that by putting on a special belt, to which some kind of load is attached (a disk from a barbell, a weight, etc.). It is most convenient to use a special weighted vest.
This is due to the latissimus dorsi having a large muscle mass. They are the main working muscles when doing pull-ups.
The average speed of recovery of large muscle groups after force exposure is 4-5 days. Therefore, it is advised to pull up in power mode 2 times a week.
But as we just stated such a load mode for the lats is excessive and can lead to overtraining. This leads to stopping the progress of both strength and endurance growth. In this case, it is more rational to limit yourself to 1 workout per week.
This situation is, of course, more typical for experienced athletes. Their own muscle mass and the weights used are very significant. Therefore, muscle recovery is longer.
Pull-ups as a daily exercise
Pull-ups every day will work best as a warmup.
The purpose of warmup exercises is to help the body “wake up” and comfortably enter working mode.
Exercises should be, on the one hand, easy and accessible. And on the other – complex, in order to cover the maximum of muscles in the minimum time.
During pull-ups, several joints and muscle groups work simultaneously. And according to this parameter, the exercise as a warmup is ideal.
The implementation depends on your level of training. If you are pulling up 15-20 times with ease, then use this exercise as an element of daily exercise. In this case, a load of 50% of the maximum should be used.
For example, your record is 20 reps. Then, to warm up you do only 10 times. In this mode, you can perform this exercise daily. Use the maximum load on the crossbar in the main workout.
As you can see, daily pull-ups are possible. But doing them every day is optimal only as a charge, not working at full strength. If you are exercising at the limit of your capabilities, this is a power load, after which the body needs rest for a full recovery.