How to Pullup #15 – Advanced 3

How do we correct a strength difference in the left or right arm to be more equal? And how do we add more variation to your strength training at the more difficult end of the scale?

Well, that's where the legendary one-arm pull-up comes in.

Belts and Rope and Rings and Assistance Bands

Something I failed to mention in the video is that you don't just have to use an assistance band. Actually, many people use a heavy-duty leather belt, gymnastic rings, a towel or thick rope.

The advantage of the belt, towel, rope, etc is that it doesn't stretch and you can more accurately determine your progress.

Weakest side

Simply, don't do more work on your stronger arm.

Why? Well, you'll never get both arms balanced to be equally as strong otherwise. You want your weaker side to catch up to the stronger, but if your stronger side keeps getting even stronger, it'll never catch up.

Making it harder

By moving your hand down the band/rope/belt/towel you are going to increase the difficulty of the exercise.

You may want to make a pen mark on what your current hand position is, so that your next session will return to the same spot or lower.

Grip strength

Grrrrrrrr! Crushing your enemies with your bare hands. Well, by doing the one-arm pull-up you will be increasing your grip strength too.

Grip strength is absolutely essential for many parkour, climbing, bouldering, movement exercises and techniques. Want to be able to hold onto that wall for longer? Well, guess what will probably fail first?