There is no better exercise for developing a strong and proportional upper body than strict straight bar pull-ups done with perfect form. That is:
-- completely locked out at the bottom
-- going up as as high above the bar as you can
-- moving up and down in one plane instead of swinging your body for momentum
Almost no one does pull-ups this way because it's so hard -- watch guys do them in the gym and you'll see what I mean. But the rewards are disproportionate.
Pull-ups will break out your back and give your entire upper body a good V shape taper, while also engaging your arms, shoulders, core, and pretty much every upper body muscle. They are the squats of the upper body.
The other great things about pull-ups is that you can train them a lot, and even when you're working very hard they're unlikely to injure you. It's just a particularly good motion for the body.
Disgustingly, straight pull-up bars have been disappearing from gyms across the country. This is basically because women don't like them and find them hard on their wrists, so to satisfy them these bullshit curved handle bars are replacing straight bars everywhere. They suck.
For all these reasons, I think a lot of guys might benefit from having a straight pull-up bar at home. This way, you can practice pull-ups and keep getting stronger on them at any time, without having to depend on the gym (which might not even have a straight bar). And if you go through the expense of actually buying one of these things, you'll feel embarrassed if you never use it, so it will force you to do the single best upper body exercise there is.
I have this bar, which is great (IronMind products are almost always high quality). It can also be set up for dips and squats but I use it for pull-ups:
http://www.ironmind-store.com/NEW-ALight...info/1480/
It's pricey at $700 but it will last forever.
I've had this bar for about 8 months and have been using it regularly to do naked (meaning body weight) pull-ups, in addition to doing strapped pulls in the gym. I've become significantly stronger in almost every way as a result.
An added bonus about having a pull-up bar is that you can just hang from it. As I mentioned in another post this is a great thing to do at the end of your day: just hang from a bar for as long as you can. It stretches out and decompresses your spine.
-- completely locked out at the bottom
-- going up as as high above the bar as you can
-- moving up and down in one plane instead of swinging your body for momentum
Almost no one does pull-ups this way because it's so hard -- watch guys do them in the gym and you'll see what I mean. But the rewards are disproportionate.
Pull-ups will break out your back and give your entire upper body a good V shape taper, while also engaging your arms, shoulders, core, and pretty much every upper body muscle. They are the squats of the upper body.
The other great things about pull-ups is that you can train them a lot, and even when you're working very hard they're unlikely to injure you. It's just a particularly good motion for the body.
Disgustingly, straight pull-up bars have been disappearing from gyms across the country. This is basically because women don't like them and find them hard on their wrists, so to satisfy them these bullshit curved handle bars are replacing straight bars everywhere. They suck.
For all these reasons, I think a lot of guys might benefit from having a straight pull-up bar at home. This way, you can practice pull-ups and keep getting stronger on them at any time, without having to depend on the gym (which might not even have a straight bar). And if you go through the expense of actually buying one of these things, you'll feel embarrassed if you never use it, so it will force you to do the single best upper body exercise there is.
I have this bar, which is great (IronMind products are almost always high quality). It can also be set up for dips and squats but I use it for pull-ups:
http://www.ironmind-store.com/NEW-ALight...info/1480/
It's pricey at $700 but it will last forever.
I've had this bar for about 8 months and have been using it regularly to do naked (meaning body weight) pull-ups, in addition to doing strapped pulls in the gym. I've become significantly stronger in almost every way as a result.
An added bonus about having a pull-up bar is that you can just hang from it. As I mentioned in another post this is a great thing to do at the end of your day: just hang from a bar for as long as you can. It stretches out and decompresses your spine.
same old shit, sixes and sevens Shaft...