Optimize Pull-ups For Back Growth | Targeting The Muscle 

Nothing compares to pull-ups. You can do iliac Pulldowns, but why? - Tom Platz (probably)

Unlike 98% of the youtube "fitness" channels, Dr. Mike puts out quality content instead of junk volume.

That’s crazy that Dr. Mike was floating in mid air in between each of those demonstration sets.

Your content is an excellent balance of hilarious and educational. Thank you sir.

I love that you can clearly see who watches RP when at the gym . Game changing series

Dr. Mike casually giving better pullup advice than most self-proclaimed bodyweight experts out there. By the way, slower eccentrics are truly great. Appreciate that point a lot. Dropping fast into the dead hang will not only create less gains but will also annihilate your elbows and shoulders over the long run.

Watching these videos for free feels like theft. Some of the absolute best content in RU-vid period.

I was always a tall lanky guy who avoided pullups until my late 30s. Then I became a father and hadn't much time for training so a basic home gym was the best solution. Now I'm 55 and hear compliments about my lats from people who trained in gyms their whole life. So apparently genetics wasn't the problem.

Ive never needed to pay for a coach or a trainer. This is the best channel on RU-vid. Thank you for everything man

Another tip for those who swing and can’t control their lower body is to put your feet a little out in front of you. It will tense up your abs and keep you stiffer. It’s not an L-sit pullup so your abs shouldn’t (hopefully) be the limiting factor.

7:23 *sends back pics*

targeting the muscle series is all i need. its the best!!! love u dr mike nd team!!!

The production on this video is amazing! Don't change anything. Lighting sound graphics all spot on.

Love how you explain all the nuances in a movement Thanks for your videos

Learning a lot from your technique series Dr Mike. Thank you 💪😊

Aaaah amazing video, amazing info, amazing gainz.. Thank you yet again!

Right on time 🤘🏾my back workout is tomorrow can't wait 👍🏾

Your video’s are getting professional af! Love the content man ✌🏽 🇦🇺

I have found if I squeeze my glutes and abs to brace my core, I don't swing nearly as much AND get better SFR, better mind/muscle, and a few more reps. Worth a try!

Perfect timing! The lat pull down machine just broke at my gym.

Dr Mike, love the feel of down sets for the connection you are talking about

awesome series - perfect exercise 😎

Wow!Excellent video! Great info on improving my pull ups!Thank you!

"Light in the way it's perfectly connecting." This is gold. I switched up my training a year ago to light 15-25 rep sets. I've increased my VO2 max from 46 to 51. Gone from 200+lbs with 140lbs lean mass. To 184lbs with.......140lbs lean mass. Leave your ego at the door folks. Heavy weight is overrated. It's more about being resilient to outside pressure by building internal pressure. Like the feeling you get underwater but on land. Sometimes I come out of a set feeling like I was just underwater. It's incredible and allows me to feel like I'm hitting that kaioken×4 on earth for the first time without breaking my body with weight it shouldn't be handling like that. Use heavy weight lightly and use light weight heavily. My workout sessions turn into beam struggles. I love it. This video made me laugh a bunch. Thanks.

Great video. Always look forward to doing weighted pull ups. Started w/ 2.5 lbs as you said and hit 6 reps 40lbs this week.

Doctor mike doing his best to mimic gravity is all the comedy i need...thank you mike very very comical

Quality content as usual! 💪💪

Heeeeey a rock climbing shout out! Bodybuilding and bouldering coming together to lat spread our way to the top! My day has been made.

This is fucking crazy!! I'm adding in pull ups to my meso that starts next week and searched to see if RP has any tips. Yall posted the day I needed it. This isn't the first time either. Thank you

3:40 ... The slow descent and momentary deadhang at the bottom. The Beastie Boys said it best with, *_"Let it flow - let yourself go... Slow and low - that is the tempo"_*

Love this! Will be my new go to chin pull-ups. Badass!! 👏🏽👏🏽 does Dr Mike have a kettle bell series??

Love this series! Thanks for the great content!

I find that doing other hanging exercises (in particular hanging leg raises) gets you much better at avoiding swinging during other calisthenics movements

Great series!

the craziest thing is, you arent using a script. Your ability to generate words never seizes to amaze me.

I am currently experimenting with weighted pull ups. Once i managed 10 BW reps pull ups, i went to weighted. I went from 10kgx5 reps, to 10kgx7reps, then 15kgx5 reps which im currently on. I can RM 35kg currently, going for 40kg! SInce i have around 10kg of fat to lose, i am essentially doing weighted by default. I think it will benefit a lot to my pull ups as i lose weight, and i am much stronger with just 3 weeks of weighted pull up training. The issue is that i can just do 11xBW rep pull ups still, so i find myself getting strong but my endurance is still pretty low. Hopefully it gets better as i lose weight and do different variations with pull ups! (Gonna try going for 1RM at beginning then unload rep until its regular BW next time to see how that goes)

Thanks, Dr Mike.

Awesome! And right before back day lol. Just started programming pull ups in 3 times a week. Can only do a solid 8 with control and chest to bar though

great tips!!

I always thought going to the clavicle was a different variation - not what you do when you’re stronger…feeling called out for doing the easy ones hahaha gotta get on it!

this needs at least a million views

Not really sure why but months ago I injured my shoulder, wouldn’t go away. At first doing pull ups would hurt like any exercise, took a break, and on the first day doing pull ups again the pain has gone away almost completely. Insane.

Encouraging to hear that Mike and I have the same pull up ROM. Even with band assist I can't get more than my chin over the bar.

perfect timing

Danke!

Just about to head to the gym and my first workout is the pull up. Thanks!

this is great advice. i been doing pullups for years just as a hobbie to keep in shape. i have a pullup bar at home and i always do 100% full range, with a 1 second pause at top. its actually pretty crazy how good my v taper is from doing these, and im not even that good. i can crank out 15 reps with this from. my pure max reps with shit form is 20. either way, i can honestly say i think doing pullups in my spare time was one of hte best hting i ever decided to do in my life

This my dawg right here mannnnnn 💪😬

I owe a huge thx to Adam Ragusa for recommending your channel ..its exactly what i needed ( real expertise and no bullsh**$)

Skinny 125 lb guy here. At peak pull-up practice I was starting with 25 lbs around my waist for a set of 9, then I would drop 5 lb for each subsequent set down to body weight. In retrospect I think the first four sets were quality but the last two were a little bit junk. If you do drop sets like this just be mindful of how good your lat contraction is.

Awesome video 👍

Flex abs and glutes to avoid swinging. Helps a lot.

I just started weighted pullups, man they feel GOOD

Great vid. I injured one lat a few years back & ever since then I can't go full stretch without risk of injury. Guess I just have to settle for less gains.

RP is the technique godfather

Good stuff🔥🔥💪

Would you be able to produce a video on increasing strength in your shoulders? My shoulder press has plateaued for like 3 years :/

7:50 lmfao that had me dying. You've triggered all the "kipping" crossfitters for sure

I love this cause for years I feel my last better with under hand grip . And all the workout channels say pronated it superior

I was happy that I had worked up to about 14-16 reps. Slowing down and adding proper full stretch at the end... put me down to 6-8.

Unloaded after loaded, brilliant!

Tell us the truth Mike......You can't actually do a pull up can you?!

6:30 Dr. Mike, you said "for whatever look you have." That'd be an interesting video. Different bodybuilder looks, builds... skeletal frame (anthropometry ratios) and nuances of its potential influences on hypertrophy on different muscle targets from some lifts potentially being harder or having different SFRs, and all that. Debunking genetics for aesthetics (or proving.) Even super targeted guides like "if you have a stupid long torso and short little dwarf legs, try substituting this lift." My own interest besides curiosity is that I'd like an idea of what to expect at my own height and frame. 6' 210 pounds, super duper upper back/lat compared to chest because I used to work concrete, so much that it has affected my posture for 15 years. What goals I could shoot for. What would my sort of "expected" physique look like. What timeline, too. I've only been seriously lifting for about 6 months, full body. So, should I not even think about specialization until I've been lifting and just putting on muscle mass for, idk, two years, lean out and then have a solid idea of what my natural "filled out" proportions might be? Then think about specializing different muscles? Thanks! Love the vids, been a team full ROM sub for a couple months and digging it. So much info to satisfy my adhd. No competitive aspirations, just want to get sexy!

Dr Mike was good and bad for me before but really starting to enjoy the videos more consistently now I can hang with that odd humour :) DEFINTELY Knows his stuff

😂 the humor man one of the best

LOVE YOU MIKE 😘

Neutral grip sternum chins are my favorite.

I love Mike

I just recently started leaning back and trying to touch my sternum with hands just outside shoulder with during my pull-ups so it hits my lats more. For the longest time I was only feeling it in the teres major. This makes it more of a row in the shortened position making a lot harder without any load.

No script!

I really like these sternem pull up, but higher reps on the assisted machine

Best shirt in fitness!

Dr. Mike will you teach use how to do a Muscle-Up? Please 🥺

Good solid advice especially from a guy who can't do a pull up himself it seems

I started doing pull-ups around 18 months ago. In the beginning, I couldn't do a single rep. Now I'm doing 5-8 reps with 20-24kgs. My back feels better than ever, I can really recommend it.

Nice video bro

Pull ups are king!

Please do a bench press for chest hypertrophy

I owe RP so much muscle tissue.

What would you recommend to someone who wants to add pullups to their program but can't do a single one at all and there's no assisted pullup machine? Assisted pullups with a band? Use the smith machine but have your legs on the floor?

Question: What is the smart principle to apply once full ROM is not achievable? Keep going with partial reps? or quit?

I actually think a full stretch helps generating strength and remaining tightness (probably can do less pullups if half repped)

I can't do pullups, so I do pull downs. Should I choose a weight for pulling to my chin, clavicle or sternum?

7:22 is that about how far we should bring our head and shoulders back when pulling to the sternum?

Went from zero pull ups to 3 sets of 6, it took some serious weight loss, lots of lat pull downs and eventually my power to weight ratio met in the middle and the pull-up was born. decided to perfect 3 sets of 6 as described here before adding more reps, would like to work up to the weighted pull ups.

Some killer tips in this video! 🔥🔥🔥 I love rotating in pullups. There's a ton of variety so they don't get too stale. But, too much volume on them can definitely irritate various tendons. I'm currently at 3 sets of chest to bar pullups (~2" from the bottom of my sternum), twice a week. If I need a little extra volume for lats / upper back, I'll do lat prayers or lighter weight pulldowns. Currently, I'm loving a grip width just inside my shoulders (overhand thumbless), slight hollow body, moderate stretch at the bottom, explosive concentric, ~1 second eccentric. On the last rep I'll milk that last eccentric for ~3-4 seconds. Lights up my mid back a TON. I think as I get stronger I'll switch to trying arched back pullups, but currently they're too difficult for me to get enough useful reps. So I just do lat pulldowns with that posture. 💪

These videos are the best super informative thanks . Could you please do a video on rear delts with dumb bells and one on dumbbell row 🙏. Great stuff as always.

Thanks for tips. Now I'm back to the assisted pullup machine. 😢

sir plz make vdo on barebell overhead press(grip).

The biggest hurdle people have to performing a proper pull up are the rounded and shrugged up shoulders, caused by disproportionally weak infraspinatus and teres major, which cause dysfunction of the shoulder joint. Most of them don’t even realize it.

Would it make sense to do something like this for chin-ups? but to maximize Biceps growth

Your opinion of stretching the lats without completely locking out the arms?

Mind blown

Cross-fitters are gonna love this 😀

would you under-stretch if you have hypermobility, or let it go to full?

hahhahahah i lost it here 7:51 what a genius xD

I came back to click the like button . I was feeling shame for not doing it first time 😁

My front delts get deatroyed doing pull ups. Im double jointed also. Any tips? I find rows of all variations better for back growth than pulls ups or pull downs. Im also usless at pull down strength but can row a decent amount

7:10 gonna come back to this

Dr. Mike, do you think that weighted pull-ups are necessary for hypertrophy once one can comfortably do 10-12 bodyweight reps? I've been doing weighted chin-ups for like 3 years and god damn I am tired of them, though they have helped my lat growth.