Exercise:

Overhand Pull Up

Target Muscle:

Back (Lats)

Pull Up Bar

Grasp the pull-up bar with an overhand grip about 2-3 inches outside of shoulder width.

Bend your knees so that your feet are positioned behind your body and begin the exercise from a hanging position with a full stretch in your lats.

Pull yourself up until your chin is just over the top of the bar and you feel a strong contraction in your lats, and then lower yourself back down into the bottom position.

- In order to maximize the tension on your lats rather than your biceps and shoulders, focus on pulling yourself up using your elbows rather than your hands. Imagine that your hands and forearms don’t even exist, and just place 100% of your focus on driving yourself up using your elbows.

- Make sure to keep your elbows pointed out at your sides throughout the exercise rather than allowing them to drift out in front of your body.

- Keep your shoulders positioned down and back and lead with your chest as you pull yourself up.

- If you're able to perform the prescribed number of reps in your plan using your body weight, you can add resistance to the exercise by using a weight belt or by squeezing a dumbbell in between your knees.

- To increase the activation of your back muscles even further, you can use a set of lifting straps or lifting hooks to fully eliminate your grip from the equation.