Band Assisted Pull Ups
Band assisted pull ups are a great exercise to help you work up to the classic bodyweight pull up.
Pull ups are a great bodyweight exercise and they strengthen your back and upper body. They are also a great litmus test for overall upper body strength.
Unfortunately, many people avoid pull ups because they can’t quite do them yet. The simple solution is the band assisted pull up.
This simple exercise can put you on your way to your first full pull ups.
What is an Assisted Pull up?
An assisted pull up is any type of pull up where you are given some assistance to perform the movement.
There are many other ways you can perform a pull up with assistance.
One assisted pull up variation is the band assisted pull up. This is the variation that I will be discussing for today’s post.
Do Bands Help with Pull ups?
Bands definitely help with pull ups. Because you are unloading the bottom of the movement, they help you get started so you can do pull ups without a spotter.
Bands help beginners to pratice the pull up more than lat pulldowns and other seated pull downs. Lat pulldowns are great to build strength in the lats and surrounding muscle groups. However, the band assisted pull up allows users to get used to hanging onto a bar and actually feeling what the pull up feels like. They help you practice hanging from a bar and keeping a good torso position for all points in the movement.
Band assisted pull ups help you accumulate more training volume overall. Sometimes higher volumes and higher rep ranges can really help you make more progress. Only the very strong are able to do high rep sets of pull ups. Band assisted pull ups allow you to get more reps in to build more strength.
Additionally, band assisted pull ups help you build more strength and size than being limited to only squeaking out a few reps with full pull ups.
Bands Improve Technique
Band assisted pull ups also enable good pull up technique. Have you ever been to a commercial gym and seen people do pull ups?
You will see a lot of flailing, momentum and poor motor control. In contrast, the use of a band for assisted pull ups can helps you focus on proper technique, range of motion and use of the proper muscle groups.
For people who train by themselves, band assisted pull ups don’t require a spotter or partner. If you train alone, or don’t want to ask that creepy gym bro for help, you can simply strap a band on to a bar so you can do the movement by yourself. Self-sufficient training is always more convenient than training with a spotter.
Band Assisted pull ups also allow you to track your progression in a tangible way. Did you decrease the thickness of the band that you used? You made progress. Did you get more reps or sets this week than last week? You made progress.
Band assisted pull ups help you build the strength to do full pull ups. Once you are using small bands and can do 10 reps with the bands, you probably can do at least a few reps without the bands.
Are Band Assisted Pull ups Good?
As you learned above, band assistance pull ups are good for building strength and size. They also help you get some specific practice and gain the kinesthetic awareness for this exercise.
However, some detractors may claim that band assisted pull ups are not a good exercise.
These opponents claim that band assisted pull ups are not a good tool for strength development because they give you too much help at the hardest part of the exercise.
However, I don’t think that you should eliminate this exercise from your arsenal. Giving you a bit more help at the toughest part of the movement allows you to still perform the exercise even if you can’t yet without a band.
This allows you to get pull up practice and work the full range of motion even if you need a little extra help at the bottom of the movement.
Another argument against the band assisted pull up is that you could start to use the band as a crutch.
I don’t see the band assisted pull up as a crutch. Once you don’t need it anymore, don’t use it!
In reality, you could sandbag any exercise and fail to make progress because you just are not pushing yourself.
But as long as you push yourself to progress, gradually reduce the thickness of the band you use and increase your volume/intensity, you will still gain the strength to do full pull ups without a band.
How to use Resistance Bands for Assisted Pull ups
To do band assisted pull ups, you want to use the thick resistance band tubing that does not have handles. You can easily loop these bands through the top of the bar so you can put one knee through the bottom of the band.
When you are just starting out, you can use thick bands that supply a lot of assistance. As you get stronger, reduce the amount of assistance that you use to make the exercise more difficult. You can also add more reps, sets, or training frequency as you get stronger.
How do you do an Assisted Pull up with a Band?
To do an assisted pull up with a band, simply loop a band around a bar. Then you can allow the looped portion of the band to hang down. Simply place one or both knees in the band to hang into the bottom of the band.
Just as in a normal pull up, start by using your lats and biceps to bend your arms and pull your chin over the bar.
At the top of the movement, pull your shoulders back and down, and elbows back. Squeeze and hold for a count before returning to the bottom of the motion under control.
How do Resistance Bands Help with Pull ups?
Resistance bands help with pull ups by unloading the bottom and mid points of the motion. They provide more help at the bottom and less help at the top of the motion.
What pull up Assist Band Should I Get?
You can use any brand that you want, but I would recommend the thick tubing from Shelter Fitness. You can get a variety of band tensions and progress from thicker bands to thinner bands as you get stronger and need less assistance.
How Much Weight are you Lifting on a Band Assisted Pull ups?
With a traditional pull up, you lift almost all of your bodyweight. You are lifting less than that with a band assisted pull up, depending on the thickness of the band you are using.
Additionally, the band will supply more assistance at the bottom and less at the top, meaning you will lift less of your bodyweight at the bottom and more at the top.
If you are using a thin band, you probably are lifting at least 60-75 percent of your bodyweight. If using a thick band, you are likely only lifting 35-50 percent of your body weight.
However, these are just estimates.
As you progress, use thinner and thinner bands. You will be lifting more and more of your bodyweight, until you can do full pull ups without a band.
What Resistance Band Should I use for Pull ups?
I would suggest using the thick tubing from Shelter Fitness.
You can start with the thick blue bands which will provide the most assistance. After that becomes easy, you can progress to the green bands, and then down to the purple, then black and then red. When you can do 5-10 pull ups with the red band, you are most certainly ready for body weight pull ups without any band!
Band Assisted Pull up Progression
You can start with the thickest band and progress to a lighter band when you can do 10 pull ups with the thickest band. After that initial jump, stick with each band thickness until you can do at least 3 sets of 10 reps with your current band resistance.
While you may be tempted to switch assistance bands when you can do just one set of 10 reps, I think a better test is the ability to do all your target sets and reps with your current band assistance.
If your program calls for 3 sets of 10, 5 sets of 12, 3 sets of 3 reps or any other set and rep scheme, hold off on progressing the band tension until you can complete all the sets and reps with your current band assistance.
Once you can do that, you are ready to drop some band assistance.
Conclusions
Band assisted pull ups are a great exercise variation to help you practice the movement and gain strength at the same time. They will help you to get your first unassisted pull ups without relying on a partner, expensive equipment or setting up a lot of other props.
So if you have not yet mastered your first pull ups, or even if you have and want to use a band to perfect your pull ups and accrue more pull up volume, band assisted pull ups are a great exercise you can use today.
