The horizontal bar is a universal gymnastic apparatus that a novice athlete can easily build at home. Pulling up is one of the main exercises in which a person’s own weight is involved. With the help of the horizontal bar, everyone can quickly assess their physical form and understand how much body weight corresponds to muscle development.

How to learn to pull up on the horizontal bar from scratch is not as simple a question as it might seem. Exercises using your own weight have a special technique for performing and require compliance with certain rules.

The benefits of training on the horizontal bar

Properly performed exercises on the crossbar will help:

Increase muscle strength and endurance;
Make a correction of the figure;
Get rid of excess weight;
Strengthen ligaments and joints.
In addition, the horizontal bar is one of the best shells for maintaining the spine in a functional and healthy state. In the meantime, the spine is young and healthy, and the whole body is young. Thanks to regular exercises, you will have an athletic torso with developed latissimus dorsi, strong muscles of the shoulder girdle and arms. Depending on the width of the coverage and the technique of performing the exercises, exercises on the horizontal bar allow you to work with a variety of muscle groups of the upper half of the body.

Where to begin
Those who have never done exercises can learn how to pull themselves up on the horizontal bar using a technique called “negative repetitions”. The essence of the technique is to assume such a position as if you have already completed the pull-up. To do this, you need to stand on a chair and gain a foothold in a position with bent arms and a chin over the crossbar. After that, you should slowly lower yourself down on outstretched arms, and then take your original position, using the support of a chair or bench. At first, three sets of 5 times a day will be enough.

For those who fail to pull themselves up even once, you can resort to the help of a partner who will stand behind and help to pull up. Another way is to strengthen the muscle groups that are needed for bar exercises with dumbbells, barbells or machines. Gymnasiums have special equipment for beginners. At home, you can use an elastic band. You can also practice pull-ups in half the entire amplitude.

Exercises on the horizontal bar for beginners should be performed slowly and with care: there is a possibility of damaging the ligaments or landing awkwardly when jumping down. Before starting the exercises, you need to warm up and stretch your muscles thoroughly for 15 minutes – any load will do to stimulate cardiovascular activity.

Many beginners are interested in the question of which muscles swing on the horizontal bar. The answer is that strength exercises on the horizontal bar develop all the muscles of the trunk and arms (pectoral muscles, dorsal muscles, biceps, triceps). Even the abdominal press can be pumped up with the help of a horizontal bar – for this, exercises such as lifting a coup, a corner and others are performed.

What’s stopping newbies?
There are several factors that particularly hinder beginners in their pursuits. It:

Overweight. Excess mass creates an extra load on the muscles, even if they are sufficiently developed. If you have never played sports before, then you should not start right away with pull-ups – first you need to do weight correction with the help of diet and special “ground” exercises.
Physical weakness. Even if your weight is normal, but the muscles are not sufficiently developed, it will not be easy to master pulling up from scratch. You should do preliminary preparation of the body – the development of strength and endurance.
Weakness of accessory muscles. It is necessary to develop not only the main muscle groups (the latissimus dorsi, biceps), but also the radial muscles, the posterior bundle of the deltoid muscles, and the pectoral muscles.
Unfinished technology. The technical aspect must be constantly improved, otherwise the muscles will develop unevenly, and the ligaments, joints and bones will experience excessive stress.

Correct technique
There are several general rules for performing exercises on the crossbar to achieve the maximum effect:

Pull-ups should be performed only due to muscle strength, without swinging and using inertia;
Lifting must be carried out smoothly and without jerks;
At the top of the exercise, the chin should be above the bar;
The body should also be lowered smoothly: the duration of the descent should be equal to the time of ascent;
It is very important to breathe correctly: when lifting, exhale, when descending, inhale;
Hold on to the bar with as strong a grip as possible;
Position the body strictly vertically.
Each type of exercise has its own nuances. If you are performing narrow pull-ups grip, try to touch the horizontal bar with the lower part of the chest, looking at the hands.

When you do wide-grip pull-ups, don’t arch your back and make jerky jerks: be careful not to injure your skull.

When performing pull-ups with a reverse grip, make sure that the shoulders are laid back and the shoulder blades are brought together.

When doing pull-ups with a wide grip, lift only due to the latissimus dorsi muscles: at the top point, try to achieve contact between the chest and the crossbar.

Performing exercises for the back on the horizontal bar, “turn off” the biceps.

There are also special exercises on the horizontal bar for growth: it is believed that with their help you can achieve stretching of the body up to 5 cm. These exercises are performed in free hanging – the body is stretched to its full length under the influence of its own weight. From this position, leg movements are made: back and forth, to the sides and back. You can also perform turns of the body to the side and bending the legs at the knees. Height exercises help correct posture, which can actually help increase height.

A set of exercises on the horizontal bar for beginners should not include too many approaches and different exercises. You should always start small (1-2 types of exercises): the most important thing in doing pull-ups is not to rush anywhere. The slower you do the exercises, the better. With slow execution, all the necessary muscle groups are involved and the technique is improved.

Systematic exercises will allow you to develop endurance and strength, after which you can gradually increase the number of repetitions. After a few years of systematic training, you may well learn to pull yourself up on one arm and do exercises with weights.

Contraindications
Classes on the horizontal bar have a small number of contraindications. You should not exercise on the bar for people with diseases and disorders such as:

Scoliosis (curvature of the spine);
Herniated discs;
Spinal protrusions.
Caution should be exercised on the horizontal bar for people with osteochondrosis. On the one hand, exercises contribute to increased blood circulation and the development of mobility of the vertebral structures, on the other hand, excessive load during degenerative changes in the vertebrae contraindicated. People with cervical osteochondrosis should be especially careful: pull-ups can increase pain and cause dizziness.