While the old adage might say, “You should never skip leg day,” it is fair to say that many men still do it and focus on their upper body instead. But these upper body workout routines usually include bicep curls, bench press, and tricep pulldowns: classic, proven moves that will get you the muscles you want.
However, 49-year-old father of 5 and former world numbering pro duathlete Paul Sklar has other ideas and reminds us in his latest video that was posted on Instagram to never skip pull-up day.
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Pull-ups can be compared to leg training in that no one really wants to do them, but they know how effective they can be. Being able to do proficient pull-ups is a sign of real upper body strength and makes it a move that you really should include in your workout routines as often as possible.
You don’t necessarily have to start aiming for high reps, on the contrary. The chin-up, while it sounds simple, can actually be a difficult exercise to do properly – luckily Paul himself provided a perfect explanation beforehand on how to get the most out of your chin-ups – so if you can just make it 4 or 5 reps on your first try, it gives you a good starting point to make progress.
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As for Paul, he clearly never skipped chin-up day based on his performance in his Instagram video completing a section of the Rugged Maniac obstacle course in Massachusetts, USA: a three mile obstacle course with over 25 obstacles that must be overcome. When Paul is hanging from some floating poles, he has to hold himself instead of letting his body weight hang to lead himself over the poles. When you hold yourself in this position, there is tremendous strain on his shoulders and upper back, the main areas that are trained in pullups.
In a separate video, he explains that, despite its numerous advantages, you don’t always have to use the wide handle when using dumbbells with a pull-up bar or handle attachments. Instead, he adds, “Mix it up a bit and try something new so you don’t get stale.”
When doing chin-ups of any variation, it is usually best to only do sets to failure, that is, until you cannot do another chin-up of the correct form. In this way, it’s not just psychological benefits: if you miss your set goal of 10 reps, for example, you will be disappointed. But if you don’t have a target to aim for, set your own yardstick, but that also means you don’t get pull-ups wrong, which could potentially lead to injury.
