Cross Training Exercises You Can Do with Just a Pull-Up Bar

Pull-up bars are some of the favorite pieces of equipment for any serious CrossFitter looking to enhance his workout. You can have pull-up bars anywhere in your house, and this means you don’t have to visit the CrossFit gym to do your exercises necessarily. Some of the places you can build pull-up bars include at the doorway right outside your house, at the ceiling in your garage gym or the backyard of your house.

Pull-up bars are an incredibly efficient piece of equipment and depending on how you use them; you can make the best out of them. That said, some gyms do not have this old-school piece of equipment simply because they have no idea what a pull-up bar can do.

To inspire you, the following are some of the exercises you can do with just a pull-up bar and nothing else.

Pull Ups

These are amazing exercises for the upper body which work out your back muscles. They also strengthen your core muscles and arms, particularly as you master them and your form gets improved.

Doing pull-ups is simple. With straight elbows, begin from a dead hang with your palms facing away from you. Keep your shoulders back and your chest up while your core is tightened. Gradually, pull yourself up until your chest comes into contact with the bar.

There are lots of variations you can do including jumping pull-ups and flex hangs. If you feel you are not ready for pull-ups, it is advisable you go through some pull-up preparation or mastery sessions first.

Burpees Pull Ups

Compared to the basic pull up above, burpee pull-ups are more advanced and work on your pull up strength. They also up your heart rate so that pumping of blood to the muscles can be faster.

To perform this CrossFit exercise, stand in front of the bar and then drop into a squat position. Let your hands be on the floor as you kick your back into a push-up position. Gradually, lower your body to the floor and do a full push up. Finally jump back to the squat position and up into the air as you do a pull-up. How hard burpee pull-ups are depended on the height of your pull-up bar.

Chin Ups

These exercises are known for working on your latissimus dorsi muscles as well as your biceps. When you perform chin-ups, your body tends to work together to pull you up to the bar. For this reason, they are categorized as all-around exercises.

Like pull ups, chin ups have lots of other variations such as negatives, flex hangs, and jumping chin ups that you can do.

L-Sits

This exercise is often viewed as a parallette bars exercise and not necessarily as a pull-up bar CrossFit workout. When done through the pull-up bar, they can help enhance your core strength.

Other workouts you may do using the pull-up bar include the muscle ups, hanging leg raises, knees to elbows, and hanging knee raises.