Adapting Vertical Pulls
Whether you have painful shoulders or just can’t perform chin-ups or pull-ups, you can still do your vertical pulling exericse. After some experimenting with a few versions, we’re using this one with great success with clients who just can’t do an effective pull-up or chin-up. Sure we still use bands to assist with vertical pulls, but this allows some variation. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
How are his legs positioned?
He’s actually in half kneeling on the bench. We’ll also use a more stable version done sitting on the floor and leaning in.
Bill,
What is it in particular about this version that makes this a more shoulder-friendly option for those with painful shoulders?
Even for healthy folks, this seems like it would be a worthwhile variation to work in for the hypertrophy-minded lifter, given the unilateral nature and ability to get a nice stretch in this position.
Hey Bill,
Is there anything particular about that position for it to be used? As opposed to lying on back, chest, being completely vertical (like in a lat-pulldown), etc.
We definitely use it for healthy folks as well. The angle allows us to adjust the starting angle of the shoulder to one of comfort and still pull down in a vertical plane relative to the body.
Hi Bill! I’ve done a variation of this for a few years, kneeling on the floor and facing the weight stack at a slight angle. Great stretch, really feeling them in the lats, and one of my clients saw huge lat gains by using them in addition to pull-ups and dumbbell rows. Your motion on the incline bench seems more isolated to the teres, serratus and rhomboids. Have you found that to be the case also, and was that your intention? Would you recommend it for helping upper crossed syndrome?
Not so much serratus. Wrong motion. You can however alter your plane of pulling to alter recruitment from a corrective standpoint.
Great demo Bill. I could use this variation with some of my clients. Let’s see how it goes.
Rick Kaselj
of ExercisesForInjuries.com