Pull ups are very beneficial, but you should take into account the following safety reminders in order to avoid injury.

1. Do Not swing or bounce when using your pull up bar.
2. Do Not attempt to hang by your feet or legs from your pull up bar.
3. Do Not use a doorway pull up bar if you weigh over 300 lbs.  Try a pull up station instead.
4. Do Not use a doorway pull up bar if you are unsure about the stability of the doorway or door jamb.
5. Do Not allow children under 18 years of age to use a doorway pull up bar unless supervised by an adult.
6. Ensure that you test to make sure your pull up bar is completely secure in the doorway before using it.
7. Make sure you maintain a controlled motion when performing pull ups or chin ups.

Pull ups and chin ups are great at-home exercises, but you need to take these precautions to ensure that you avoid injury.  Now get back to your workout and add some reps!

Protecting your Door Frame

Doorway pull up bars are a very convenient piece of exercise equipment to own. They are portable, and can be set up in seconds, and removed in seconds once your workout is complete. Then they can easily be stored in a closet or under a bed until your next workout.

Most of the vendors of doorway pull up bars claim that they will not do any damage to your door frame. This is true for the most part. But ... with extended use over time, I can see how the door frame could become dented or dimpled at the point where the bar rests on the frame.

I'm in a newly-built home, and the last thing I want to do is give my wife a reason to get angry with me. So I recommend adding a little extra protection or padding in between the door frame and the bar. I use a couple of old rags, as pictured above. These add enough extra padding to ensure that the door frame is protected, and it won't adversely affect your workout.

Check out the following slide presentation showing how easy it is to install a doorway pull up bar.  I just received this pull up bar, had it put together in a matter of minutes, and had it installed in seconds.  After going through a few quick sets, I'm already feeling the burn!

I saw this picture out on Flicker:  Build your own pull up bar for $37.  It looks like a very sturdy bar, but is it worth it?  If you are a do-it-yourselfer, and just like the idea of using things that you built with your own hands, then maybe it is worth it.  If your goal is to save money, then I would say No, it isn't worth it.

Pull-up bars are a very inexpensive piece of exercise gear.  I just polled some different online retail establishments, and found pull-up bars for as low as $27.00 with free shipping.  And this bar had multiple hand grips, allowing you to do mixed grip pull-ups to target different muscles.

Getting your first pull-up can be a challenge for some people.  The lack of upper body strength can make pull-ups a difficult obstacle to overcome.  Training the right muscles and building strength come with time, and you can soon be adding more reps as you gain strength.

If you can't get a single pull-up, maybe you need a little help.  Try assisted pull-up that will help to work your latissimus dorsi, as you go through the motions.  A stretch band (like the Iron Woody Band) is perfect for this.  Once you gain strength from assisted pull-ups, you can abandon the band and find yourself getting your first unassisted pullups.

Another option is to use a spotter to hold your legs and assist in vertical elevation.  Either method will start training your lats, and put you on the path to unassisted pull-ups.

Check out the following video showing Band Assisted Pull-Ups.

Pullup Plateau

Hitting a pullup plateau is a common problem.  You may have seen some good progress in the first weeks you started your program.  As your reps got easier, you've added reps, but now you have hit that plateau and don't seem to be improving.  You may have even regressed recently.

So what's the secret to busting through a pullup plateau?  Consider the following:

• Take some time off...
  Consider backing off for a week or so, and give your muscles a rest.  In the meantime, try working your lower body, or try running for some cardio.  Continue your pullup workout where you left off, and see if you can progress from there.
• Add horizontal pulling and external rotation fo the shoulder exercises...
  Pullups don't work all of your back muscles.  Target some of the supporting muscles.  Wake these lazy muscles up and you can gain some reps.
• Vary your pullup exercises...
  Try mixed grip pullups.  Experiment with the width of your grip, i.e. narrow grip and wide grip.  Try some circular motion pullups and side to side pullups.  Standard pullups will work the same muscles repetitively.  By performing modified pullups, you can target different areas of your muscles.  Build those supporting muscles to bust through that plateau.  The weakest muscle in your muscle group may be holding you back.
• Try a dip belt...
  Add some weight and decrease your reps.  Try this for a few sets a day, a few times a week.  Get stronger to get more reps.  Take a few days off to give your muscles some rest, then go back to your regular program.

Benefits of Pull Ups

Pull ups are one of the most effective home exercises for increasing the strength and endurance of your biceps, shoulders, and back muscles. This one exercise will work your back, chest, stomach, biceps, triceps, and help to develop hand strength. Pull ups have been part of military training and conditioning for decades.

A big benefit of this exercise, is that it requires very little equipment and you don't need a gym membership.  All you need is an inexpensive pull up bar.  A doorway pull up bar is perfect for the home user.  They are portable, are set up and taken down easily, and don't require drilling or holes in the door frame resulting in permanent damage.

Variations of the standard pull up can be used to target or enhance specific muscles. These variations can be as simple as:

1. A different hand grip
2. Changing the width of your grip
3. Adding diagonal motion, circular motion, or side to side motion
4. Performing hanging leg lifts or crunches
5. Adding weight to your core

Pull ups will give you strength and the definition you are looking for.  The key is persistance and consistency.  If you need to start off slow, that's fine.  Just keep a routine.  Even if you can only do a couple or few pull ups at a time, just try to do multiple sets with a minute break or so in between each set.  Do your sets twice a week and do this consistently.  Each week, try to add a rep or two to your sets.  As you build strength, your ability will increase, and adding reps will continue to advance your muscle strength and development.