pullups

[josh smith]

I was just wondering which way I should practice pullups palms facing away, or facing back toward me

thanks

[groundup]

The proper way to do a pullup is with hands facing away. You will get a much "fuller" workout that way. Although pullups are an excellent upper body workout, the Army doesn't grade you on them and you shouldn't focus your energy on them. You should spend your time running and doing pushups and situps.

[LightsOut]

Pullups shouldn't be that much of a challenge for you. If you plan on going to airborne school, they require you to do pullups with palms facing in. Their requirements are only 10 pullups and then you're done, so with minimal training you should be fine.

[LRSU_Dog]

In my opinion pull ups are important for two reasons:

1. They contribute to overall body strength and conditoning (upper body),
2. They are graded for Airborne personnel (not just in school)

For the purposes of Airborne School you must complete 6 full "dead-hang" palms facing inward pull ups, with your chin clearly above the bar when you pull up (use 1 inch as a guide). This means that you cannot swing or lunge, you pull straight up and drop straight down keeping a rigid body position.

Trust that pull ups, when done correctly are not that easy... but by alternating sets of pullups with palms facing in, and palms facing out you will see an increase in overall ability - you are working with a focus on different muscle groups as part of the collective arm structure.

Yes spend time "excercising" with varied tasks, do not just train for a PT test, you are not doing yourself any favors. I would urge you to add pullups to your work out routine by all means! And definately ensure you do them "dead-hang" to get full advantage of the excercise - swinging, lunging, or "kipping" (the later being a Marine thing as they do pull ups differently than the rest of us) do not help you in body strength or Airborne School.

Shoot for 6, work toward 12 :)