Pull-ups will likely play a key role in your training program if you’re trying to build a bigger back.
As well as helping to build some big back muscles, pull-ups can also bring other benefits too.
In this article, we take a look to see if pull-ups can actually make you wider.
As well as this, we also discuss how often you should be doing pull-ups if you want to get as many benefits as possible from them.
Do Pull-Ups Make Your Shoulders Wider?
Wider shoulders are another great benefit you can experience if you do pull-ups consistently.
Your shoulders have to exert a lot of effort during the pull-up movement, which helps them get bigger and stronger.
As your shoulders grow, you’ll have a broader (wider) appearance to your upper body.
Do Pull-Ups Make Your Back Wider?
Pull-ups are a challenging exercise that make your back muscles work very hard.
The harder muscles have to work, the more they’re able to grow and develop in both size and strength.
A wide back tends to be due to having some truly big lats.
As your lats play a big role in pull-ups, doing them regularly can certainly help you increase the width of your back.
It’s not just your lats that work hard during pull-ups (they aren’t the only back muscle to be working either), but building your lats will go a long way in making your back wider.
Do Pull-Ups Make You Wider?
Yes, pull-ups can make you wider.
The target muscles of pull-ups include your traps, lats, shoulders, and other back muscles.
When all of these are worked, they get stronger but they also get bigger (usually).
This can make you wider – particularly as your lats get bigger.
Think about the last time you had a lat pump after a good back workout…
Remember how wide you felt and how much your lats had popped out, preventing your arms from resting completely by your side?
This can be close to your normal muscle tone if you get your pull-ups right.
Do Pull-Ups Give You A V-Taper?
The v-taper, the highly sought-after goal of bodybuilders all over the world.
If you’re not sure what a v-taper is, it’s referring to the typical V-shape a particularly muscular person’s body forms when looked at from the front or behind.
To get a v-taper you usually need wide lats, broad shoulders, and a small waist.
These can all be achieved through pull-ups so they’re a great exercise if you want a v-taper.
What’s The Best Type of Pull-Up For Making You Broader?
Wide-grip pull-ups are a fantastic exercise for helping add width to your physique.
The wide grip brings your lats and shoulders into play a great deal.
As these are two muscles that are important in creating a broader appearance, wide-grip pull-ups will be a good choice if this is a fitness goal you’re trying to achieve.
Do Pull-Ups Make Your Waist Smaller?
Yes and no.
Pull-ups can certainly help in creating the appearance of a smaller waist.
Think back to our v-taper explanation when we discussed how pull-ups can help widen your lats and your shoulders.
As the upper parts of your upper body get wider, your waist will usually begin to look smaller.
While pull-ups don’t target your waist so it won’t actually be getting smaller as a result of the exercise, they can certainly help make your waist appear smaller if nothing else.
How Many Reps And Sets Of Pull-Ups Should You Do For Width?
To help increase your width, it can be beneficial to perform three to six sets of eight to fifteen pull-ups.
This tends to be a good range to challenge the working muscles enough to stimulate lots of growth and development, but also to allow you to successfully complete your reps and sets.
How Often Should You Do Pull-Ups For Width?
This will depend on what other exercises you’re doing in addition to pull-ups.
You need to be careful not to overtrain by doing pull-ups too often.
However, you also need to make sure you’re doing them enough to get the most benefit from them.
If you’re doing pull-ups as part of a structured split program, then once a week might be suitable.
If you’re doing pull-ups as a standalone exercise though, somewhere between three and five times a week could be an effective range.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Since pull-ups activate your shoulders and improve your posture, they can make your shoulders appear wider.
- Pull-ups can help you achieve a v-taper as they help widen your lats and shoulders.
That’s all for this article, but can pull-ups lose belly fat? Or is it harder to do pull-ups with long arms?
Hope this helped!
Sources
I’ve been in the fitness and strength training industry for nearly a decade. In that time, I’ve gained 30 pounds of muscle, written hundreds of articles, and reviewed dozens of fitness supplements. As for my educational background, I’m a currently studying for my Active IQ Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training.