Trying to get better at pull-ups is a common goal for many gym-goers.
Pull-ups are a challenging exercise that take high levels of strength, endurance, and overall fitness to be able to do well.
When trying to do more pull-ups, finding the right exercises to help you along the way can make a big difference in how successful you are.
That’s where this article comes in.
In it, we discuss whether push-us help with pull-ups. We look at ways in which push-ups can help with pull-ups, as well as exploring how helpful different push-up variations are at helping you get better at pull-ups.
Do Push-Ups Help With Pull-Ups?
Push-ups aren’t particularly helpful when it comes to getting better at pull-ups.
This makes sense when you think about it as push-ups primarily target your chest, shoulders, and arms, while pull-ups primarily target your lats and other muscles on the back side of your body.
As both exercises require different muscle groups to activate (the opposite in some cases), one doesn’t really have too much of an impact on the other.
That being said, there are some push-up variations that can help you improve your pull-ups, but as far as regular push-ups go, there’ll be much better exercises out there.
Why Do Push-Ups Help With Pull-Ups?
Push-ups don’t generally help with pull-ups too much. However, there are a couple of reasons why you might find that you get better at pull-ups after doing push-ups.
You Get Stronger
Doing push-ups on a regular basis can increase your strength by more than you might think.
The stronger you get (particualrly in your upper body), the easier pull-ups should be for you.
As push-ups are a great exercise for increasing upper body strength, even though the muscles being used are different to the ones used in pull-ups, a stronger upper body can actually go a long way in helping you get better at pull-ups.
Your Fitness Level Improves
Regular push-ups can help increase your overall fitness level.
This can also help you get better at pull-ups as you might find them much more comfortable as your fitness level continues to go up.
While they might not directly help pull-ups, push-ups can indirectly help you do more pull-ups.
Do Handstand Push-Ups Help With Pull-Ups?
Handstand push-ups can help with pull-ups but they might not be the most effective way of getting better at them.
When you do handstand push-ups, your shoulders, chest, back, and arms have to do a lot of work to make the movement happen.
As these are some of the working muscles used in pull-ups, you might find that this type of push-up helps to make pull-ups a little easier.
Handstand push-ups are a very challenging exercise to do correctly, so you’ll need to take a lot of care if you’re using them as part of your pull-up development program.
Do Pike Push-Ups Help With Pull-Ups?
Pike push-ups can have an impact on how easy you find pull-ups.
This push-up variation is a big shoulder developing exercise. It also brings your back and core muscles into play throughout the movement.
These are all activated in pull-ups too so, by strengthening them with pike push-ups, your pull-ups could actually improve.
What’s The Best Push-Up Variant To Help With Pull-Ups?
The pike push-up is probably one of the best push-up variations to help with pull-ups.
The main reason for this is that similar muscles are used in both exercises.
While pull-ups will be the more challenging of the two, pike push-ups can help build strength, endurance, and overall fitness in the muscles needed to be able to do pull-ups successfully.
Conclusion
In summary:
- Push-ups don’t really help with pull-ups as they target different muscle groups.
- Doing push-ups regularly can improve your fitness, which is likely to be beneficial when it comes to doing pull-ups.
That’s all for this article, but can you do push ups with tennis elbow? Or perhaps you’re interested in diamond push ups vs regular?
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.