21 Days of Pull-ups! Exercises To Maximize Aerial & Acrobatic Training

Why do we care about pull-ups? Because they’re the single most important conditioning exercise for aerial work (click here & I’ll tell you why). A few rules:

1) Don’t hurt yourself. Work hard, but be mindful of pushing to injury. Never done pull-ups before? Have a pro check your form.

2) Use a chair underneath you or pull-up bands to assist as necessary, helping you to complete the full range of motion with good form.

3) Be exceedingly conscious of maintaining proper technique: shoulder blades elevated & rotated when arms are extended overhead (read this!), shoulders away from the ears at the top of the pull-up, ribs tucked in. If you experience anything more than normal muscle soreness and fatigue, stop immediately and consult a medical professional.

4) You can check out this video series for tips on improving your form.

Now. Who says girls don’t do pull-ups? Nobody. Nobody should ever say that. GET BUSY.

Click here to download the 21 Days of Pull-ups PDF!

As always, if you like this post, share it on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else you crazy kids are posting things these days!

9 comments on “21 Days Of Pull-Ups!”

Pippi Parnasse February 21, 2012

Those side-to-side ones are pretty awkward on the door frame bar. Tips for not bumping anything?
- Lewitwer February 21, 2012
  
  Depends on your bar! Just do the best you can – shorten your range of movement if you have to. If you have one with the protruding handles, grab as close to one of those as you can. Hope that helps a bit! 🙂
Richard August 3, 2012

I look forward to trying this. I do 10 pike pull ups, 10 pike chin ups, and 10 knees up every other day. I fly at TSNY Washington, DC about 2x/week.

Can you make your suggetions less sexist?
- Lewitwer August 3, 2012
  
  Thanks for your input, Richard! About 97% of my readers are women, so try not to think of it as sexist so much as talking to the majority of my readers. But yes – I will certainly try to include you gentlemen more often! 😉 Enjoy the challenge (though with your current routine, I’m not sure it will be much of a challenge!)
Shelley April 10, 2014

Hi Laura:
So, I can’t even pull myself up anywhere near the bar to attempt Day 1.
What do you suggest? Sustained hanging?
Thanks.
- Lewitwer April 10, 2014
  
  Use a chair to help you complete the full range of motion! 🙂
Michelle March 19, 2015

I am onto day 5. I can already feel a difference in my silks class. Thanks for providing something structured to learn from 🙂
Stefan Brundage January 6, 2020

Hi Laura,
I’m super looking forward to trying this out! Thanks for putting this out there. Just so I know what I’m getting into: what kind of results have you seen from this? Like what kind of increases have you found people get out of it? I’m personally trying to get more reps out of myself but overall I’m trying to reignite my aerial work.
Thanks so much!
- Lewitwer January 7, 2020
  
  Hi Stefan! Results vary depending on the student and what they put into it, but most go from being unable to do a pull-up to performing multiples. 🙂