Opening and Closing the Ribcage for Pull-up Performance.
Opening and Closing the Ribacage for Pull-up/Chin-up Performance.
There are many variations of Pull-ups/Chin-ups and a progression to challenge every skill level. Pull-ups/Chin-ups are a lifelong pursuit and can be included in your training plan forever. They are an essential lift and a skill to develop. It is easy to see that Pull-ups/Chin-ups are an upper body exercise, but the abdominal muscles play a critical role. The Abs control the J-shaped curve of the Pull-up/Chin-up; improve efficiency for high rep ranges; and when used correctly will help you hit a heavy 1Rep Max. The Abs do this in the way that they control the opening and closing of the ribcage.
There is a tremendous amount of abdominal activation in a Chin-up. Dr. Brett Contreras performed EMG testing of popular abdominal exercise and found the bodyweight Chin-up to have the highest Mean and Peak Ab activation. Here is a link to his article. It is an interesting read. In his technique for Chin-ups a constant hollow-body position was maintained. https://t-nation.com/t/inside-the-muscles-best-ab-exercises/284623
What is a hollow-body position? Hollowing is a posterior tilting of the pelvis to engage the Abs and squeeze the glutes. Imagine tilting your pelvis up into your ribcage as if you were trying to connect your belt buckle to your ribs/sternum. The opposite is an anterior tilt, which is an arching of the lower back, which engages the muscle of the lower back. Many coaches will teach lifters to posterior tilt their pelvis during Pull-ups/Chin-ups. The abdominal activation will give the lifter a more stable base to pull from by taking the slack out of their body. This can be helpful for short rep range bodyweight sets with a slow tempo. It is good to understand how a hollow-body position works and it is a useful concept. Unfortunately, the rigid nature of the hollow-body position will become an issue if you plan to perform 8+ reps at a medium speed. The hollow-body shape will fight with the natural J-shaped Curve of the Pull-up/Chin-up. The subtle pendulum of the Pull-up/Chin-up will become more of a rotary movement due to the hollow posture and as you try to make more reps they will become harder to control. A hollow-body posture is best used for “paused” reps.
The opposite of a hollow-body posture is an arched lower back. This posture for a Pull-up/Chin-up only really comes into play in the case of Sternum Pull-ups/Chin-ups a.k.a. “Gironda Pull-ups”; named after Vince Gironda. In a Sternum Pull-up the back is purposely arched to an extreme to change the angle of the movement; in an effort to make the Pull-up more of a horizontal movement. This is done to put a hypertrophy emphasis on the back musculature. It is an effective strategy, and a very difficult variation. At less of an extreme is a Wide Grip Pull-up which encourages a bit more of an open ribcage position. These are both good variations, but are best used only occasionally and for a short period. They are great for a 4 week hypertrophy phase or a 2 week deload.
Neither of these postures is efficient for accumulating higher rep ranges or for lifting heavy reps. If we look at the strongest competitors in Street Lifting where maximal weight Dips and Chin-up/Pull-up are contested; we can clearly see how they start with an open ribcage in their set up and close their ribcage as they pull. Are they intentionally arching their lower back? No, not necessarily. Some of the arch in their lower backs is due to the huge weights hanging from their belt, but they are certainly starting from an open ribcage position where there is some arching of the lower back. Having the ability to close the ribs and pelvis together as a lifter initiates a heavy single rep gives them a huge advantage to fire more musculature and create a kinematic sequence. Leaving the ribcage open through the whole movement would be a weak position to pull from. Closing the ribs activates the Abs and the Abs make everything stronger. Closing the ribcage and getting “hollow” before initiating the pull makes the rep more difficult. It is far more athletic to have a sequence of movement, a kinematic sequence. Closing the ribcage as the pull is initiated does that and it keeps your center of mass closer to the bar as you pull upward, but also backward.
Starting with a closed ribcage (hollow-body) changes your position under the bar. The posterior tilt engages the lengthened lats, this makes starting the rep difficult. The engagement of the lats also naturally brings your shoulders behind the bar. Just by closing/hollowing the ribcage we have put the body in a position of less leverage. Street Lifting competitors start in an open ribcage position to be in a position of leverage; have slack to initiate their lift from, and create a sequence of movement to generate more power.
For higher rep sets this sequence of movement is essential to controlling the subtle little bit of swinging that naturally happens with Pull-ups/Chin-ups. I am not suggesting a kip. NO KIPPING allowed. The goal is to move with the natural momentum of the Pull-up/Chin-up, but this requires patience and rhythm. Slightly opening the ribcage at the bottom of the rep and closing the ribcage at the top of the rep will tame the arc of the Pull-up/Chin-up. Timing is key and it will come with experience. A controlled down is important. If you let your body fall back to the bottom, you will never find the timing. You want to have enough muscle activation to control the descent, but you are not trying to make a slow negative. Think of guiding the movement versus falling through it. Allowing a fall into the bottom will put unnecessary stress on your shoulders and elbows, but it will also kill any possibility of having rhythm and tempo. As you guide yourself into the bottom of the rep there will be a bit of forward momentum. Allow your ribcage to open as you get to the “peak” of that forward “swing”. Opening the ribcage will help to decelerate, and lessen, the swing and allow you to smoothly change directions to initiate your next pull. As you pull yourself up, close your ribcage to keep the J-shaped curve tighter, and to get more muscle activation to complete your pull. There is no need to touch your body to the bar. Clearance is all you need. Sometimes a touch to the bar can be the cause of elbow or shoulder pain, depending on your limb lengths. Touching the bar during high rep sets also increases the curve of the Pull-up/Chin-up path, which makes it more difficult to make smooth reps. As you get a “feel” for the path and when to open and close your ribcage, you WILL be able to make more reps; purely from improved efficiency.
The opening and closing of the ribcage should happen with the tempo of your reps. Remember being on a swingset when you were a kid. How fast do you need to pump your legs? At the tempo and rhythm of the speed and height of the swing. If you reach your legs out before you get to the peak of the swing you will get out of rhythm; and if you leave your legs extended as you swing back to the other peak you will get out of rhythm. The Chin-up/Pull-up is just like swinging on a swing. Ribs open into the bottom of the down swing and then close as you pull above the bar. On a swing your legs open on the forward/down swing and then close on the back swing. To be extra clear, we are not trying to create a swing in your Pull-up/Chin-up. The goal is to be efficient with the subtle swing that naturally happens and to keep it minimal. Learn to work with it, not against it. There is a time for paused reps, but remember that if you want to be able to do maximal reps it is going to happen with a medium tempo that is well timed.
