Pulling exercises are quite important exercises no matter if you are a calisthenics athlete or a power lifter. While the pulling exercises specifically regular pull up and chin up have a lot to offer they are quite difficult to perform too. This is where the Australian Pull up come in handy.

Australian pull-up is one of the best calisthenic exercise for those who are working to a standard pull-up. It is also called as horizontal pull-up or bodyweight row or inverted row. Australian also involves in “down under” which is above the waist height and feet rest on the ground.

Australian Pull Up

Australian Pull-ups is to work for the upper body, the muscles of the back, abs, and biceps. The pullup training is amazing as the body works against the gravity. Pull-ups are good to pull against the resistance and avoid pitfalls. It is done in the best way at the waist-height bar.

• Pull-ups difficulty level is intermediate.

• It focuses on strength

• The muscles that involve in the exercise are Back, Shoulders, Biceps, and Abs

• The equipment used is Pull-up Bar.

Australian pull up or more commonly known as Inverted Row or Bodyweight Rows are one of the best ways to strengthen your back muscles. It works on all the major back muscles that we are going to discuss later in the article.

Inverted row is a great exercise to progress towards the regular pull ups if your body lacks the strength to perform them. It is a calisthenics exercise that majorly works on upper body, the back muscles but the entire body gets the benefits Australian pull ups have to offer. And the best part of this exercise is that you can challenge the entire body without the need for any equipment or gym membership.

The unusual movement involved in the Australian pull-up will also add a fun element to your routine. It can be performed at the start of your workout routine and or at the end, to complete the session with a full body workout.

In this post, we will discuss the technique involved in Australian pullup and how to master it, the muscle group this exercise works on, the benefits of Australian pull ups, who should do it and how much should it be done, and its comparison with a regular pushup.

The Technique to Master The Art of Australian Pull Up

Although! Advance level athletes can incorporate the Australian pullup in their fitness program but as mentioned above this exercise is basically for beginners and usually used as a progression towards the advance exercises like pull ups and muscle ups.

That being said, there are high chances for anyone to miss on the body positioning and the proper technique to perform the exercise which is very crucial for any kind of exercise.

I’m going to write down the proper technique and body positioning necessary to perform Aussie Pull ups so that you don’t make the same mistakes that others do.

• Fix a pullup bar at little over waist height or around one and a quarter meter high.
• Lie under the bar and grasp the bar with straight arms a little wider than shoulder width.
• Back, hips and the heels should be in a straight line and should not be bent.
• You can keep your feet at width if you are having difficulty in maintaining the balance, else, keep the feet closer to each other.
• Pull your arms up making an angle of almost 45 degrees from your heels and breath out at the same time. Pull your self up until your chest is almost touching the bar.
• Hold this position for at least a second and then return to the original position while breathing in.
• Keep your core and glute engaged and tight while performing the exercise.
• Do not, I repeat do not leave your head hanging while performing the exercise.

Muscle Group Australian Pull Up Works On

Australian pull-up majorly works on various muscle groups in the upper body like Biceps, Shoulders, legs, glutes, and abs because of the unconventional range of motion but the primary focus remains the back muscles.

The main muscles that get worked by Australian Pull Ups are Traps, latissimus dorsi, rhomboids and deltoids.

You can also work the muscles differently by changing the grip slightly like a little wider grip than the shoulder width or holding the bar from under arm grip.

Variations Of Australian Pull Up

1. Progression For Absolute Beginners:

If you are an absolute beginner and think that performing it’ll be difficult or you to perform Australian Pull Up or incline pull up then there are two different modifications you can adopt.

a. Fixing the bar at a lower height and keeping the hips and legs on the ground. This is a great way to reduce the exercise difficulty like knee pushup when you are not able to perform a regular push up.

b. The next variation is by performed by bending the knees and keeping the feet on ground rather than the heels. This variation is little more difficult than the previous one and more muscles get worked in this.

c. You can also try the underhand grip that’d focus more on the bicep muscles.

2. Scaling up Aussie Pull Ups:

Once, you are able to perform regular Australian pull ups it’s time to introduce some difficulty level to make it more challenging to reap the maximum benefits of the exercise.

There are three ways that can be used to increase the difficulty level for the exercise.

a. By wearing a weighted vest.

b. By elevating the feet higher.

c. By extending the time to perform a repetition.

Benefits Of Australian Pull Up:

Australian pull up offers slightly different benefits from the regular pull ups or chin ups as the range of motion to perform this exercise works on the muscles differently.

Although regular pull ups also works on the back muscles which is the main muscle group that Australian pull up also works but, the intensity with which Australian pull up works is slightly lower.

Australian pulls however, is the best way to progress towards the regular pull ups if your body lacks the strength to perform full range of motion in regular pull ups.

Australian pull ups can also be integrated as warm up exercise during your back or pulling exercise days if you are one of the advance level athletes.

Australian Pull Ups Vs Regular Push Up

Now why would anyone compare a pulling exercise with a pushing exercise? It is true that both exercises are completely different and offers different benefits but the main reason why we are comparing both the exercises is because they both have similar range of motion.

If you look closely this exercise is exactly the opposite of regular push up, or we can say that inverted rows or our Aussie pull up is a down under pushup.

In both the exercises the hands remain fully extended and the only thing touching/holding the surface are palms and feet. Complete body from head to toe including torso, glutes and legs remain in a straight line. The body motion is exactly the same, the complete body moves in a straight line until the chest almost touch the surface.

Although there are striking similarities between both the exercises but the benefits and the main muscle groups they work on are entirely different. The push up works on mainly the chest muscles while the Aussie pull up works on back muscles. There are certain muscle groups like core, glutes and shoulders that get worked in both the exercises.

Australian pull ups are fundamental elements by which we can gain the strength needed to perform on the high bar. You can perform it anywhere, all you need is a pull up bar. It can also be used in superset after increasing reps and pull-ups.

Gradually this exercise turns in to plyometric movements switching from wide grip to the narrow grip or vice versa. Australian chin up is also very useful and easy exercise.

Wrapping Up

Australian Pull up works on a variety of muscle groups and helps you build strength for many other advance level exercises. Changing the grip and the position of your body also allows you to target muscles differently.