The 1st thing you want to do, is to decide whether you want your palms to face towards you, or outwards. When you try to do pull ups with your palms facing towards you, you are exercising more on your biceps. If your palms face outwards, you are using more muscles in multiple muscle groups – your chest, your shoulder, and your Teres muscle.

Next, you will need to make a decision on the intensity of the pull up routine. The more intense the program, the shorter the amount of rest time, and the higher the number of reps in each set.

Usually, a routine consists of 3 sets. In each set, depending on your needs, you will be conducting a series of pull ups. For example, you can try something like twelve in set 1, eight in set two, and 4 in set 3. So how do you know how many chin ups to do in a single set? To determine the amount of reps, try to do just 1 set of pull ups until you can’t pull yourself up anymore. How many did you do? If you did ten pull ups, you can start with 8 to 10 pull ups for your 1st set. If you do just 4 pull ups, you can start with 3 to 4 for your 1st set.

After each set, give yourself some time to rest. The rest time is needed for the blood to get oxygen to your muscles. If you shorten the rest time, you increase the intensity of your training. For instance, if you are training for power and strength, you can start your second set after just 30 seconds. But if you are training for endurance, you can rest for a minute before starting your next set.

The break time also depends on your level of fitness. In the beginning, you may need a full minute rest before starting on the 2nd set. Over time, you may then reduce the rest time to 50 seconds, then 40 seconds, and so on.

As your strength and fitness level gets better, you can also try to do a higher number of reps per set, or you can try spreading your hands further apart. You will find that it’s much harder to do 1 pull up with your palms further apart. This is because the posture needs you to use more of your upper body strength instead of your arms. If you just beginning, just spread your arms across your shoulder length.

To further increase the intensity of a pull up workout, try strapping weights to your waist or limbs. Then try to continue the same work out.

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