Working up to pull ups

[Hrunter]

I've been digging through a few sites, looking for 'pull' exercises. I'm thinking of working my way up to pull ups.

The basic body weight routine mentions inverse rows but... well, I'm working on finding a stable something to pull from. (Maybe a woodworking horse?)

I know I could use resistance bands (I have my red one from physio, somewhere)

Or there's the one arm rows (need to think of something heavy to work with. I could load up a tool kit, maybe?)

In the meantime, are there other exercises that effectively work with pull muscles?

[bigm141414]

Negatives. Basically, get into the top position of the pull up (by jumping, standing on a chair, etc..) and then slowly and under control lower yourself down. These help train your muscles to flex and tighten in the proper way during a pullup.

[halftruths]

Right now I'm working with inverse rows, weighted rows with resistance bands, negatives (as described above by bigm), and assisted pull-ups. The negatives and assisted pull-ups I do in a nearby playground, and I've noticed a huge difference in just a couple of weeks. I can't yet do a full pull-up, but I have made gains in terms of how far I can pull myself up. It's very encouraging, I would definitely recommend giving them a try. Playgrounds are genius for improvised workout equipment.

[Darth Frivolous]

I second what bigm says. Working on negatives got me to my first pullup on 8/13/11, and I can do 6 now. That first one was the hardest by far! I still do weighted negatives with a heavy backpack so that I can do more pullups.