Every woman should be able to do ONE unassisted pull up.

Bold statement? YUP!

But hear me out because I say this knowing this move is deceptively difficult.

And some of us may not even really “care” about being able to do one.

But I want to explain why you should strive to improve your pull ups and 5 exercises to help you improve them because they may just be the secret to longevity and remaining stronger until your final day on this planet…

And if you’re frustrated hearing this because pull ups seem impossible.

You’re not alone.

While there is no exact data, our limited research shows that at most 30% of women can do one unassisted pull up.

But the strength and mind-body connection required to do this move, make it an essential one for us to include.

Because one thing research has shown us is that grip strength is an indispensable biomarker for older adults and one of the strongest predictors of longevity.

A stronger grip has been linked with better health!

Studies have shown that “grip strength is largely consistent as an explanation of concurrent overall strength, upper limb function, bone mineral density, fractures, falls, malnutrition, cognitive impairment, depression, sleep problems, diabetes, multimorbidity, and quality of life.

There is also evidence linking grip strength and all-cause and disease-specific mortality, future function, bone mineral density, fractures, cognition and depression, and problems associated with hospitalization.”

So if you want to live a long and healthy life?

It’s time to focus on building grip strength.

That’s where pull up work can come into play.

And not only will working to improve your pull ups pay off with better grip strength…

But it can also help you fight against age-related poor posture and the neck, shoulder, back and even elbow pains often associated with it.

Pull ups improve not only our core, back, grip and arm strength but also improve our scapular control and mind-body connection.

That scapular control, the ability to move our shoulder blades properly to engage out back and power our pulling exercises, is what helps us avoid neck, shoulder, back and even elbow pains.

But this movement often becomes restricted as we get older, especially if we’ve spent a ton of time working at a computer, hunched over our phones or driving in a car.

By working on our pull ups, we can help ourselves reverse this rounded posture and regain proper movement.

And the better our control and strength, the more we can help ourselves move well in everyday life without injury!

So if you can’t do a pull up YET, or want to build to double digits, here are 5 moves to help you strengthen your grip, back and core and improve your mobility and stability.

Exercise #1: Mini Pull Ups

The mini pull up works on the movement of your shoulder blades down and back to properly engage your back and improve your posture while hanging, building your grip strength.

It is a great move to improve your shoulder and shoulder blade stability, not just your back strength.

Being able to have this shoulder blade movement is what helps you avoid neck, shoulder and upper back aches and pains.

The mini pull up can be used as part of your activation series in your warm up routine or even an accessory exercise in a circuit later in your workout.

To do this move, you’ll hang from a bar fully extended with your shoulders feeling like they are even slightly shrugged.

Then you’ll pull up, feeling your shoulder blades move down and together to lift your chin toward the bar.

Your arms won’t bend. It’s a small movement.

Then you’ll lower and repeat, pausing in both positions.

It’s key with this movement you grip the bar hard to create tension, wrapping your thumb around. Focus on feeling all of your fingers gripping.

This is what will help your grip strength but also help you avoid overloading your wrist or elbows.

It also creates better activation and engagement up into your back.

To modify this move, you can use a foot assist, keeping one or both feet down on a box or bench.

Especially if you are doing band assisted pull up work and struggling to improve your pull ups, this move is key!

Exercise #2: Top Pull Up Holds

Dead hangs are often recommended to improve grip strength, but you can get even more benefit from holding at the TOP of your pull up instead.

A top pull up hold over a dead hang will help you strengthen your back, abs, arms and grip.

It’s also an incredibly hard move so you may need to start with a band or foot assisted variation and keep the interval of work short.

But you will feel the shakeage almost instantly as you focus on keeping your shoulders down and back engaged to keep your chin over that bar.

By holding in this position, you can really focus on what you feel working and adjust.

You can use a variety of grips to perform this hold as well based on how much bicep you want involved.

For more focus on your back and lats, do an overhand grip and even a slightly wider one.

For more focus on your biceps as well, do a chin up or underhand grip or even neutral grip.

If you find your shoulders shrugging, you can use more assistance or even adjust your grip to the underhand version.

The key is keeping that chest pressed out and shoulders down so you feel your back working.

You will also learn to control that scapular movement keeping those shoulder blades down and together at the top of the exercise, which complements those mini pull ups!

As you hang, grip the bar hard with all of your fingers and keep your legs straight down. Even focus on engaging your glutes and abs to avoid swinging.

#3: Back Shrugs

The Back Shrug is another great exercise to improve your scapular control like the mini pull up, but focuses on retraction over depression.

So it’s more about the movement of your shoulder blades toward your spine over down toward your butt.

The back shrugs will target your mid and lower traps more as well as your rhomboids to help improve your posture and scapular control and support protect your shoulders.

It is a key move to include as either an accessory exercise with heavier weights if you can later in your workout or with lighter loads and higher reps as activation in your warm up.

The more you can feel that shoulder blade movement before you go into heavier back lifts or your pull ups, the stronger you will actually feel because you’ll be able to engage muscles more efficiently and effectively.

This move can also help you focus on that neutral spine position for other bent over row work while improving your grip strength.

To do the back shrugs, hinge over holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms hanging straight down.

You want a nice flat back and your shoulder blades should feel slightly pulled toward the ground.

Then pinch your shoulder blades toward your spine but don’t allow your shoulders to raise up toward your ears.

You don’t want to engage your upper traps extra.

Feel your back work and then relax back out, making sure you don’t bend your elbows to row up more.

If you need to modify this move, you can do it without weight or even as a single arm scapular push up to really focus on each side independently.

The final two moves I want to share, are the least sexy, but also potentially the most essential if you have struggled with poor posture or neck and shoulder pain in the past…

Exercise #4 and 5: Peanut Foam Rolling and Active Foam Roller Star Stretch

With the first 3 moves, you focused on activation and improving that mind-body connection as well as joint stability and even your back, core, arm and grip strength.

These final 2 moves can help you better engage your back by improving your mobility and flexibility, specifically targeting your spinal movement.

They are key if you spend most of your day rounded forward over your computer or phone!

You’ll want to include these two moves as part of your warm up or prehab routine, first foam rolling then stretching before any activation, like mini pull ups.

Starting with the Peanut Foam Rolling which will help you relax the muscles along your spine and improve your spinal extension.

It can especially help with your thoracic extension, which we often lack as we get older.

To use the peanut to foam roll, which can even be two tennis balls in a sock or taped together, you’ll lie on the roller with a ball on either side of your spine.

Reach overhead extending over the roller before sweeping your arms out to the sides and up over your chest to crunch up.

Then relax back down.

This movement to crunch up and tense then extend over it helps work on your extension but also relaxes the muscles.

You can work from your lower back up to the back of your skull although you will only want to use the crunch for your mid back.

And if you don’t have a peanut you can use a roller instead in your thoracic spine to extend over.

You will also want to use your roller for this star stretch variation.

Adding movement to the star stretch helps you work on your spinal mobility while also stretching out your chest, low back and even glutes.

It’s truly a key movement if you spend a ton of time seated or have had any sort of back pain.

It also helps you improve your control over the movement of your shoulder blades for pull ups.

To do the stretch, lie on your back with the roller running parallel to your body so you can pull your opposite knee across to place it on the roller at about hip height with your knee and hip bent to about 90 degrees.

Push down on your knee to help you focus on the rotation coming from your spine and straighten your bottom leg out straight with your back flat against the ground.

Place your other hand behind your head so your elbow is open and out as close to the ground as possible without your knee coming off the roller.

Twist to bring that elbow over and across toward the ground in front of you then rotate back open.

Truly rotate through your spine, don’t just flap your arm.

Combine these 5 moves to improve your posture and strengthen your grip, back, arms and core as you work toward mastering that amazing pull up!

These moves can help you stay mobile and strong to conquer any challenges life throws your way!

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