I’ve been programming this exercise since year 1 of my personal training career. It works for all body types, it can be progresses or regressed myriad ways, and it’s an effective all around muscle builder for the back, particularly the upper back and upper lats.
It’s what I consider a self correcting exercise: it does not require much coaching to do correctly, people find out fast if they’re strong enough to do a full rep or not do a rep. There is no way to readily cheat these.
I typically program sets in the 10-20 rep range, and usually 2-3 sets. The grip fatigue can be a limiting factor, but over time your grip strength will improve.
Once you can do 20 reps with your body in parallel, you’ve largely maxed out the exercise. You can try adding weight (which can be a but awkward) but I’d suggest focusing on weighted chin-ups/pull-ups from that point onward.
Today I did these at the end of my own back training. They were my last exercise and I used this wider grip to emphasize posterior deltoids.
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