How does a former UFC champion get fit? Conor McGregor revealed the secret of his own workouts

In times of self-isolation, when people sit at home and wait for life to go back to the way it was, sports come to the rescue. Fitness centers are closed, but that’s no reason to be upset. Why? Because since Soviet times, every yard has had a sports device consisting of a round bar, fixed horizontally on poles. We are talking, of course, about the tourniquet – the simplest attribute for a beautiful body.

We will talk about one of the most effective sports exercises – pull-ups. With their help, you can pump a large group of muscles, form a broad back and a beautiful torso. Do not get hot if you have not yet mastered the correct technique. Especially when UFC legend Conor McGregor shares the secrets of training on the bar.

The main advantages of pull-ups and contraindications

Such a popular exercise helps to strengthen joints and ligaments, keep the spine in a healthy state and forms the anterior dentate, pectoral, back and shoulder muscles of the body. In addition, pull-ups are simply convenient: you can do them both at home and outdoors.

Pull-ups are called the foundation of bar training. Because once you learn to pull up, the rest of the exercises will seem like child’s play. But it’s important to know that not everyone can work out on the bar. If you have back problems, there is no need to be a hero, otherwise you will aggravate the situation. It is highly recommended to see a doctor before you start practicing.

Also, pull-ups need to be learned first. If right now you can’t do a single repetition, it can be attributed to the following factors.

1. Nadmerná hmotnosť. The bigger it is, the more effort you need to put into your muscles to get your body off the floor. With serious problems with excess pounds, it is recommended to forget about pull-ups until you get rid of the excess.
2. Slabé svaly. If you have not spent enough time working out different muscle groups, then it will be difficult for you to perform exercises on the bar.
3. General physical weakness. It can appear after you have not practiced sports for a long time and are weaned from loads. Therefore, you need training.
4. Incorrect technique. This is a gross mistake of most beginners. And after all, from inattention and ignorance there will only be a risk of injury, not progress.

How to learn to pull up?

To begin with, you need to prepare the body and learn a certain technique. This will take several weeks. In the first days, you will perform hangs on the bar to learn to feel your own body. Also at this time you need to train with the equipment, try to pull up with support on a chair and do negative pull-ups. Only after these stages you can start to do full-fledged pull-ups, and then increase the number of repetitions – it’s a matter of time.

Do not forget about the correct technique of execution. On the bar, you must necessarily make an inhalation and exhalation with each repetition. Exhalation should end when you reach the top point of the pull-up. At the same time, you need to make sure that the body does not sway – jerks do not help. Therefore, it is important to work properly on the muscles that are involved in the exercise.

McGregor revealed his own secret of biceps pull-ups

Not so long ago Conor McGregor on his page in “instagram” revealed the secret of his own training on the biceps. When pulling up, Conor tries to bring his elbows as close together as possible.

“I’ll show you one trick that I like to apply in pull-ups. Now I’m going to do biceps exercises. These pull-ups are considered by many to be the easiest, everyone starts with them. It’s what you work on the most that makes it easier. I don’t put my elbows out to the sides when I lower. On the contrary, I even try to bring them together. You also have to fully extend the arm. And when we start to reach up, try to lean your elbows against each other. You won’t be able to do it, but you try.

This slows the exercise down, but it works the inside of your chest. It’s awesome. It can also help in combat. Because when I go on defense, I need to lean my elbows against each other, press everything in here. The inner chest muscles tense up so that even if a punch goes through, it’s like hitting a brick wall. If you have center back and chest strength when you bring your elbows together, it’s noticeable even through a thick sweater. Your chest is just like a brick. So try biceps pull-ups and try to brace your elbows as in defense.

Okay, here we go. When you grab the bar, do it in such a way that the triceps, like the shoulder, face forward. Both triceps from the beginning of the exercise. As you grab, imagine that you’re going into defense. As you lift, look, I’m bringing my elbows together. But pay more attention to them in the middle of the movement, both when you’re lifting and when you’re lowering.”

The full instruction from the famed fighter can be seen in the video.

You can watch the video on Championship Fighting.

Based on McGregor’s advice, we can conclude that if our goal is to pump up biceps with pull-ups and not to overload the broadest muscle of the back, we should manage to minimize the shoulder raises and put as much emphasis as possible on bending the arm in the elbow joint.