Why Pull-Ups May Be Damaging Your Legs
You may have never considered the idea that pull-ups, or any bar work, can affect your leg health. Unfortunately, it’s accurate, and the lack of knowledge has turned it into a common injury – when it can easily be avoided. So, what is this danger, and how can you avoid it?
When you have finished your pull-ups (or any exercise requiring you to hang on a bar), the drop from the bar back to the ground can deteriorate the bones and muscles in your legs. The impact between your feet and the ground has the opportunity to damage both your joints and bones if performed incorrectly.
When frequently executed wrong, it’s possible it can lead to permanent damage due to the significant pressure. Athletes find the most pain in their shins, knees, and ankles. These are the areas that absorb the most force from the ground.
Why Do Your Legs Tingle After Impacting The Ground
Most individuals who have attempted a pull-up would have experienced this feeling – a tingly sense running through your shins or an uncomfortable stretch at your ankle/knees.
These sensations occur as soon as you’ve dropped off the bar to the ground and are a way of your body warning you of the pressure build. This feeling isn’t linked with strength or skill, so any athlete can experience it; instead, it relates to how energy is being transferred within your body – when too much energy is exposed to a singular point, it causes a painful feeling.
Your bones haven’t necessarily been permanently damaged, if you have experienced this feeling. For example, if you have accidentally landed on your ankle funny or had a shiver run through your shins on a rare occasion, your bones will be able to recover.
The danger arises when athletes constantly have tingling shins or overstretched joints and choose to ignore the feeling. Some athletes may think it’s normal, others might want to get on with the workout, or some might think it’s a positive sensation, all of which are dangerous. Once the athlete keeps this up in the long term, their bones repeatedly being battered poses a high risk of injury.
How To Properly Land A Pull-Up
The below describes how to properly drop from a bar to the ground. This technique can be applied to a range of exercises that use a bar because the key idea is about landing safely – not exclusive to pull-ups.
- Come to a still and fully extend your elbows.
- Slowly feed the bar from your palm to your fingertips to minimize the distance between your toes and the ground -reducing unnecessary impact on your legs. At this point, follow the next steps quickly, as using your fingertips is much more muscle-demanding.
- Position your feet so they are in a sturdy stance to land on. Aim for them to be pointing directly in front of you. Relax your ankles so your feet are at pointing down slightly.
- Release the bar from your fingertips.
- Landing toes first, bend your knees as soon as you make an impact with the ground. The movement between landing on your toes and bending your knees should be synchronized so well that it feels like one movement.
- Bend your knees until you are in a squatting position. At which point, place your heels on the ground to keep balance and stability.
- Quickly do a few steps or shake your legs to reduce the amount of pressure sitting in your legs. This distributes the energy around your body – rather than being focused at an individual point.
On a side note, some athletes prefer to swing instead of doing the above stationery. Most athletes let go of the bar during the forward movement making it easier to land on their toes. If you carefully try it, attempt it and find out which one you prefer; however, only do so once you’re confident doing it stationary.
The Biggest Pull-Up Mistakes That Damage Your Legs
Everybody has their variation, but as long as you use it as a blueprint, it’s unlikely you’ll go wrong. However, avoid the movements listed below.
- Avoid landing with your knees fully flexed. If your knees are straight, the impact from your body weight could cause them to shatter.
- Make sure you land on the bottom surface of your toes. If your ankle is on its side, you risk spraining it or possibly breaking it.
- Avoid releasing the bar when your chin is near the bar – this creates extra impact, which can easily be avoided by extending your elbows.
- As soon as you’ve landed, you want to move around so the energy is shared across your body, making the impact negligent. By staying still, it forces there to be a high concentration of pressure build up in a small local area.
How To Minimize The Risk Of Leg Injury When Performing Pull-Ups
It’s nearly impossible to ensure you thoroughly follow our method every time you drop from a pull-up – sometimes, you may roll on your ankle or bend your knees too little. But having these in the back of your head, you help reduce the risk. We have also come up with a few tips that help to secure the legs even more:
- Tying up laces tightly helps support the ankle by keeping it sturdy.
- Wearing fitted clothes around your legs, you could even use knee, shin, or ankle supports to keep your legs solid.
- Ensuring you have enough energy to drop safely. By using all your energy on the bar, you may lazily descend. For example, a floppy ankle increases the risk of injury.
How To Stop Pull-Ups From Damaging Your Legs
As well as perfecting the technique used to drop down from a bar, there are several precautions you can take to help protect your legs. It’s important to mention that without perfecting the technique, the precautions mentioned below are useless; therefore, priorities safely jumping to the ground.
Wearing The Correct Footwear For Bar Exercises
The first tip is to use the proper footwear when dropping from a pull-up bar. This helps to absorb a lot of the initial impact and take some pressure away from your feet. Using shoes with air or foam outsole will be best because both make landing softer and less forceful.
Avoid wearing flat, stiff outer soles due to the fact they harden the impact and make it more damaging.
Choosing A Soft Floor To Land Bar Exercises On
After you’ve completed a set of exercises on the bar, ideally, you want to drop down onto a soft surface. For both your comfort and safety, a soft floor has much more flexibility to give your feet more padding. For example, place a mat under the pull-up bar, find an outdoor pull-up bar on the grass to exercise on, or utilize a pull-up bar on an astroturf.
Why It’s Important To Warm Up Your Legs Before Attempting Pull-Ups
It goes without saying you should warm up your upper body before performing any bar exercise; however, to minimize the risk of injury, you should warm up your legs too. Light stretches, shaking your legs, and small exercises help loosen your ankles and knees, increase muscle temperature and fiber elasticity. As a result, if you land funny, your legs have a much higher chance of compensating and not getting injured.
Why A Shorter Pull-Up Bar Can Be Better For Your Legs
Sometimes, you may not even have to drop from the bar to the ground. There are shorter pull-up bars that require you to bend your legs behind you so they don’t touch the floor. If you aren’t planning on learning statics or advanced skills, these are great at reducing the potential impact because no jumping to the ground is required. Instead, you flex your knees so they are touching the ground and simply let go of the bar.
| Your Height | Recommended Bar Height For Pull-Ups |
|---|---|
| 5″4- 5″9 | 6″9-7″0 |
| 5″9 | 7″0 |
| 5″9 – 6″2m | 7″0-4″ |
What Are Some Leg Injuries That Arise From Pull-Ups
Leg injuries from pull-ups have the potential to be serious. They range from long-term injuries caused by constant impact on the leg and instant injuries caused by your body weight. Common injuries include stress fractures, sprained ankles, and bruised shins.
Why An Incorrect Pull-Up Land Can Lead To A Long Term Leg Injury
Long-term injuries arise from athletes using the wrong technique when dropping to the ground. It can be worsened by stiff footwear, tall pull-up bars, and not warming up; however, long-term usage of poor technique can be enough to cause injury. Over time, it can lead to an inflation in the Achilles tendon, shin splints, and stress fractures in the small bones of the foot, shins, or ankle.
These injuries are a lot more serious to treat as it results from years of pressure being built. In severe circumstances, you may need an operation to heal your injury. If not, you need at least two months of solid rest to let your bones and muscle fibers recover. The aim is to relax your wound and avoid any more impact until the pain begins to ease.
Why An Incorrect Pull-Up Land Can Lead To An Instant Leg Injury
On the other hand, bodyweight injuries are those which inflict pain as soon as you’ve gone wrong. For example, landing on your ankle, not bending your knees, or landing on your heels. These injuries occur when individuals lose concentration as their legs are unprepared for the impact. This can lead to their body weight crushing their joints or muscles.
There are a variety of the type of injuries that come from this. Sprained ankles, dislocated knees, fractures shins are all examples. They all have different recovery times and forms of treatment. If you do find yourself in this position, apply ice to the wounded area to reduce inflammation. If you feel like the pain is getting worse weak medical help.
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