Fitness
Struggling to Finish Pullups? Here’s How You Can Still Build Muscle.
PULLUPS ARE HARD. Managing to rip through reps of the bodyweight exercise with good form is no small feat, especially on the tail end of a set. You’ve probably found yourself straining to pull your chest up to the bar, fighting to eke out just one more—and you’ve probably found yourself tapping out before hitting your rep goal.
The good news: You don’t have to feel like a failure when you’re unable to finish your set. You can still make muscle gains without working through the full range of motion for pullups (and other exercises, too), according to Dr. Pat Davidson, PhD., the exercise physiologist and strength training coach responsible for the hellacious Recomp Blitz workout.
“For a vertical pull or any kind of movement where you’re trying to get a little bit more out of it, lengthened partials at the end of that set is a really good option,” he says.
‘Lengthened partials’ are exactly what the name implies: Fractional reps performed with the target muscle in its stretched position (think the bottom end of a pullup, biceps curl, or leg curl, with your arms or legs extended). By putting in the effort, you’re still putting the muscle under tension—and there’s evidence that even that limited stimulus can result in more gains.
“Even if you can’t get all the way to the top of that pullup and you’re down at the bottom, any kind of movement down there, the research is showing that will give you a similar response to doing the whole rep,” Davidson says.
He’s referring to a growing body of evidence, like this small study, that indicated lengthened partial reps can be effective for building upper body muscle, and this one that indicated the same for lower body movements.
Davidson warns that you can’t just do any brand of partial reps and expect results. The lengthened position is important for the process. “Don’t do it in the short position, which is what most people do,” he warns. In other words, don’t give that extra effort from the top of a rep, when your joints are flexed. You won’t get the same effect.
“In my mind, the whole thing is like a big spreadsheet, and if you’re doing more reps, you’re going to create more adaptation,” says Davidson. Follow his guidance, and the next time you fail on a set of pullups, perform a pair of lengthened partial reps before calling it quits. “It’s basically the equivalent of getting two reps at full range.”
Want more next-level tips like these so you can crush your body recomposition goals? Check out our entire program at Body Recomp Central, available only for MH MVP Premium members.
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — 8News got a visit from two special guests Friday to learn about the benefits of Pilates and try out some beginner moves.
8News anchors Autumn Childress and Delaney Hall were joined by Laura Mae Harper and Angie Madison with Point and Flex Pilates. The studio, which opened on Sept. 3 last year, offers a variety of classes, ranging from beginner to intermediate and advanced.
“We went through years of teaching at other places and developed this beautiful studio for them and this community, and we’re super excited about it,” Harper said.
For more information, visit Point and Flex Pilates.
Like every piece of gear you wear on your body day in and day out, fitness trackers are incredibly personal. The right tracker for you should be comfortable, accurate, and tailored to your lifestyle, including your preferred workouts and health goals. Do you bike, row, or strength train? Do you run on trails for hours at a time, or do you just want a reminder to stand up every hour? Do you want to wear it on your wrist or your finger, or tuck it into your sports bra?
No matter what your needs are, there’s never been a better time to find a powerful, sophisticated tool to help optimize your workouts or jump-start your routine. We test dozens of fitness trackers every year while running, climbing, hiking, or just doing workout videos on our iPads at night, to bring you these picks.
Our top choice for most people is the Garmin Vivoactive 6 ($300), which works well with Android and iOS, but we also vouch for the latest Oura Ring 5 ($399) and the budget-friendly Google Fitbit Air ($100). For more wearables, check out our guides to the Best Smartwatches, Best Smart Rings, and Best Sleep Trackers.
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Best Fitness Tracker Overall
Garmin makes some of the most accurate fitness trackers on the market, and the Vivoactive 6 is the best midrange option for most people. It strikes a solid balance between smartwatch features and fitness tracking, with support for both iPhone and Android users.
Why WIRED recommends: The Vivoactive 6 is accurate, comfortable, and packed with useful wellness features without feeling overwhelming. It uses Garmin’s proprietary algorithms to power features like Morning Report and Body Battery, which provide daily insights into your sleep, recovery, and readiness. It also has built-in satellite connectivity and GPS, so you can track outdoor workouts without bringing your phone along. There’s also incident detection, which alerts emergency contacts if it detects a serious fall.
Garmin’s biggest advantage remains its free Connect platform, which enables health and fitness tracking without requiring a subscription. The company also continues to add new software features through regular updates without putting them behind a paywall.
The trade-offs: Garmin launched Connect+, a $70-per-year subscription with extras like live tracking and access to Garmin’s AI-powered Active Intelligence. Former editor Adrienne So doesn’t think most people need it, but it’s worth noting if you’re looking for a completely subscription-free experience. The Vivoactive 6 may also feel like overkill for casual users who only want basic activity and sleep tracking.
Fitness
Why this unexpected exercise is most effective for building arm muscle in your 50s – and how to do it properly
When it comes to building strong, defined arms, traditional fitness advice will usually point you toward endless sets of bicep curls and tricep extensions. But according to Dr Stacy Sims, a leading women’s exercise physiologist specialising in perimenopause and menopause, isolation movements like these aren’t necessarily the most effective. Instead, she advocates for one functional compound movement: the farmer’s carry.
Speaking on podcast A Life of Greatness, when host Sarah Grynberg asks how to get arm muscles like Dr Sims, the 51-year-old explained: ‘In order to get shoulders like this, heavy farmer’s carries. I’ve been travelling so much this year, and I haven’t been in the gym being consistent with all the push presses and Olympic lifts that I love to do, but what I have been consistent in doing is heavy farmer’s carries.
‘It’s good for grip strength, learning how to walk properly, core strength, shoulders – so if there’s one move everyone should do, it’s heavy farmer’s carries.’
The magic of the move lies in its ability to engage your biceps, triceps, shoulders, forearms and hands all at once. And because your arms are working continuously to stabilise heavy loads against gravity, the exercise activates the deep muscle fibres that don’t fire up as efficiently in single-joint arm movements, like bicep curls. Here’s how to do it with proper form, plus how heavy to lift and a workout to try, straight from Dr Sims.
How to do a farmer’s carry
- Standing with feet hip-width apart and weights at the outside of the ankles, hinge your hips back and bend the knees, keeping your back flat.
- Tighten up your lower back and abdominals before reaching down to grab the weights.
- After gripping the weights, begin to stand tall by driving your heels into the ground, maintaining a tight form. Once you reach full standing position, tighten your armpits and make sure your shoulders are pulled back to activate the muscles in the rotator cuff area.
- Finally, begin to take small steps forward, maintaining a strong grip and form. If you’re returning in opposite direction, set the weights down, turn around, and then grab the weights again before walking in the opposite direction.
Set/reps for results: Aim for three sets. Try timing your farmer’s carry for 25 to 30 seconds or go for 10 steps forward and back.
Form tips: Start out with a light weight to ensure you don’t end up leaning too far forward or towards one side. Make sure to keep your back straight for safety. When it comes to moving, small strides will do. They’ll keep you balanced as you increase your weights.
How heavy to lift
As for what “heavy” means to Dr Sims, she says: ‘How many people have heard that you should be able to farmer carry 75% of your body weight for a minute? That is made up from bro science. It’s a good metric but there’s no science behind it. So, a heavy farmer’s carry is you have two very heavy dumbbells by your side and you’re walking back and forth.’
Here’s a weight guide to follow:
- Beginners: 2x 4-6kg
- Intermediate: 2x 8-12kg
- Advanced: 2x 12-20kg
Farmer’s carry workout
Dr Sims shares a descending ladder workout to try.
- 500m ski
- 500m heavy farmer’s carry
- 400m ski
- 400m heavy farmer’s carry
- 300m ski
- 300m heavy farmer’s carry
- 200m ski
- 200m heavy farmer’s carry
- 100m ski
- 100m heavy farmer’s carry
‘If you really have anything left in the tank after this workout, you go back up in 100m,’ she adds.
One of our most frequently asked questions here at Women’s Health? How to build muscle and burn fat at the same time. So, we asked superstar trainer Oyinda Okunowo exactly how to do it. In this 4-week plan – created exclusively for Women’s Health COLLECTIVE members – you’ll get the workouts and nutrition guidance needed to help you on your way to better body composition. Tap the link below to unlock 14 days of free access to Oyinda’s plan and start training today.
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As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.
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