The horizontal pull up is a good exercise for the back muscles. What impressed me about this video is how he expands his chest as he pulls up. The will really help engage those back muscles properly. Therefore, in order to be able to get the most out of this – or any back exercise, come to that – we need good upper back flexibility. Lying on a foam roller either long ways or perpendicular to the spine before starting any exercise will help.
Make sure the arch is coming from the upper back and not just the low back, or back ache will ensue.
The exercise can be done holding onto a barbell suspended across a squat rack.
Underhand grip is easier than overhand. Underhand uses the biceps more, overhand the lats.
The feet can be on the floor, as here, or they could be on a bench, or they could be on a Swiss ball. All of these will alter the angle of pull. Working with feet on the Swiss ball, or pulling up on a swinging bar, as in this video, makes the exercise more unstable and form should be absolutely perfect before this is tried. The main problem with unstable training is because more nervous energy is going into maintaining balance, there is less nervous energy left for working the all important moving muscles. But, with this exercise being body weight, unless we eat all the pies, hopefully our body weight will not change significantly, so adding an unstable element when the exercise has been mastered is quite possible.
Of course, to make it much harder, use a fat grip device or thick barbell: hanging on by the fingernails…… Exciting……