Pull ups are a powerful exercise that unfortunately, many people avoid like the plague. The reason is simple, pull ups are difficult! Many people have trouble doing one pull up, much less a workout incorporating many. That's too bad because pull ups have the ability to dramatically increase shoulder, back, and grip strength in no time.

Performing strength exercises are like investing your money. You want to make your money work for you and the same goes for your workouts. You want an exercise that gives you the most bang for your buck. Why pick an exercise that only hits your upper back when a pull up hits everything. It works your grip and hand strength. Just hanging on the bar can do that. It works your arms and shoulders and of course it works your entire back. Not to mention the ab work from keeping your core from swaying.

All in all, you will develop a strong body by incorporating pull ups, but now the question is, what if you can't even do one!? As the saying goes, if you want to lift more, you have to lift more. If you want to do pull ups, you have to do pull ups. Here's a plan that will get you on your way.

Kettlebell guru Pavel Tsatsouline teaches the Grease the Groove technique to show people how to increase their ability to perform an exercise. Here's how it works: over a long period (1 to 8 hours), you do as many reps as you can of an exercise. So for pull ups, you would do at least one rep every time you walk by a pull up bar. If you do it throughout the day, even if you're only able to do one rep at a time you'll still have done a number of reps and have built the strength needed to eventually do multiple reps during one set.

Say you don't have access to a pull up bar for a whole day (if you'd like to buy one, I recommend the Tactical Athlete Pull Up System). No problem! You can Grease the Groove during your gym session. During an hour long workout, try doing a few pull ups every 5 minutes or so. By the end of the hour, you'll have done at least 10 to 12 pull ups.

If you really want to get into doing pull ups and other workouts that require a stationary bar (like ring training), I recommend the Tactical Athlete Pull Up System produced and sold by TacticalAthlete.com. This system assembles easily in about 15 minutes and is perfect for a garage or outdoor location.

The height, portability, and stability of the Tactical Athlete Pull Up System are what make it special. The adjustable height allows you to do exercises with a full hang, no matter how tall you are. The portability also allows you to put it up wherever you want to workout, whether that be in your garage, backyard, or at a park. For doing pull ups, nothing beats it.