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Pull ups are considered to be the king of back exercises. Gymnasts insist on them, armed forces love them and muscle bound wannabes neglect them, at their peril. Here i list 13 reasons to include pull ups in your exercise routine:

1. The ultimate display of back strength - only those that have pure strength can do them. People that don’t body build will find it difficult to compete in a lat pull down competition. If the same people challenge a body builder to a pull up competition he/she will stand a much better chance and often win.
2. They give you wings - widens your latissimus dorsi muscles giving you a well formed back that will look great in a tight tee shirt or even better at the beach in the summer.
3. Provide a multiple muscle strength workout - target the latissimus dorsi and teres major muscles of the back, the rhomboids and the middle and lower areas of the trapezius. Additionally, the biceps brachii of the upper arm and the brachiallis and brachioradialis of the forearm. No need to do isolation exercises after a good few sets of pull ups.
4. Men and women can perform them - because the only resistance is your body weight against gravity the exercise is perfectly suited to women as well as men.
5. Improves grip strength - clenching the fists around the bar requires an isometric contraction of the forearms improving grip strength. A necessity for women who like to go shopping and carry around lots of bags full of shoes and little black dresses.
6. Keep up with the monkeys - whenever i see monkeys swinging from ropes and trees i am amazed. All day long they swing as they please. Do they take supplements? Not likely. Do they perform lat pull downs in their spare time? Not that i’m aware of. Yet they must have immense strength and as far as i can work out it all stems from the pull up type movement. Could be useful if you have children that like to run off when it’s time to come in for dinner. I remember climbing up trees because i knew my mum could not. Ladies start doing pull ups and you’ll never be in the position.
7. Improve joint strength, flexibility and stability - these components will need to resist the pull of gravity on your weight. As a result the joint complex and it’s surrounding connective tissues will improve in strength, flexibility, and stability.
8. Provide a core workout - the core muscles will need to be activated to prevent the legs from swinging back and forth. By engaging the core muscles for the duration of the pull ups you will prevent and injury caused by swinging too much and falling off while working out the core muscles.
9. Teaches you to breathe properly - try doing pull ups with irregular breathing and you will surely falter. Breathe in through the nose on the way up and out through the mouth on the way down and you’ll perform at least an extra rep. Use this strategy for all bodyweight exercises and you’ll notice the benefits.
10. Variety is the spice of life - there are numerous varieties of the pull up that will target specific muscles. Combine two or three varieties into your workout for accelerated improvements.
11. Specific and relevant to life - there are many occasions when you may need to pull yourself up. Climbing is the most obvious, as a hobby, sport or pastime. As a job, tree surgeons, armed forces personnel or fire fighter. Conversely, the lat pull down rarely features in persons working day or sporting activities.
12. Adaptability - some people reading this may not be able to do a single pull up. This is not a problem as the pull up can be evolved. Using a chair to stand or kneel on a pull up with as little assistance as possible from the legs. What if you can perform 50 easily? You are already a mean pull upping machine but can try single handed variations or additional weight.
13. Portable - going on holiday, away for a business trip or simply to stay with a member of the family? Pull ups can be performed on anything that is suitable to hang from. The underside of an open stair case, a tree, a climbing frame or whatever you deem is safe.

The pull up is one of my favourite exercises for all these reasons. If you have not integrated a pull exercise into your strength routine then you are really missing out. Those of you that do use pull ups please ensure that you balance them out with an overhead press action this can be handstand push ups, or a weight alternative.

Useful articles:
Military.com
Mattfurey.com
Powerathletesmag.com
Bodybuilding.com
Dragondoor.com