
Originally Posted by
MuscleScience
The secret to pull ups is that when you hang, it stretches all the muscles in the spinal column which causes massive sensory feedback which inturn causes massive motor unit recruitment to protect the spine.
The inner-spinous and intertransverse muscles between adjacent vertebra are densely packed with muscle spindle stretch receptors. Some scientist actually theorize that these muscles are actually more sensory organs than muscle, much like the plantaris muscle of the lower leg is.