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One arm pull-ups would be a great bodyweight exercise, but let's start you off with something easier.

So you want to do a pull-up, eh?

Well you’ve arrived at the right place!

Pull-ups are one of my favorite exercises and a critical movement we teach our coaching clients!




Today, we’ll teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about pull-ups:

It’s a lot to cover, so let’s get to it! 

If you’re just starting your strength training journey, check out our massive guide Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. You can snag it for free when you enlist in the Rebellion (that’s us!) by signing up below:

What Are the Benefits of Doing Pull-Ups? What Muscles Do Pull-Ups Work?

This LEGO is jacked. Clearly he does pull-ups regularly.

Pull-ups are one of the best exercises you can do.

Here’s why:

#1) Pull-ups work every muscle in your upper body. Pull-ups are what we call a “compound exercise,” meaning they work out several muscle groups at once. 

Here's a gif of a pull-up in perfect form.

The muscles in your back, arms, and even abs all grow stronger from doing pull-ups. 

Abs? 

Yep! You engage your abs as you stabilize your body while hoisting yourself up.

#2) Pull-ups are a great indicator of overall strength. Since it’s just you against the force of gravity, if you can do a pull-up or chin-up, you have a greater strength-to-bodyweight ratio.

With push-ups, some of your body’s weight is supported by your feet. 

This gif shows Staci doing a push-up in perfect form.

Not so with pull-ups. It’s just you and the bar.

#3) Pull-ups will help you improve your posture.[1] By building strength in your PULL muscles, we strengthen and tighten your back muscles. 

This will naturally cause you to pull your shoulder blades back and down into proper position, providing you a better posture. 

#4) Pull-ups improve grip strength. Grip strength is another indicator of overall health. In fact, a strong grip has been correlated with lower mortality rates.[2]

Pull-ups are a great way to improve your grip since your hands and fingers have to support your bodyweight during the movement. 

If you’re looking for a stronger handshake, regularly doing pull-ups will go a long way towards that goal.

A quick note: we have a full guide on improving your grip strength if you’d like to learn more. 

#5) Pull-ups are convenient. Some other big compound movements require decent amounts of equipment to perform, like the deadlift or bench press. Meaning unless you have weights, barbells, and power racks at your home, you’re probably heading to the gym for your training

Not so with pull-ups. 

Doing a pull-up really only requires a pull-up bar, but even that can be substituted.

You can use monkey bars at a local playground, a towel around a strong beam, or even a sturdy tree:

If you start mixing pull-ups with your burpees, you are rocking it!

If it’s taller than you and can support your weight, you can do pull-ups from it.[3]

Alright, enough about why you should do pull-ups. Let’s show you how it’s done.

How to Do Proper Pull-Ups

HOW TO DO A PULL-UP, STEP-BY-STEP:

  1. Grab a bar with a grip slightly wider than shoulder width, with your hands facing away from you.
  2. Hang all the way down.
  3. Pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar.
  4. Slight pause
  5. Lower yourself all the way back down.

That’s it!

You may be thinking, “That’s all well and good Steve, but what if you can’t even do a pull-up yet! What should I do?

Don’t panic!

Mario is stressed if he can't do a pull-up, he'll never save the Princess. We'll help him in the next section.

I got you covered boo.

I’m going to share with you the exact pull-up progression plan we use with our 1-on-1 Coaching Clients.




How to Get Your First Pull-Up

There are multiple ways to get your first pull-up, including someone giving you a helping hand.

This section is taken from our guide “Get Your First Pull-up.

If you can’t quite hoist yourself up yet, don’t fret!

We’re going to work on increasing your “pull” muscles through a series of exercises.

First up…

Level 1 Pull-up Workout: Bent Over Dumbbell Rows

This pull exercise can help you build muscles so you can eventually do pull-ups!

Bent-over dumbbell rows: 

  • 8 reps each arm (or as many as you can do)
  • Rest for a 2-minute break
  • Do another set
  • Repeat until you hit 3 sets

What weight should you start out with initially?

Whatever allows you to get to at least 5 reps a set.

Once you can do 3 sets of 8 reps (each arm), it’s time to pick up a heavier dumbbell.

This will allow you to get stronger and stronger. 

When you can lift a 25-pound (10kg) dumbbell or heavier, consider moving up to the next level.

Level 2 Pull-Up Workout: Inverted Bodyweight Rows

The inverted row is a great way to develop your "pull" and back muscles.

Bodyweight rows are the PERFECT precursor to pull-ups – they work the same muscles, and have you lifting your own bodyweight, just at a different angle.

Our goal here will be to work towards a lower and lower angle, increasing the difficulty of the movement.  

So at first, we’ll do rows with the bar higher up:

Start with inclined inverted rows for your pull-up workout. Then drop lower for more required effort.

Then we’ll progress to getting the bar lower:

Add bodyweight rows to your workouts

As soon as you’re doing bodyweight rows where your body is at a 45-degree angle or lower, you can progress to the next level. 

Level 3 Pull-Up Workout: Assisted Pull-Ups

At this point, you are going to start actually doing pull-ups…with a little bit of assistance.

We’ve got a few options for you.

#1) Assisted Pull-ups with Chair

A chair can be a great tool to help you get your first pull-up.

Either one foot or two on the chair, depending on your needs. Your feet are ONLY there for support, use your upper body as much as possible.

#2) Assisted Pull-ups with an Exercise Band

Staci using a band for an assisted pull-up, a great exercise for a bodyweight circuit.

You can get different types of exercise bands with different levels of strength, or a variety pack for easy progression.

Put your foot in the exercise band and pull yourself up.

#3) Assisted Pull-Ups with a Partner

A friend can be a great asset when you're trying to do a pull-up.

Have a friend hold your feet behind you and help you complete each rep. Have them use the least amount of help possible to get you through your workouts.

Once you’re comfortable doing a form of assisted pull-ups, and can do about 10 repetitions, it’s time to advance to the next level.

This is probably the TOUGHEST level before getting your pull-ups. If you get stuck on “assisted pull-ups” and “assisted chin-ups”, you’re not alone. This is where most people get stuck.

We work hand-in-hand with people like you to get them their first pull-up in our Online Coaching Program. If you don’t know how to fit these movements into your workouts, or you just want somebody to give you the exact workout to follow every day, we got you!




Level 4 Pull-Up Workout: Negative Pull-Ups

Staci jumping up to do a negative pull-up., a great movement until you can bring regular pull-ups into your circuit.

Our next level on our path for a pull-up is what we call “negative pull-ups.”

  1. Grab onto the bar with an overhand grip
  2. Jump so your chest is touching
  3. Slowly lower yourself under control until you’re at the bottom of the movement.

As you continue to lower yourself down, you’ll build strength, eventually creating enough muscle so you can pull yourself up.

If you want more specific instructions on any of these levels or movements, check out our guide “Get Your First Pull-up” for more

Pull-Ups vs. Chin-Ups (What’s the Difference?)

Staci showing a pull-up to the left and a chin-up to the right.

You may hear the term “pull-up” and “chin-up” used interchangeably. 

However, there is a difference, so definitions are in order:

A PULL-UP is when your hands are facing away from you. 

The classic pull-up

This will work your back and biceps.

A CHIN-UP is when your hands are facing towards you.

A chin-up is a pull-up, but with your hands facing towards you.

 Although this also works your back, it has more emphasis on your biceps.

Are chin-ups easier than pull-ups?

Yes, chin-ups are generally easier to perform than pull-ups. The wider grip of a pull-up isolates your lats, which means you get less assistance from your biceps. 

We recommend including both chin-ups AND pull-ups into your workout, which we’ll discuss in our section on including pull-ups into your training

5 Common Mistakes When Doing a Pull-Up

Mistake #1: You don’t extend low enough or pull high enough. 

Make sure you are doing full reps with your pull-ups, not half reps like Steve is doing.

Full extension and a full range of motion are major problems for many people training pull-ups and chin-ups. Most people I see in the gym are doing half pull-ups. Either not pulling high enough, not dropping low enough, or both! It’s not a full rep, and it’s robbing your body of effective work.

Solution:

To make sure you do a full rep, come all the way down and extend your elbow.

With each repetition you want your body to be in a straight line at the bottom – keep your elbows extended and your shoulder relaxed slightly up to your ears. Full range of motion for the win! Better to do a few proper pull-ups than more half-rep ones.

Mistake #2: You don’t engage your shoulders at the start. Another problem I see with people is not setting their shoulders properly when they start their pull-ups, which can put unnecessary strain on your joints/tendons/muscles. It can also be the difference between being able to get your first pull-up or chin-up and flailing around on the bar!

Solution: 

Your shoulders will be working a lot during your pull-up, so make sure they are engaged.

Imagine pinching a pen in between your shoulder blades, then do the pull-up. In other words, pull your shoulders down and back before you bend your elbows to pull up. This puts us in a far more efficient position. By not using our back and shoulder muscles fully, over the long run we’ll be weaker and at a higher risk for injury.

Mistake #3: You’re doing too hard a variation. Whether it’s lack of strength or too much body mass, you should choose a variation that allows you to have great form while getting stronger. Use a box, an assisted band, or an assisted pull-up machine to start at a low weight and build up your strength.

Solution: Always do proper pull-ups and chin-ups. Get your chin over the bar from a hang with every rep, and maintain good form. If you find yourself committing the mistakes on this list, make your variation easier.

A box can be used instead of a chair for a pull-up.

Mistake #4: Not engaging your shoulders at the top. Many people will get a good extension at the bottom of their chin-up and start with great form. But then as they perform the movement, they’ll find their shoulders in a poor position at the top.

A classic sign this is happening is if the chest/neck doesn’t touch the bar, or the body curls inward significantly at the top. 

Don't cave in at the top of your pull-up, as Jim shows here.

Is your shoulder elevated to the ears or rolled forward? Are you shrugging your shoulders as you’re struggling to get above the bar?

Solution: Make your variation easier by working on an assisted chin-up and maintaining a strong shoulder position at the top. 

Steve doing an assisted pull-up, a perfect precursor to a regular pull-up!

Keep your shoulders down and back and engaged through the movement.

A chin over the bar is a chin-up – we aren’t trying to take away your chin-up if you aren’t getting your chest to the bar. But consider this a progression to even better form so you can eventually work on harder skills like pull-up variations or the legendary muscle-up.

Mistake #5: You use violent kipping motions to do your pull-ups or chin-ups. We know CrossFitters use the kip to get more pull-ups in a short amount of time. 

We would advise you against this type of pull-up for now.

NOW, it is the humble opinion of our team that you should only be kipping AFTER you are capable of doing perfectly functional and safe pull-ups and chin-ups (in fact, many CrossFit gyms require qualifying strict pull-ups before you can kip).

Solution: Build strength and good position (the foundation!) before you worry about speed. You want to know how to drive a car before you learn how to race it!

In summary, don’t sacrifice good form for more pull-ups or chin-ups. You’ll create bad habits this way.

To check your form, simply record a video of yourself doing your pull-up variation and match it against the gifs and videos here.

If you want an expert to review your form, we can help! Through our spiffy app a Nerd Fitness Coach can evaluate your movement so you can perfect your technique!




Advanced Pull-Up Variations

Now that you know how to do a pull-up, the fun starts! Let's discuss variations you can even do on monkey bars!

Once you’re able to do 3 sets of 10 pull-ups or chin-ups, it’s time to start thinking about upping the difficulty.

You have two options:

OPTION #1: Continue to get better at doing more reps – 3 sets of 12, 3 sets of 15, 4 sets of 20, etc.

OPTION #2: Start doing other types of pull-ups.

 Here are some advanced pull-up variations that you can start doing:

#1) Wide Grip Pull-Ups:

Maintaining a wide grip is a great advanced pull-up.

Grab the bar WAY out with both hands. With your grip further out, it’ll require even MORE strengthen from your back (remember our pull-up vs. chin-up discussion).

#2) Side to Side Pull-Ups:

Another form of an advanced pull-up for you. Shift your weight from arm to arm.

#3) Ring Pull-Ups

If you own some rings you can use them like so for some advanced pull-ups.

Rings hanging from the ceiling are inherently less stable than a pull-up bar. Thus ring pull-ups engage your core more as you stabilize yourself during the movement.

Want in on some ring action? Read our full guide on gymnastic rings workouts for more.

#4) Towel Pull-Ups

Coach Jim showing you how to perform pull-ups from some sturdy towels.

If you’re trying to improve your grip strength, try utilizing a couple of towels for your pull-ups. You’ll build lots of strength in your hands as you grasp the towels during the movement. 

#5) L-Sit Pull-ups

Your core will become engaged as you hold your legs up. This will prove to be a challenging pull-up variation.

Raise your legs straight in front during your pull-up. This will challenge your core like you wouldn’t believe. 

#6) Clapping Pull-Up

Be very careful with this type of pull-up.

The trick here is to have enough power to explode above the bar so you can clap your hands. The next trick is to grab the bar in time to bring yourself back down.

Be careful here. 

#7) One-Arm Pull-Ups

If you can do one-arm pull-ups, you are now the Master of Bodyweight Exercises.

This is the most difficult pull-up variation you can do, what with the whole only using one arm business.

To keep yourself stable during the movement, keep your inactive arm close to your body while you pull.

If you start doing one-arm pull-ups, email us. Seriously. 

That should get you started experimenting with pull-up variations to increase the difficulty.

The other way to “progressive overload” your pull-ups is to add weight to the exercise, which we’ll devote our next section to.

How to Do Weighted Pull-Ups

While a person hanging from you can add weight to your pull-ups, maybe use a weight belt instead.

Personally, my favorite thing to do in a gym is weighted pull-ups:

A weighted pull-up is great for progressive overload on your muscles.

If you’re at this level and interested in doing so, here’s what you need to do:

  1. Get a weight belt. I bought this one on Amazon and it’s worked out incredibly well for me. I’ve tried doing the whole “put weights in a backpack” thing, and it certainly works. But the angle of the weights hanging off your back is weird. With a weight belt, the weight hangs down between your legs (not a euphemism) so it feels more natural.
  2. Add small amounts at a time. Most gyms will have 2.5 lb (roughly 1kg) weights; you might feel stupid putting on a big weight belt and only hanging a tiny weight off it, but you need to start somewhere.
  3. Consistently add more weight. I’ll warm up with two sets of 5 pull-ups with no extra weight, and then do 3 sets of 5 weighted pull-ups. If I can complete all 3 sets of 5 reps (with my chin over the bar for every rep), I’ll make a note to add 2.5 or 5lbs (1 or 2kg) to my weight belt for the next time.

If you want any help scaling your workouts, check out our 1-on-1 Online Coaching Program. We’ll create you a plan that escalates in difficulty as you grow stronger! You’ll never have to worry about what exercises to do or how much. Instead, just follow the workout prescribed by your coach!




Including Pull-Ups in Your Workout

Pull-ups are a primal exercise, as shown by this monkey here.

You now know how to do a pull-up, a chin-up, and tons of variations.

The only thing left to cover is WHEN to do pull-ups.

For that, let’s talk about building your own workout

Unless you’ve been strength training for years and know what you’re doing, we recommend that you pick a full-body routine that you can do 2-3 times a week.

You want a workout routine that has at least one exercise for:

  1. Quads (front of your legs).
  2. Butt and hamstrings (back of your legs).
  3. Chest, shoulders, and triceps: (“push” muscles).
  4. Back, biceps, and grip ( “pull” muscles).
  5. Core (abdominals and lower back).

Pull-ups, chin-ups, and all the variations covered would make a great addition for your “pull” muscles (back, biceps, and forearms). 

So a sample workout routine that includes pull-ups could look like:

  1. Barbell squats: 5 sets of 5 reps.
  2. Barbell Deadlifts: 3 sets of 3 reps.
  3. Push-ups (or dips): 3 sets of 15 reps.
  4. Pull-ups (or chin-ups): 3 sets of 8 reps.
  5. Planks: 3 sets, 1 minute hold each.

Boom! Five exercises you can do at the gym and then go home.

Let's start bodyweight training!

Wanna avoid the gym and just train at home in the first place? 

No problem! Lots of our coaching clients choose to train and do pull-ups in their home. All you’ll need is:

Seriously, you don’t have to leave home to start doing pull-ups and get in shape.

Want proof?

Meet Christina:

Christina started rocking pull-ups after Nerd Fitness Coaching

Through our coaching program Christina learned to pick herself up, literally, and now crushes her training without ever stepping foot in a gym. You can read her full story right here

Start doing pull-ups regularly and I promise you your life will improve for the better.

If you’re interested in progressing but want help on the next step, we’ve built 3 options that might float your boat:

#1) If you want step-by-step guidance, a custom strength training program that levels up as you get stronger, and a coach to keep you accountable, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:




2) Good at following instructions? Check out our self-paced online course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

The Academy has 20+ workouts for both bodyweight or weight training, a benchmark test to determine your starting workout, HD demonstrations of every movement, boss battles, meal plans, a questing system, and supportive community.



3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion. 

Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our guide, Strength Training 101: Everything You Need to Know. It’ll help you start incorporating pull-ups and chin-ups into your training:

That should get you going mastering the pull-up.

Alright, your turn?

Do you head to the gym to crush pull-ups? 

Do you have a pull-up bar in your own home?

Any tips or tricks we missed?

Let us know in the comments!

For the Rebellion,

-Steve

PS: Check out our other two articles on pull-ups:

PPS: Want to learn more? Read the rest of Strength Training 101 series:

###

Photo Sources: Scenes from an empty lot in Brooklyn, vol 1, Morning run with the Fitbit, Tampa Bay AirFest 2018, Girl on Monkey Bars, Weighted Pull Up, Sunset Nature Climb Animal Tree Monkey Wilderness.

GIF Source: Kipping Pull-up, L-Sit Pull-Up, Clapping Pull-Up, One-arm Pull-up.

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

  1. Check out this study on exercise and posture: “Changes in rounded shoulder posture and forward head posture according to exercise methods.” Source: PubMed.
  2. Check out this study, “Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study.” Source: The Lancet.
  3. Be careful on the whole “can support your weight” thing. Falling from a tree is never fun.
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