Pull-Up
You hang from the bar with straight arms, with an overhand grip, hands at roughly shoulder width or a little wider. First your shoulder blades travel down, then you pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar. You hold that top position for a beat, then lower slowly back into a full hang.
The pull-up is a vertical pull against your own body weight. You hang from the bar with straight arms and pull until your chin clears it.
The lats do the bulk of the work. Teres major and the lower traps join in. The biceps and brachialis bend the elbow, and your forearms hold the grip.
Because your body weight is the load, a bar is all you need. You scale it with a band that takes weight off you or with extra weight on a belt.
The lat pulldown is how you get there. Once you can move your own body weight cleanly on the pulldown, you have the strength the pull-up asks for.
Starting position
Find a bar you can hang from with your feet clear of the floor. If it sits too high, use a step to get into position. Take an overhand grip at roughly shoulder width or a little wider, wrap your hands right around the bar and your thumbs underneath it. Andreas puts cut-up pieces of resistance band on the bar for this.
Now let yourself hang all the way down: arms straight, body settled. From here the movement starts at your shoulder blades — they travel down first, and only then do you bend your arms.
Pull until your chin clears the bar and hold that top position for a beat. Keep your chest up and your neck long. Then lower slowly and under control until your arms are straight again at the bottom.
The three cues
- Wrap your hands right around the bar, thumbs underneath
- Shoulder blades down first, then pull
- Chest to the bar
Common faults
| Fault | How to fix it |
|---|---|
| Your head pushes forward to get over the bar | Stay tall and keep your neck long — your chin goes up over the bar. |
| Your arms start pulling immediately and your shoulders stay up by your ears | Pull your shoulder blades down first, then bend your arms. |
| Your arms stay bent at the bottom and each rep starts from halfway up | Hang all the way down — every rep starts with straight arms. |
| Your hands slip on the bar | Wrap your hands right around the bar with your thumbs underneath. On a smooth bar, a piece of resistance band under your hands helps. |
Variations
| Variation | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Lat pulldown at your own body weight | The pulldown stays the exercise until you can pull your own body weight for six to eight clean reps. It builds exactly the strength the pull-up asks for. |
| Band-assisted pull-up | Loop a band over the bar and put a foot or knee in it so it takes weight off you. Move on when every rep starts from a full hang and you hold the top for a beat. |
| Unassisted pull-up | Pull from a full hang until your chin clears the bar, a beat at the top, slow on the way down. You progress by adding reps. |
| Weighted pull-up | Once your body-weight reps all look the same, add weight on a belt in small increments. |
Reps and load
Andreas's tempo: one second up, a beat at the top, two seconds down. Every rep starts and ends in a full hang.
Put the pull-up at the start of your pulling work while you're fresh. While the pulldown gate is still open, the pulldown stays the driver.
Which muscles do the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| Lats M. latissimus dorsi | Prime mover | Pulls the upper arm down and in towards the body |
| Teres major M. teres major | Synergist | Works with the lats to pull the upper arm down and back |
| Lower and middle trapezius M. trapezius, pars ascendens et transversa | Synergist | Draws the shoulder blades down and together |
| Biceps M. biceps brachii | Synergist | Bends the elbow and brings your body closer to the bar |
| Brachialis M. brachialis | Synergist | Sits beneath the biceps and bends the elbow whatever the hand position |
| Lower chest M. pectoralis major, pars sternocostalis | Synergist | Pulls the upper arm forward and down towards the body |
| Forearms Mm. antebrachii | Stabiliser | Hold the grip on the bar for the whole rep |
| Core M. rectus abdominis, mm. obliqui | Stabiliser | Keeps the body settled so the movement travels straight up |
The lats do the bulk of the work, helped by teres major and by the lower traps, which draw the shoulder blades down. The biceps and brachialis bend the elbow. Your forearms hold the grip and your core keeps your body steady.
Explained in full
Andreas covers the grip, grip width and grip support, shows on his own back which muscles do the pulling, and works through the shoulder blades, the tempo and the cue “chest to the bar”. · 4:42
Seeing it done right is not the same as doing it right
Video, cues and variations take you a long way. What they cannot give you is an outside eye at the moment the movement isn't quite there yet. That is what training with me is for — in the studio or in a workshop.
See the workshopsNew exercise pages are added all the time — the newsletter keeps you posted.
Sources
Youdas JW, Amundson CL, Cicero KS, Hahn JJ, Harezlak DT, Hollman JH. (2010). Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or Perfect-Pullup rotational exercise. J Strength Cond Res 24(12):3404–3414. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181f1598c — Measures muscle activity in 25 people (21 men, 4 women, aged 23–25, able to do at least three pull-ups) during an overhand pull-up and an underhand chin-up. Lat activity was well above biceps activity, the lower trapezius was higher in the pull-up than the chin-up, and the biceps and pectoralis major were higher in the chin-up. The basis for the roles in the muscle table: lats as prime mover, biceps as synergist. A young, trained sample; there is no measurement specific to people aged 40 to 60 training two to four hours a week. Surface EMG, a snapshot that says nothing about muscle growth. (Evidence type: EMG)
Dickie JA, Faulkner JA, Barnes MJ, Lark SD. (2017). Electromyographic analysis of muscle activation during pull-up variations. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 32:30–36. DOI: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2016.11.004 — Measures muscle activity in 19 resistance-trained men (aged 24.9 ± 5) across pull-up variations with different hand positions. The middle trapezius was higher with the overhand grip than with a neutral grip; across the full rep the variations came out broadly similar. The basis for listing the middle and lower trapezius as synergists. Young trained men only, with no bearing on the Academy's target group. (Evidence type: EMG)
Boccia G, Pizzigalli L, Formicola D, Ivaldi M, Rainoldi A. (2015). Higher neuromuscular manifestations of fatigue in dynamic than isometric pull-up tasks in rock climbers. J Hum Kinet 47:31–39. DOI: 10.1515/hukin-2015-0059 — Measures muscle activity and fatigue in nine male sport climbers during dynamic and isometric pull-ups, including teres major and brachioradialis. The basis for listing teres major as a synergist and the forearm muscles as stabilisers. A very small sample from a specialist sport; the study shows involvement and fatigue, not a ranking of activation levels, and does not transfer to recreational trainees. (Evidence type: EMG)
Li Q, Yan J, Qiao M, Quan J, Chen Y, Gong M, Niu W, Wang L. (2025). Eight-week lat pull-down resistance training with joint instability leads to superior pull-up endurance performance. Eur J Sport Sci 25(1):e12243. DOI: 10.1002/ejsc.12243 — An eight-week training study in 34 male students. Both groups trained the lat pulldown and afterwards increased their pull-up reps. The basis for saying the pulldown builds the way to the pull-up. Young, recreationally active men; no untrained comparison group, reps as the only outcome, no women and nobody from the 40-to-60 target group. (Evidence type: Intervention study)
Sanchez-Moreno M, Pareja-Blanco F, Diaz-Cueli D, González-Badillo JJ. (2016). Determinant factors of pull-up performance in trained athletes. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 56(7-8):825–833. PMID 26176615. — Looks at 25 trained men to see which measures relate to pull-up performance. Pull-up reps were related to lat pulldown performance at body-weight load (r = 0.62) but barely to pulldown maximal strength (r = 0.09). The basis for defining the pulldown gate by your own body weight rather than by a maximum load. An observation, not proof of cause and effect; trained young men, no women, no measurement in the target group. No DOI is registered for this paper; verified via PubMed. (Evidence type: Querschnitt)
Ortega-Rodríguez R, Feriche B, Almeida F, Bonitch-Góngora J, Padial P. (2021). Effect of the pronated pull-up grip width on performance and power-force-velocity profile. Res Q Exerc Sport 92(4):651–658. DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2020.1762835 — Compares a self-selected overhand grip with a set grip width in 14 trained men doing pull-ups. Maximal strength, reps to failure and the force-velocity profile did not differ between grip widths. The basis for giving a range from shoulder width to slightly wider on the page rather than a fixed measurement. A small sample of young trained men; there is no measurement for beginners or for the Academy's target group. (Evidence type: Querschnitt)
A note on context: EMG studies show which muscles an exercise recruits — that is a good reason to pick it, but it does not replace adjusting things to the person in front of you. See a doctor for persistent or severe pain.