Pull-ups are part of the ‘big 5’ compound exercises and are ideal for upper-body strength training. This exercise engages multiple muscle groups simultaneously, primarily targeting the back (latissimus dorsi), shoulders, and arms (biceps).
However, pull-ups are some of the most difficult exercises as well. Pulling your body weight against gravity requires not only a lot of strength in the shoulders but grip strength in your hands, core stability, and a low enough body weight to start with. Most beginners are not able to perform a single pull-up and should do different exercises to increase strength in the back and shoulder muscles.
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How to do Pull-Ups
Even an exercise as straightforward as pull-ups requires proper form. Because this is a very hard exercise to do, people often cut corners in order to complete the movement (like swinging or shrugging the shoulders). At Studio X, we recommend working on your strength-to-bodyweight ratio through other exercises until you can do pull-ups. This is to avoid injury to shoulders, elbows, and wrists.
- Start by hanging from the bar with your palms facing forward. Grip width should be around 1.5x the width of your shoulders.
- Hang with straight arms and feet off the ground. Avoid swaying.
(if you cannot do pull-ups yet, this ‘Dead Hang’ is a good exercise to increase grip strength and work on the upper back and shoulders.) - Pull yourself up by engaging your lats and driving your elbows down.
- Go all the way up until your chin passes the bar, while keeping the core engaged to avoid swinging.
- Lower your body down in a controlled manner until your arms are straight again.
Alternatives to Pull-Ups
If you can’t do a single pull-up, don’t get discouraged. Challenge yourself and work on strengthening the muscles needed for pull-ups through other exercises:
Dead Hang
to improve grip strength and work the upper back and shoulders.
Assisted Pull-Ups
by placing a knee or foot on a resistance band that is tied to the bar.
Negative Pull-Ups
Jump to the top position of the Pull-Up and slowly lower yourself
Cable Rows
to activate the rhomboids and upper back muscles
Australian Pull-Ups
or inverted rows, horizontally under a low bar with your feet on the ground to practice pulling against gravity.
Pulldowns
with a Lat Pulldown Machine
Shoulder press
Even though this is a push exercise, it works the same muscle groups as pull-ups
Chin-ups
this easier variation uses the biceps to lift part of the weight, giving the lats a chance to perform the movement with less weight.
Why do pull-ups
The main reason to do any strength exercises should always be to improve your daily life. ‘Pulling up’ is a functional movement that requires strength in the back and shoulders. Whether you are regularly climbing a ladder, reaching for the garage door, or need to lift objects overhead, pull-ups can improve your ability to perform these tasks.
Pull-ups are the most effective exercises to build upper body strength. Within one natural movement, you work the latissimus dorsi (lats), trapezius, rhomboids, deltoids, biceps, and the muscles of the forearms and core.
Doing pull-ups often will increase your grip strength. This is good for daily activities that require strong hands and forearm endurance, such as carrying groceries, opening jars, pulling weeds, but also using a computer keyboard for extended periods.
Strong back and shoulder muscles will improve your posture and reduce risk of posture-related issues, like rounded shoulders, forward head posture or poor spinal alignment.
Swimmers, rowers, rock climbers and tennis players can all benefit from doing pull-ups regularly and building upper body strength and endurance.
Grip width when doing pull-ups
The way you grip the bar during pull-ups does matter. You may have heard at a gym that a wide grip targets the back muscles and a narrow grip targets the arms. However, this is false. Studies on grip width during pull-ups found that there are no significant differences in muscle activity between wide and narrow grips. The belief may be entirely based on the sensations you get while doing pull-ups, and your feelings and objective muscle activity don’t correlate very well.
You don’t want to grip the bar too close. A narrow grip causes the forearms to rotate inward, which places more stress on the forearm muscles. This reduces the effectiveness of the exercise for building upper body strength.
However, a wide-grip pull-up is even worse. It actually increases the risk of shoulder injury (and compression of the bursa and tendons) due to the position of the shoulders during the exercise. If you hurt your shoulder, using a wide grip can negatively impact your progress and gains.
Research on grip width on the lat pulldown (which is a similar movement as the pull-up) shows that a medium grip of about 1.5x shoulder width seems to be the best grip to maximize activation of the back muscles. So, next time when you attempt a pull-up, grip slightly outside your shoulder width.