The Step-by-Step Pull-Up

A number of my clients have set a goal to do a pull-up, a set of pull-ups, etc. It’s one of the exercises that serves as a standardization of fitness: if you can do pull-ups, you’re strong. The other side of that coin is that doing pull-ups is bloody hard.

What Makes Pull-Ups So Difficult?

The pull-up demands a tremendous amount of strength from the lats, the traps, the supporting muscular structures around the scapula, including rhomboids, the core, and the arms. It’s a broad movement across a wide range of motion and your muscles have to move your entire body weight through that. In short: it’s a lot.

But like every other fitness goal, there are steps to take to achieve it. Below, I’ll outline some of the basic steps you can take to build toward increasing your pull-up strength.

Note: people with recent shoulder or rotator cuff injury, surgery, or recovery should avoid putting too much stress on those structures before getting permission from a doctor.

Step One: Cable Lat Pullovers & Lat Pull-Downs

These exercises are relatively simple and focused ones, great for your first steps. I prefer the lat pulldown due to the movement pattern similarity with the pull-up: retracted shoulder blades, engaged core, and the use of the lats, middle back, and arms to pull the weight toward your chest. Lat pullovers also require more flexibility in the shoulder girdle, which may limit some people’s performance. However, lat pullovers are a wonderful way to wrap up a lat- or back-oriented workout. They can also be performed by many people who struggle with the pull-down; this is especially true if you use cables or bands instead of dumbbells (which I generally do not recommend for this exercise.)

The Pull-Down

For the pull-down, take a seat at any pull-down machine (most gyms have them), reach up, and grab the bar. Engage your core muscles, bring your chest and head up, and retract your shoulder blades (pull your shoulders down away from your ears.) Once in the starting position, flex the muscles between and around your shoulder blades to cue your body to use them as primary movers. Then, focusing on those muscles, bring the bar down toward your clavicle. Pause at the bottom of the movement to ensure maximal time under tension for your target muscles, and reset.

Once you’re able to handle pull-downs at around 60-70% your goal resistance (usually your body weight) for 12-16 repetitions per set, you should be ready to move on to assisted pull-ups. Before we rush on ahead, however, let’s stop and take a look at banded or cable pull-overs, another great back-building exercise.

Cable Lat Pull-Overs

At a cable station, attach a straight or notched bar. If using bands, find an anchor just above your eye level and attach/wrap the bands there.

At a fair distance (a couple feet), spread your feet shoulder-width apart and hinge slightly forward from the hips (this last bit is optional but I recommend it.) Engage your core, especially your lower back, and lift your chest. Retract your shoulder blades, cue the muscles around your scapula and shoulder joint, and bring the weight toward your thighs while focusing on those muscles.

If you're using a cable station, aim to build toward around 40-50% of your goal resistance (usually your body weight) for 12-16 repetitions. Once you reach that level of strength, you should be ready to move on.

If you’re using bands, your hands will likely end up next to your legs. If you’re using a bar on a cable machine, it should end up at the top of your thighs or meeting your waist.

Pause at the end of the movement, then reset.

Much like pull-down machines, cable stations and bands can be found at most gyms.

Step Two: the Assisted Pull-Up

To continue building muscle while simultaneously training your movement patterns, I recommend moving from pulldowns and pullovers straight into assisted pull-ups. Personally, I prefer to use bands for assistance, due to their constant resistance, but if you’re exercising unsupervised, I recommend the assisted pull-up machines found in many gyms.

First, you'll have to set the desired weight of your assistance. Usually I recommend people start with 1/3rd to ½ of their body weight, depending on what their pull-down results looked like. If using a band, I recommend starting with the heaviest available resistance and testing down from there. If your goal is to achieve a pull-up, or increase the number you can currently do, you won’t want to be doing more than 12 repetitions in a set. If you’re doing more than that, reduce the assistance.

If using bands, loop the band around a pull-up bar. Stretch the band down under your shoe or shoes. You can also loop the band around your shins or knees; this is largely up to your personal preference. I suggest using supervision during band-assisted pull-ups, especially if you’re looping the band around your knees. I’ve seen a lot of people flop out of bands! Be careful.

Now, grab the waiting pull-up bar with your hands broader than shoulder width. With your core engaged and chest lifted, retract your shoulder blades, engage the muscles in your upper/middle back, and bring your collarbone upwards toward the bar. If you can, pause at the top of the movement for a beat, then reset.

If using an assistance machine, set your desired assistance and kneel on the assistance platform. Grab the overhead bar (or, more likely, handles) for your preferred grip. If working toward full pull-ups, I recommend a wider grip. Retract your shoulder blades, engage your target muscle groups, and bring your chest toward the handles.

Eventually, our goal will be to reach 12 repetitions per set with our assistance weight ~15% of our goal weight (generally your body weight). Once you reach that point, you should be more than ready to tackle the proper pull-up.

Let's get started on that.

Step Three: Pull-Up

Great news: pull-up technique isn’t hard. In fact, you’ve been practicing the movement patterns every step of the way. Essentially, a pull-up is the same thing as an assisted pull-up except, you know, without the assistance.

Step up to the pull-up bar, engage your core, and lift your chest. Grab the bar with hands outside of shoulder-width and retract your scapula. Engaging your targeted muscles, pull yourself up. If possible, pause very briefly at the top of the motion, then reset.

PLEASE DO NOT JUMP OR JERK THROUGH THE MOTION. This may help you get your chest to the bar, or net you another couple of repetitions, but it also significantly increases your chance of injury. Injured people don’t work out much.

Once you can do at least 5 evenly paced pull-ups with good technique, you should find your numbers rising steadily. For a lot of my clients, the next plateau comes after they find themselves doing regular sets of 10-12…but that’s another article entirely.

Remember: safety first, practice good technique, and don’t give up. You can do this!