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Fundamentals

One-Arm Pull-Up

A pull-up in which one arm pulls the whole body up. The movement is simple to state and very hard to do; the research on it is close to nothing, and this page says where it stops.

Three positions from the side: the hang, halfway, and the chin over the bar. The side view looks like a two-arm pull-up: the free arm and the turn of the body are not drawn. The dashed line follows the head; the faint outlines are the positions it has passed.
Difficulty
Expert
editorial estimate
Steps to it
3 steps
Advanced → Expert
Usually done on
Pull-up bar
Start with the first stepHow it is done

Prepared by Calisthenics Balkan. Not yet reviewed by a qualified coach. 6 sources

The road at a glance

A short overview with links. Every step is explained in full under Progressions.

Helps to have first

This skill

One-Arm Pull-Up

Leads towards

No movement in the Atlas builds directly on this one yet.

01

What it is

A one-arm pull-up is done on a bar with one hand. The one definition we found comes from the Amateur Athletic Union's feats-of-strength rules: each repetition starts from a hang with the arm straight, the chin has to go above the bar, either hand and either a pull-up or a chin-up grip may be used, and the other arm must not help the pulling arm, for example by grabbing it at the wrist or the biceps. The AAU is a US strength-sports body, not a calisthenics federation, and we found no rule from one.

Training for it often uses that help on purpose: coaching sources describe the free hand holding the wrist and then the forearm, a band or a pulley taking some of the weight, or an archer pull-up where one arm does most of the work. Those are steps towards the movement, not the movement. The rules say the difference plainly.

Nothing we could read measures the one-arm pull-up itself: no muscle activity, joint angles, forces or injuries. The shoulder findings below come from two-arm pull-ups, and the one-arm hang study is about climbers. Al Kavadlo writes that some turn of the body is unavoidable and that many people bring the bar towards the shoulder on the other side; that is one coach's account, not a measurement.

A one-arm pull-up starts from a straight arm and ends with the chin over the bar, with no help from the other arm. Everything before it is a step, and a step is allowed to be slow.

History and origin

The origin of the one-arm pull-up is not documented in the sources we read, so we name no first person and no year. It exists as a rule in strength-sports competition and as a goal in calisthenics and climbing coaching; no source we read says when or where it began.

02

How it is done

  1. Hang

    Take the bar with one hand and hang with the arm straight. This is where each repetition starts in the AAU rules. How to set the shoulder in the hang is not described in the sources we read.

  2. Pull

    Pull until the chin is above the bar. Keep the other arm away from the pulling arm; the AAU counts help at the wrist or biceps against you.

  3. Allow the turn

    Kavadlo says some rotation cannot be avoided and that people often pull the bar towards the opposite shoulder. Core strength matters, he adds. Neither is a measured fact.

  4. Lower

    Lower under control until the arm is straight. La Fabrique Verticale calls the one-arm descent very hard on the elbows and Kavadlo says early attempts drop fast, so it is not a place to hurry.

03

Progressions

These are common steps, not the only road, and the sources disagree on their order and on what to have first. Move on when a step is controlled and painless, not when you reach a number.

What to have first

  • Strong two-arm pull-ups

    Kavadlo says at least ten dead-hang pull-ups in a row; La Fabrique Verticale says about twenty and weighted pull-ups after that. The sources disagree and neither is a federation. Treat both as opinion, not as a target.

  • Elbows and shoulders that tolerate pulling

    Both coaching articles warn about the elbows (Kavadlo about tendinitis, La Fabrique Verticale about the one-arm descent), and the shoulder studies are about narrowing of the space under the top of the shoulder in pull-ups. Pain is a reason to stop and ask, not to push on.

  • A bar you trust

    A bar that holds your whole weight on one grip point, and room for the body to turn without hitting anything.

  1. Step 1Advanced

    Assisted one-arm pulls

    One arm does most of the work and something takes the rest: the free hand on the wrist and later the forearm, a band, a pulley or a counterweight, or the archer pull-up. La Fabrique Verticale lists these in that order; Kavadlo names the archer pull-up and the one-arm Australian pull-up with the feet on the floor. The picture cannot show the help, so read the text.

    Technical note: The help is a step. Under the AAU rule a pull with the other hand on the arm does not count.

  2. Step 2Expert

    One-arm lowering

    From the top, with the chin over the bar, lower slowly on one arm. Kavadlo describes it as lowering from a one-arm hold at the top and building up to a slow descent; La Fabrique Verticale describes locking off with the chin above the bar, releasing one hand and resisting the descent. Kavadlo says early attempts drop fast; La Fabrique Verticale says the descent can be very hard on the elbows.

    Technical note: La Fabrique Verticale warns about the elbows here and Kavadlo about elbow tendinitis. Stop when the elbow hurts.

  3. Step 3ExpertGoal

    One-arm pull-up

    From a straight-arm hang on one arm, pull until the chin is above the bar, without help from the other arm, and lower under control. Practised on either hand.

    Technical note: The AAU rule lets a competitor use either hand, so both sides can be practised.

04

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05

Common mistakes

  • Calling a helped pull a one-arm pull-up

    A free hand on the wrist or forearm is a useful step, and under the AAU rule it is a failed repetition. Say which one you did.

  • Starting bent or finishing short

    The AAU rule asks for a straight arm at the start and the chin above the bar. A shorter range is a different, smaller movement.

    NoStops short, chin below the bar
    YesChin above the bar
    Both pictures are positions of the movement drawn on this page: where a repetition that stops short ends, and the full range. No wrong technique is drawn.

  • Letting the lowering drop

    La Fabrique Verticale calls the one-arm descent very hard on the elbows, and Kavadlo notes that early attempts drop fast. A drop with one arm taking the whole body is where the risk sits, by their accounts.

  • Pushing on through elbow pain

    Kavadlo names tendinitis and says to back off when pain appears in or around the elbows. No study we found measures this; it is coaching advice.

  • Hanging on the shoulder

    A study of one-arm hangs in climbing found that beginners hung mostly on the ligaments of the shoulder with little muscle, which the authors call dangerous for those ligaments, while skilled climbers used trunk and leg muscles too. It is a hang, not a pull, and it is about climbers.

  • Racing through the steps

    The sources disagree on the order and on the starting level. A step that is not controlled yet is the one to stay on.

06

Variations and related skills

  • Archer pull-up

    Two hands on the bar, one arm extended to the side and doing as little as possible. Named by Kavadlo as a step. The side view cannot show it.

  • One-arm chin-up

    Grip

    With the palm towards you. The AAU allows either grip. In a model of two-arm pull-ups, the front and reverse grips used the biceps and the shoulder's rotator cuff differently; no source covers the one-arm chin-up itself.

  • Weighted one-arm pull-up

    Load

    Mentioned in the AAU rules, which score the body weight plus the added load. We found no technique source for it and say nothing more.

  • The two-arm movement this one is built on. Start there.

  • The loaded two-arm version that La Fabrique Verticale puts before the one-arm steps.

Related skillsMuscle-Up

On Calisthenics Balkan

07

Sources

What this page relies on. Titles and publishers are written as published.

The small numbers in the text point to the entries below.

  1. AAU Feats of Strength Rule Book (one-arm pull-up or chin-up events)Amateur Athletic Union, Rev. 1-20-15; the only rule definition we found, from a US strength-sports body and not a calisthenics federation (PDF text read)
  2. Strength & Conditioning: Al Kavadlo, Week 4, Day 2Al Kavadlo, Breaking Muscle, page updated 2021; a coaching article from a calisthenics author, the one-arm pull-up day of a four-week plan (we use the steps and the remarks, not the plan)
  3. How to do onearm pull-ups: the quest for climbing's GrailLaurence, La Fabrique Verticale, 2020; a climbing site, nine steps in order; no author credentials shown
  4. Scapula kinematics of pull-up techniques: Avoiding impingement risk with training changesPrinold and Bull, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 2016; 11 people who pull up regularly, two-arm pull-ups only (abstract read)
  5. Avoiding high-risk rotator cuff loading: Muscle force during three pull-up techniquesUrbanczyk, Prinold, Reilly and Bull, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 2020; 11 men, a computer model, two-arm pull-ups only (abstract read)
  6. Comparative biomechanical characteristics of one-arm hang in climbing for beginners and qualified athletesKozin and colleagues, Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics 2020; 20 leading climbers and 20 beginners, a hang and not a pull (abstract read)

A note on safety. This page describes the movement in general. It is not a training plan and not medical advice. We found no study of the one-arm pull-up: no muscle activity, joint angles, forces or injuries. What exists is about two-arm pull-ups (high arm elevation narrows the space under the top of the shoulder and raises the risk of impingement; wide and reverse grips showed higher-risk patterns in 11 people) and about the one-arm hang in climbers. The elbow and tendinitis warnings come from two coaching articles, not from research. Build up gradually, stop with pain in the elbow, shoulder or biceps, and ask a qualified coach, doctor or physiotherapist.

Prepared by Calisthenics Balkan. Not yet reviewed by a qualified coach.

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