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Fundamentals

Pull-Up

Hang from a bar, pull until your chin clears it, lower yourself back down under control. The pull-up is the base of almost every pulling skill, from the muscle-up to the front lever.

Three positions of a pull-up: a hang on straight arms, the elbows at about a right angle, and the chin over the bar. The dashed line follows the head; the faint outlines are the positions it has passed.
Difficulty
Intermediate
editorial estimate
Steps to it
4 steps
Beginner → Intermediate
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. 5 sources

The road at a glance

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

Helps to have first

A starting point: no other movement in the Atlas is needed first.

This skill

Pull-Up

Leads towards

01

What it is

In a pull-up you hang from a bar with an overhand grip, hands about shoulder width apart or a little wider, and pull yourself up by bending the elbows and drawing the shoulder blades down and back, until your chin is above the bar. Then you lower yourself until your arms are straight again. With an underhand grip the same movement is usually called a chin-up.

The main work is done by the large muscles of the back, above all the latissimus dorsi, helped by the biceps, the muscles between the shoulder blades and the forearms, while the trunk keeps the body in one line. In an electromyography study of 25 people the latissimus dorsi reached the highest activation of the muscles measured, with the biceps next. It is a closed-chain movement: your hands stay where they are and your body moves.3

The load is your own body, so how hard a pull-up is depends on how much you weigh and on your proportions. That is why the road to the first strict pull-up differs a lot from person to person.

Your body is the load. A pull-up gets easier when you get stronger, or when you make the task lighter (a band, a lower bar, a shorter range). The steps below do exactly that.

History and origin

The exact origin of the pull-up is not documented, so we do not name a first person or a year. What is documented is how it is used: as a common measure of upper-body strength relative to body weight, in fitness tests and in strength testing for jobs such as firefighting, policing and the military, and as the base of the pulling skills in calisthenics. The muscle-up, the levers and the one-arm pull-up all start from it.

02

How it is done

  1. Grip and start

    Take an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders, thumbs around the bar. Hang with straight arms and your feet off the floor. Your legs can hang slightly in front of you or crossed behind; the body stays in one line and does not swing.

  2. Set the shoulders

    Before you bend the elbows, pull the shoulder blades down and back, away from your ears. The arms are still straight and the body rises a little. The pull starts from here.

    CueShoulder blades down1

  3. Pull

    Drive the elbows down towards your ribs. Pull until your chin clears the bar, or your chest approaches it, without pushing your head forward to get there.

    CueDrive the elbows downward1

  4. Lower

    Lower yourself under control until the arms are straight again. The way down is part of the rep: an uncontrolled drop makes injury more likely.

  5. Next rep

    Start every rep from a straight-arm hang with the shoulders set again. A rep that starts with bent arms, or with a swing, is a different exercise.

03

Progressions

These are common steps, not the only road. Coaches use different orders, and what suits you depends on your starting strength, your body and the bar you have. Move on when a step feels controlled, not when you hit a number.

What to have first

  • Grip and pulling strength

    There is no single number to reach before you start: the steps above are built so you can begin with a hang and a row. If you can hang on straight arms without your grip giving up at once, and do a few rows with a straight body, a negative is a reasonable next step.

  • Shoulders that tolerate overhead work

    You need to raise your arms overhead and hang without pain in the shoulders. Sharp pain, numbness or a pinching feeling mean stop, and ask a qualified person. Overhead movements narrow the space in the shoulder, which is why technique matters.

  • Trunk control

    Keep the body in one line, without leaning far back. A lightly tightened trunk helps you avoid swinging.

  1. Step 1Beginner

    Hang from the bar

    Hang on straight arms, first with relaxed shoulders, then with the shoulder blades pulled down and back (an active hang). This builds grip strength and teaches the shoulder position every pull-up starts from.

    Technical note: Keep the body still and the ribs down. If your grip gives up first, rest and repeat in shorter holds.

  2. Step 2Beginner

    Inverted row

    Lie under a low bar, hold it with an overhand grip and pull your chest towards it with the body straight. The closer your body is to horizontal, the harder it gets. It trains the same pulling pattern with only part of your weight.

    Technical note: The body is one line from head to heels; the hips do not sag.

  3. Step 3Intermediate

    Negative (lowering) pull-up

    Start at the top, chin over the bar (step up on a box or jump), and lower yourself as slowly as you can control, down to a straight-arm hang. Many coaches use it as a bridge between the row and the first full rep; some use a resistance band or a shorter range instead.

    Technical note: Lower evenly. If you drop in the last part, shorten the descent and build it up gradually.

  4. Step 4IntermediateGoal

    Full pull-up

    From a straight-arm hang, set the shoulders, pull until the chin clears the bar and lower to straight arms. Strict means no swing and no kick from the legs.

    Technical note: Count only reps that start on straight arms and finish with the chin over the bar.

04

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05

Common mistakes

  • Swinging and kicking

    Swinging or kicking the legs takes work away from the back muscles and turns the pull-up into a different exercise.

  • Pulling with the arms only

    If you do not set the shoulder blades first, the arms do the pulling and the back stays passive. Shoulder blades first, then elbows.

  • A shortened range

    A rep that does not start on straight arms, or stops below the chin, is not a full pull-up. A computer-model study of 11 men found that different phases of the movement load different muscles, which is one reason the full range matters. If it will not go, go back to a step where you can control the whole range.5

    NoStops halfway, chin below the bar
    YesChin over 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.

  • Dropping on the way down

    Letting go after the top loses tension and makes injury more likely. Lower under control.

  • A grip far wider than the shoulders

    Wider is not better. In an observational study of 11 people who pull up regularly, the wide-grip pull-up showed shoulder movement linked with a higher risk of impingement (tendons pinched under the bone at the top of the shoulder); the study was small and cannot say how often this causes injury. Start at shoulder width or a little wider.4

  • Grinding on when tired

    Fatigue ruins form. End the set when form slips instead of adding swing.

06

Variations and related skills

  • Chin-up

    Grip

    The same pattern with an underhand grip (palms facing you). A different grip, not a different movement. In the electromyography study the biceps and the chest muscle (pectoralis major) worked more in the chin-up, and the lower trapezius more in the pull-up.3

  • Neutral grip

    Grip

    Palms facing each other, on parallel handles where a park or gym has them.

  • Assisted pull-up

    Load

    A resistance band or other support carries part of your weight in the hardest part of the movement. One shoulder-mechanics paper says assisted front-grip pull-ups could suit weaker people, and adds that this needs more study.4

  • The same pull-up with extra load on a belt or vest.

  • A pull-up on a single arm: one of the hardest bodyweight skills.

  • A pull-up that continues over the bar into a dip support.

  • A straight-body hold under the bar. It builds on strong pulling, but is a different skill.

  • Kipping pull-up

    Uses a swing of the body to help. It is a separate skill with its own rules, and sources describe it as a common source of shoulder problems, so it is not what this page teaches.

Related skillsAustralian Row

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. Pull UpNASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine), exercise library
  2. Pull-up (exercise)Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), a secondary summary; the studies it cites were not checked by us
  3. Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or perfect-pullup rotational exerciseYoudas and colleagues, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2010; 25 people, bodyweight only (abstract read)
  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, three grips (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 (abstract read)

A note on safety. This page describes the movement in general. It is not a training plan and not medical advice. Stop if you feel sharp pain, numbness or a pinching feeling in the shoulder, elbow or wrist, and ask a qualified coach or doctor. Hanging and pulling load the shoulders and elbows, so build up gradually.

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

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