There are research-backed pull-up form and technique tips and tricks that everyone doing pull-ups should be working on.
Pull-ups are one of the most difficult but effective multi-joint upper body and core-strengthening exercises when performed correctly through the full range of motion with proper form. The optimal pull-up setup and form for maximizing full-body strength looks like this:
- Start with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width on the bar with an overhand (pronated) grip with your arms extended.
- Activate your mid-scapular muscles and lats by squeezing your shoulder blades together and down.
- Tighten your abs as if doing a crunch so that you’re in the Hollow-body position. (Your lower back should be flat, not arched.)
- Pull yourself up until your pecs reach bar-level.
- Lower yourself down under control.
- Repeat for as many reps as you can with proper form!
Sounds easy enough, go knock out some pull-ups!
Just kidding. Performing pull-ups like this is extremely difficult. This is the technique performed by gymnasts. No wonder they’re so strong!
If you’re reading this and you allow your back to hyperextend as you do pull-ups, read on to learn how to get more out of your pull-ups.
If you’re reading this and you’re wishing you could pull-ups, read on to learn what the correct setup and form should look like. I’ll link to another article on how to get your first pull-up at the end.
To get the most out of your pull-ups and develop true upper body and core strength, begin doing pull-ups this way today.
Why emphasize proper form?
Proper setup and form as laid out above results in:
- maximal latissimus dorsi muscle activation, giving you that nice “V” shaped back
- maximal mid-scapular (upper back muscles between the shoulder blades) muscle activation and strength gains helping you develop that set of back abs you’ve always wanted
- reduces your risk of developing shoulder pain (or helps reduce the pain you already have)
- maximizes grip strength development
Proper form is difficult to achieve for multiple reps because it doesn’t allow you to cheat at any level. No half-repping (which is what 95% of pull-ups at the gym are), no ignoring your abs and your upper back, and no kipping!
If you do pull-ups correctly you won’t feel the need to work your abs later, trust me!
Step 1: Slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand position
There is great research on hand position for lat pulldowns. Unfortunately, there’s almost no applicable research as specific to pull-ups. However, the relationship between the two movements is close and I believe that we can apply the principles gleaned from lat pulldowns to optimizing our pull-up setup.
The consensus is that a slightly wider than shoulder-width hand position on the bar is the optimal setup, as shown below in the middle pic (B).
The slightly wider than shoulder-width hand position (B) resulted in:
- the heaviest load able to be lifted
- the greatest biceps brachii muscle activation
- a statistically equal latissimus dorsi muscle activation vs. the wide grip position (A)
The pull-up position as described above has also been found to have the highest lower trapezius muscle activation.
Of interest, the kneeling lat pulldown position has been found to have the closest muscle activation levels to true pullups as compared to the standard seated lat pulldowns with your thighs fixed under a bar. Keep that in mind as you train.
Why not go wide?
It should be important to note that going too wide decreases your overall strength production. Why?
Because you place your muscles in an inefficient length-tension relationship. Going wide stretches them out more and increases the lever arm, not to be confused with your actual arm(!). Longer lever arms are harder to move, especially when they’re your real arm with your body weight hanging from them. Anyone else confused? Just don’t make your lever arms or real arms be too long! 😉
The overhand grip
Many people prefer to perform chin-ups with an underhand (supinated) grip rather than pull-ups with an overhand (pronated) grip because of personal preference or less shoulder pain.
The research does show that the overhand grip position activates the lats more than the underhand position.
But if you have shoulder pain, feel free to substitute chin-ups as the overall muscle activation patterns are nearly the same.
Step 2: Activate your mid-scapular muscles and lats
The verbal cue that I give someone after they’re on the bar with their hands in the correct position is to “squeeze your shoulder blades together (or in) and down”. I often refer to this as setting your upper back.
This step is essentially the same as performing the Straight-Arm Pull in Climbing Drill 1.
I recommend practicing this muscle activation pattern before you get on the bar. Stand up tall and raise your arms overhead. Practice squeezing your shoulder blades together and down. Have someone make sure you’re actually pulling them together (in) and not just down. Then get on the bar and practice.
Practicing the Straight-Arm Pull
If you struggle with pull-ups, your grip strength, and/or your core strength these are great exercises to start out with.
I recommend performing 6 max-duration holds keeping the mid-scapular and lat muscles activated.
Bonus points if you can maintain the Hollow-body position while hanging there!
Step 3: Tighten your abs as if doing a crunch
Here’s something I learned researching for this post that shocked me!
The rectus abdominis (your six-pack muscle) has a higher muscle activation during pull-ups than the lats, biceps, and middle traps.
I wasn’t expecting that. No wonder this step is so difficult!
However, the key point here is that you’re only working your abs during pull-ups *IF* you choose to work your abs during pull-ups.
The “normal” pull-up form we see…
Picture this: you’re at the gym and see some guy, we’ll say a bro, doing pull-ups. What position is his body in?
From my experience, 99% of the time he’s leaning back with a big arch in his back with his knees flexed and feet crossed behind him.
If your back is in extension while doing pull-ups, then you’re just “hanging out” on the bar with very little abdominal muscle activation but a whole lot of lower back hyperextension. Feel the burn! Oh wait, that’s back pain. You want to feel the burn in your abs.
Getting in the Hollow-body position
When hanging from the bar with your mid-scapular muscles squeezed together and in the next step is to engage your abs so that you’re in the hollow-body position.
My verbal cue for coaching someone to tighten their abs how I want them to get into the Hollow-body position is to tell them “tighten your abs as if you were preparing for me to punch you in the stomach”.
Think about this and practice it in standing. If you were going to let one of your buddies sucker punch you in the gut and you had two seconds to get ready, what kind of ab contraction would you make?
We naturally “crunch our abs so that our ribs come down some, but if you pay attention to your pelvis at all, those two bones on the front sides of your pelvis also lift up.
The type of abdominal (core) muscle activation that I’m looking for is something that pulls your rib cage down to your pelvis and lifts your pelvis up toward your rib cage. This is the hollow-body position.
Why is the hollow-body position so hard to hold?
Two reasons:
- most of our weight comes from the lower half of our body
- when we hang from the bar in a relaxed position our back naturally hyperextends, so we have to fight that the entire time
Practicing the Hollow-body position
I recommend adding hollow-body holds into your workout routine. They’re a great abdominal and core strengthening exercise that trains you to keep your spine in neutral or slight flexion.
Lie down on the floor in this position.
Reach overhead and in a controlled manner, crunch up until your shoulder blades come off the floor and your arms are pointing in a slight angle up, as shown above.
Then tighten your lower abs as if I were going to punch you in the gut so that your lower back is completely flat on the ground. This should naturally result in the front of your pelvis rotating toward you and your legs lifting about 1 foot off the floor.
Hold the hollow-body position 3 x 1 minute.
If you need to take a break, bend your knees and grab them with your hands and breathe for 10 sec. Then slowly unwind from the rest position back to the hollow-body position to finish out the remainder of the minute.
Do 10 reps of 5 sec holds of prone press-ups after each bout of hollow-body holds to stretch out your abs and extend your back in a safe position.
Step 4: Pull yourself up until your pecs reach the bar
The pulling phase of pull-ups (also chin-ups) requires strong muscle contractions of the following muscles:
- pectoralis major
- biceps brachii
- also the other elbow flexors, brachialis radiobrachialis
- latissimus dorsi
- middle and lower traps
- rhomboids
- posterior deltoids
The pulling phase is initiated by the lower trapezius and pectoralis major muscles.
If you’re struggling to flex your elbows in the straight-arm position and begin pulling yourself up focus on doing some negatives through this bottom range of motion. I recommend doing 10-15 reps of 5-10 second negatives resisting the fall until your arms are completely locked out. Do these 3-4 days of the week until you gain the strength to be able to pull yourself up from the bottom position.
The lower traps are especially difficult to strengthen. Working them in the first few degrees of the pull-up is important to strengthen them as you need them to work.
Don’t half-rep!!!
As the pulling phase progresses to where your elbows are flexed, the biceps brachii and latissimus dorsi muscles take over and complete the pull-up.
It’s very important to perform your pull-ups through the full range of motion, pulling all the way up until your pecs reach bar-level to maximize strengthening of these muscles. The latissimus dorsi muscle is most active during the last phase of the pullup so always pull until your pecs are at chest level to get bigger lats!
The entire pulling phase should take you about 1-2 seconds to complete. Pause at the top and then begin lowering yourself back down.
Step 5: Lower yourself down under control.
Turn every rep into a negative!
Initiating the pull-up from the bottom position when your arms are straight may be the hardest part of the pull-up but it’s when you lower yourself back down under control that your muscles and tendons actually generate the greatest amount of tension.
The lowering phase of the pull-up consists of multiple eccentric muscle contractions. Eccentric contractions are what people are doing when they train negatives at the gym.
As you lower yourself the muscles lengthen and continue generating tension. The tension and force generated by the muscle during eccentric contractions are actually higher than the force generated by muscles that are shortening.
I say all of that to say once again, don’t waste the downward (eccentric) phase of the pull-up!
Lower yourself in a controlled manner for ~2 seconds until your elbows are straight. (Always keep your mid-scapular muscles activated.)
If you want to really work on improving your pull-up strength and endurance, spend 5-10 seconds lowering yourself every rep. Bonus points if you can do negatives with additional weight!
How many Pull-ups should I do?
If you’re a pull-up pro…
If you can easily do more than 10 reps of pull-ups with proper form then pull-ups have transitioned from being a strengthening exercise to an endurance exercise for you. I recommend adding external weight to your body and doing 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps focusing on a 2-second pulling phase and a 2-5 second negative phase.
If you’re a pull-up progressor…
If you can do 2 or more reps of pull-ups in a row with proper form then body-weight pull-ups are still an appropriate strengthening exercise for you. Because you can only do a small number of pull-ups it’s important to do more sets of them to get an appropriate volume of training. Do 6-10 sets of 2-5 pull-ups at least 3 days of the week.
If you’re a pull-up newbie…
If you’re struggling to do one pull-up with proper form then work on performing negatives. Start in the top position of the pull-up. Activate all the muscles as described above. Do a total of 10-20 reps of 5-10 second negatives down to the bottom position in which your arms are straight but your mid-scapular muscles remain activated.
Additional exercises to build the strength required to perform pull-ups correctly and to increase the number of reps you can do:
- Inverted Rows: do 4-5 sets of as many reps as possible with good form (AMRAP)
- Kneeling Lat Pulldowns: do 4-5 sets of AMRAP pulling the bar to your chest
- Bent Over Rows: do 4-5 sets with a weight that you can lift 8-12 times, when you can do 12 reps go up 5 lbs
- Seated Rows: do 4-5 sets with a weight that you can lift 8-12 times, when you can do 12 reps go up 5 lbs
- Chin-ups: do the same as described
d above for pull-ups for newbies - Hollow-body holds: do 3 bouts of 1 min holds as described above
No matter how many pull-ups you can do today if you pause and emphasize working on this pull-up form I believe that within 4 weeks you’ll be doing more reps of higher quality pull-ups! Good luck!