How to Do Pull-Ups

Why this movement is worth getting right

A strict pull-up is the baseline for every hanging skill that follows it. It builds the lats, upper back, and grip, and it teaches you to move your chest to the bar without a kip. Kipping, chest-to-bar, and muscle-ups all assume you can pull. If you cannot, those variations become a swing that never gets you over.

It also carries into rows, rope climbs, and any work where you need to depress the shoulders and pull the elbows in. Strict pull-ups are not a warm-up for kipping. They are the strength that keeps kipping honest.

Before you start

You should be able to dead-hang from the bar for 20–30 seconds without the shoulders shrugging up into the ears. Then you should be able to do scapular pull-ups: from a hang, pull the shoulder blades down and together without bending the elbows, and hold for a second. If you cannot, train hangs and scapular work before you chase chin-over-bar reps.

If you cannot yet do a single strict pull-up, that is fine. Use the scaling options below. Do not kip in order to collect pull-up reps you do not own. A kipping pull-up without a strict pull-up is a shoulder looking for trouble.

The setup

Take a grip just outside shoulder-width, palms away (pronated) unless you have a reason to use a mixed or supinated grip. Thumbs around the bar. Start from a dead hang: arms long, ribs down, a little tension in the glutes so you are not swinging. The shoulders are set — slightly depressed — not hanging off the capsules.

Feet together or slightly apart, legs quiet. If you need to bend the knees to clear the floor, that is fine; do not use the legs to start the pull. Brace as you would for a hollow hold. Eyes on the bar or just above it.

Executing the movement

Initiate

Start by setting the shoulders: scapulae down and together. The elbows have not bent yet. You should feel the lats switch on and the armpits tighten. This is the same action as a scapular pull-up.

Pull

Bend the elbows and drive them towards the ribs, not out into a wide flare. The chest travels towards the bar. Keep the ribs down; a big arch in the lower back is not helping you over. You should feel the work in the lats and mid-back, not only in the biceps.

Chin over

Continue until the chin is clearly over the bar. Do not crane the neck to buy the last centimetre. The chest is up, the bar is at the top of the chest or the neck, depending on your build.

Lower

Lower under control to a full hang. The shoulders can return to a packed hang; they should not crash into a dead, loose hang at the bottom of every rep unless you are deliberately training that. You should still feel the lats as you extend.

What usually goes wrong

Shrugged start

You pull with the traps and the neck, so the shoulders never set. The range is shorter and the elbows never get under the bar. Pause in a packed hang before every rep until the pattern sticks.

Kipping by accident

The hips pike or the knees lift to help the chin over. That is not a strict pull-up. Squeeze the glutes and keep the legs long. If you cannot get the chin over without it, the rep is not there yet.

Half reps

You start with a bent elbow or you stop when the chin is still behind the bar. Full hang, chin clearly over. Film from the side if you are not sure.

Flaring elbows and a chicken-neck

The elbows fly out and the head reaches for the bar. Keep the elbows closer to the body and move the chest, not the chin.

Dropping from the top

You let go of the eccentric. You lose strength and you bang the shoulders at the bottom. Take two to three seconds down until you can control it.

Staying safe

Pull-ups load the shoulders, elbows, and grip. A sharp pinch at the front of the shoulder, numbness in the hands, or elbow pain that worsens through the set is a reason to stop. See a professional if it persists.

If you fail a rep, lower yourself under control or drop from a height you can land safely — bent knees, quiet feet. Do not hang on with one arm if the other has gone. Chalk or grips are fine; they do not replace a packed shoulder.

Scaling and progression

Banded pull-ups with the band on the foot or knee, chosen so you can do controlled sets of 5, not bouncing singles. Foot-assisted pull-ups with the feet on a box, using the legs as little as you can. Negative pull-ups: jump or step to chin-over, lower for 3–5 seconds.

When you have 5 strict pull-ups, add a little load (a small plate in a belt or a dumbbell between the feet) or add reps before you add kipping volume. Chest-to-bar strict pulls are a useful next step if the goal is muscle-ups later.