The Pullup
Want to know the quickest way to see if you are building muscle, gaining strength and losing fat?
Do a set of pullups.
Seriously. You don’t need to bust out a set of skinfold calipers or hold an electronic device away from your chest.
Just do a set of pullups and compare it to the last time you did a set of pullups.
Did it feel easier? Did you get more repetitions?
Then you are getting stronger, and your body now has a better muscle to fat ratio than it did the last time you knocked out a set!
I like using the pullup as a secret assessment with clients. I can tell when we need to adjust things when their pullup numbers plateau.
And this is why I consider the pullup one of the 5 exercises you can use to achieve any goal. It provides so much greatness, it’s almost too much to handle.
I have already started delving into its many benefits, but below is a more extensive list of why pullups should be in your training arsenal.
The Benefits
#1: Six-Pack Abs
I don’t know anyone who can do a few perfect-form pullups that doesn’t have a flat stomach.
I mentioned above that the better you get with pullups, the better your muscle to fat ratio. Don’t waste your time knocking out 10 different “ab” exercises, when you can simply focus on improving your pullup strength.
Not only does less fat help you pull yourself against gravity, but the abdominals play a key role in keeping your body in a straight line during the pull.
#2: Better Posture
Pullups target the upper back muscles, as well as all of your shoulder stabilizers. When you perform a correct pull, you stimulate the mid and lower traps, which are commonly dominated by the upper traps.
Pullups can help fix this imbalance, open up your chest, and make you have much more of a presence.
#3: Better Arms
While I will use the term pullup throughout this post, I am also including chin-ups in this discussion.
The difference between the 2 lies in the grip. To set up for a pullup, the hands will face away from you. For a chin-up, the hands face toward you. An easy way to remember this is to think that the hands face the CHIN on a CHIN-UP.
To put it simply, chin-ups allow you to use more of your biceps to help you pull, while the pullup forces you to use more of your upper back. This is why chin-ups are almost always a little easier than pullups, because you get to use more muscles.
Anyway, both versions can help you improve the look of your arms, but I believe the chin-up is the best bicep-builder on the planet.
You will get way bigger arms repping out chin-ups day after day rather than doing drop-set cheat curls bursting three major veins in your temple 3x/week.
#4: It Looks Cool
Let’s be honest, knocking out a set of pullups with great form is pretty BA*. And it signals to the rest of the gym world that you are kind of a big deal.
#5: Mastery of Bodyweight
I am a big believer in being able to meet certain bodyweight-standards before going crazy with the external loading.
For the pushup, I advocate getting 20 picture-perfect reps before chasing big numbers on the bench press.
For the pullup, it’s not quite as linear, because I believe in doing loaded movement for the posterior chain right off the bat.
My goal with any client, though, is to get them to do 1 pullup with perfect form. Of course, we don’t stop there, but being able to get 1 great one, whether you are male or female, is a rarity these days, and something to be proud of.
The Form
As with any major movement, pullups tend to get butchered beyond belief. Many trainees end up working more of their front delts than anything on their backside.
And don’t get me started on kipping pullups!
Really?
Let’s go over a few major form pointers that I want you to keep in mind to help you perform pullups like a pro.
#1: Tuck your toes to your shins
This is a cue that was given to me not too long ago from one of my mentors, but it has been incredibly powerful in shoring up my technique.
For a long time, I had been crossing my feet or just letting them hang, not really thinking about their importance.
When I started pulling them into my shins, I could feel my entire anterior, specifically my anterior core, dial in and help keep my body in a straight alignment.
With your feet together, do this right before you go into your initial pull.
#2: Pull your chest to the ceiling
The biggest error that I see with pullups is pulling up for the sake of pulling up. There is no direction, just the goal of getting the chin over the bar.
This may have worked in elementary school gym class, but it doesn’t fly anymore if you want to actually do a pullup.
When you pull yourself straight up, you put a lot of stress on the front shoulders and take away from the true purpose of the exercise, which is to train your posterior chain.
By aiming to pull your chest to the ceiling, you force your shoulders down and back and do a much better job of actually working your back.
For the shoulder blades, I love the cue of tucking them into your back pocket as you pull up.
#3: Whole-Body Tension
As with all 5 of my exercises to achieve any goal, the pullup is a total-body movement when done correctly. Not only are the back and arms engaged, but the anterior core, quads, and glutes should all be firing to create the best possible technique and derive the most benefit.
#4: Control the Eccentric
In order to maintain that whole-body tension, you can’t complete the pullup, and then come crashing back down to the start. You have to lower under control, preferably for 2-3 seconds before going into your next rep. Stop just short of locking out the elbows at the bottom to maintain tension.
Building Up to a Full Pullup
There are not many people with the natural strength to get up and start repping out perfect pulls with no prior experience. But with the right progression continuum, you CAN get yourself up to doing full pullups fairly quickly.
Yes, I know, they look intimidating and something only Navy SEALs should do, but get the negatives out of your mind!
If you have never done a pullup before, that doesn’t mean you are doomed forever. Unlike having kids and having the urge to jump into the ballpit whenever you pass a big McDonald’s (what?), pullups are something that you can do at any age!
Before I get into the specific progressions though, the number one way to do more pullups is to lose fat.
If you are pretty overweight and are carrying a lot of excess bodyfat, this needs to be addressed first.
I can’t say what weight or bodyfat percentage you need to be at, because there isn’t one, but you just have to be logical. And this fat-loss process can definitely be done in conjunction with a few of the progressions!
The Progressions
Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Pulldown
If you are someone that has shoulder mobility deficits or is very new to everything vertical pulling, this is a good starting point.
It gets you down in a somewhat stable position and teaches you what it feels like to contract your lat and pull your shoulder down and back, 2 key qualities needed in a solid pullup.
If you have a lot of excess bodyfat, this is a great way to program for the pullup while you attack the bigger issue of fat-loss through the rest of the program.
World-class strength coach, Mike Robertson, has a great video on his YouTube channel demonstrating this movement, so I will let him do the honors. Mike is a great guy and I actually had the opportunity to shadow him and his staff at Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training a couple years ago.
Pullup Negatives
As soon as someone is able, I like to get them using a pullup/chin-up bar, but not necessarily to start attempting full reps.
This is where negatives come into play.
Pull out a small box or use a partner to get yourself over the bar, as if you completed a pullup, and from there, take about 5-6 seconds to lower yourself to the bottom.
When you reach the bottom, reset and get over the bar again.
Negatives are a fantastic way to program your muscles for a full pullup and develop eccentric control.
Each rep is its own set, but aim to do 3-4 in a row before you take an extended break.
Pullup Isos
Also known as a flexed arm hang, pullup isos take the next step in getting someone to a full pullup and are something that I have been using a lot more of lately.
They replicate proper positioning at the top of the rep and force you to hold that position for an extended period.
As with the negatives, use a small box or partner to get you set up at the top (following the form cues from above) and simply hold from there. The important thing to keep in mind here is breathing. Breathe like a normal person.
Please don’t hold your breath, pass out, and come crashing to the floor!
I recommend holding for a minimum of 10-15 seconds.
TRX Inverted Row
I used to be a big fan of inverted rows with a straight bar, and I still am, but I have found myself using the TRX variation a lot more.
I think part of that is because it is easier to do than the bar and gives people a little more confidence that they will then actually be able to do a pullup. Plus, you can adjust the difficulty very easily by just moving your feet back and forth. This is a great way to easily see progress.
This row also does a great job of teaching proper glute and core engagement. Bracing your core and glutes will keep your low back from arching excessively.
Band-Assisted Pullup
When I was a strength coach at the University of Evansville, we used bands as a primary progression to bodyweight pullups. They worked very well and I have continued to use them as a staple in my progressions.
The band will help you at the bottom of the movement, but force you to do more of the work as you near the top. Since you have built a foundation of strength with the previous progressions, you should be able to get 5-6 consecutive reps with the band.
Use a heavy band in the beginning to give you the most aid and progress to using lighter bands.
For all you hairy ones out there, be careful when putting the band around your knee. If you get it caught on a few hairs, it will STING and make you cry throughout the set. So take your time and get it set comfortably just below the knee or just use a towel for protection over the band.
That being said, when you finish your set and are getting ready to take your knee out of the band, don’t just let it release and come snapping back up. I have seen a few people nearly lose their face because of this. Grab the band with both hands before taking it off.
A Word on the Assisted Pullup Machine
I will admit, I have used this machine a lot in my training career, but it is something I am moving away from.
The assisted pullup machine is the one where you step onto the bar and set the pin at a certain level of assistance. On this machine, when you move down the stack, it signifies that you are getting stronger, because there is less assistance helping you.
I am moving away from it because it does not replicate what a true pullup looks like and acts as more of a band-aid than anything. It provides assistance going up AND down and forces you into certain positions that promote a fair amount of compensations.
Also, the carryover strength to doing an actual pullup is minimal. This is because you can’t go from having a counterbalance to all of a sudden having to control your own weight up and down.
It is a better use of your time to do the progressions I outlined and actually get your body prepared for what it will feel like when you actually do a pullup.
The Program to Get You To a Full Pullup
Below is a rough (and very general) outline of what I would like to see someone be able to accomplish, if they were starting from scratch.
Week 1: Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Pulldown
3 sets of 10-12 reps 3x/week
Weeks 2-3: Negatives
2 sets of 5-6 reps 3x/week
Weeks 4-5: Isos
3 sets of 10-15 seconds 3x/week
Weeks 6-7: TRX Inverted Row
3 sets of 8-10 reps 2x/week
Weeks 8-9: Band-Assisted
4 sets of 4-5 reps 2x/week
Progress to a lighter band as soon as you can hit 4 sets of 5 with your current band
Week 10-11: Full Pullup
Individual differences will play a role in how fast or slow someone is able to move through that schedule, but the above is a pretty typical timeline and is meant to be done within the context of a complete training program. And if you feel like you can get one a few weeks in, go for it!
Again, the above is just an outline.
Programming the Pullup
Once you are able to do a full pullup, where do you go from there?
You aim to get more reps, of course!
However, I don’t recommend going into the gym each time and seeing how many you can knock out each day in a blind hope you will be able to do more and more.
Instead, have a smart plan of attack that will guarantee you more reps.
If you read my post on the deadlift, you will remember the point about doing less reps and more sets. This is to ensure that each rep is on the money, while at the same time getting in a good amount of volume.
It’s the same philosophy with pullups, except you are going to be starting at a lower rep range than with the deadlift.
Start with 5 sets of 1 rep. Rest as long as you need to between sets.
When 5 x 1 becomes easy, go to 5 sets of 2.
Progress to 5 x 3, then 5 x 4, and then to 5 x 5.
When you reach 5 sets of 5, you will have completed 25 pullups in one workout! It may take you a while to build up to this level, but the high-set, low-rep program is one that seems to work like a charm.
There isn’t a standard number of reps you should try to hit in a row, just try to beat YOURSELF each time. I will talk about ways you can move beyond the typical pullup in future blog posts.
I like doing pullups after my heavy deadlift work, as it lets me decompress my spine and get away from the weights for a few minutes.
I recommend doing 2 vertical pulls a week, one being chin-ups and the other being pullups. Keep them near the beginning of your session so that you have as much energy and strength as possible to post your best numbers.
Conclusion
Pullups aren’t just great for building an impressive back. They are a symbol of strength and can serve as a great measure of your fat-loss progress.
Again, don’t fret if you have never done one before! Use the progressions I outlined and build confidence little by little.
It’s a boring saying, but patience, consistency, and hard work will get you there!
Be your best,
Kasey, CSCS
*Badass
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Fred L
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kaseyesser
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