The pull-up is one of the most demanding bodyweight exercises you can do. It requires your lats, traps, rhomboids, rotator cuff, biceps, forearms, and core to work together through a large range of motion while moving your entire bodyweight.
That complexity is exactly why most people can’t do one. It’s also exactly why it’s worth your time.
Pulling strength translates directly into daily life. Carrying groceries, hauling yourself over a fence, climbing, every sport that involves your upper body. A strong pull means a capable body. And the process of building that pull develops shoulder health, scapular control, and the kind of integrated strength that isolated exercises can’t match.
The problem is how most people approach it. They jump straight to band-assisted pull-ups or negatives, skip the foundational work, and wonder why they plateau. Or they give up entirely because the movement feels impossible at their current level.
There’s a better way. The three exercises in this tutorial build your pulling strength from the ground up, starting with the muscle activation most people are missing, progressing through a compound movement that trains the exact motor pattern you need, and finishing with negatives that lock it all in. Each step prepares you for the next.
Whether you’re working toward your first pull-up or trying to get stronger at them, this progression works. It’s how we approach all strength training at GMB: build the right foundations, and the skill follows.
Why the Pull-Up Deserves Dedicated Training
Most of what we do in daily life is pushing-dominant. There’s a dozen bench presses for every pull-up bar at your average gym, and most people’s training reflects that imbalance.
The result is predictable: slumped posture, nagging shoulder pain, aching backs. A lot of these problems trace back to a decreased capacity in the muscles we’re supposed to be using for pulling and overhead work.
The fix is straightforward: incorporate pulling exercises that actually develop the full chain of muscles involved. But a pull-up isn’t a biceps curl. It’s a complex, coordinated movement where the sequencing matters as much as the raw strength.
That’s why we break it into three steps. Each one addresses a specific piece of the puzzle, and together they build pulling strength that’s ready for anything, not just the pull-up bar.
I demonstrate these exercises on the gymnastic rings, however, if you don’t have a pair of rings, you can certainly perform these exercises on a bar.
Step 1: Activate Your Lats with the “Pulling Prep”
This fundamental movement is one that unfortunately most people don’t know about! And that’s a shame because it one of the keys to getting the most out of your pulling exercises.
In the pulling prep, we’re engaging our lower traps, rhomboids, and mid traps, through scapular depression and retraction.
This motion is essential for good technique in all pulling. It works not just on the big muscles in the back, but also on the smaller ones around the shoulder blades. These muscles are very important for shoulder health and also for supporting the shoulders during lifting and carrying.
The pulling prep teaches and trains you to get in touch with those muscles. Spend your time focusing well on this in the beginning learning this and it set you up for success. Then you can “let it go” and it will happen correctly in all your pulls.
| Do This | Description |
|---|---|
| 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps | • Start in a "dead hang" position on the rings or a bar. Your elbows should be straight, with the movement occurring completely at the shoulder girdle, not in your arms. |
| • Lift your chest up and squeeze your shoulder blades down and back. It’s a relatively small movement, but it’s crucial for getting the most out of your pulling exercises. | |
| • Contract the shoulder girdle strongly, hold for a couple seconds, then release and repeat. |
The pulling prep can be done daily, before your regular training. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets.
Step 2: Practice the Pulling Movement with the Reverse Row Sit Back
I developed this exercise as a way to work on the neglected angles of motion in between a row and a pull-up.
It’s a deceptively hard exercise that’ll get your back muscles working in a way you’ve probably never experienced before!
In the reverse row sit back, we engage the lats, biceps, lower and mid traps, rhomboids, rotator cuff, deltoids, pec minor, and abdominals – that’s a lot of muscles! The actions involved in the reverse row sit back are shoulder extension, scapular depression and retraction, shoulder internal and external rotation co-contraction.
This complex movement combines the horizontal and vertical pulling motion, and is a great stepping stone to a full pull-up. Because your feet are on the ground, you can adjust your weight as needed to complete more repetitions before you fatigue.
| Do This | Description |
|---|---|
| 3-5 sets of 6-8 reps | • Start with your arms straight and in line with the rings, with your knees bent, and your back parallel to the ground. |
| • Pull yourself up as far as you can while keeping your back horizontal, then keep pulling as you sit your butt back and lift up, ending in the chin-up position with feet planted on ground. | |
| • Turn rings inward as you lift your hips, then lower your back until your shoulders are just below your wrists. |
The reverse row sit back is best done using a set of rings, and can be done 2-3 times a week, after your regular training. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets.
Step 3: Increase Your Strength with Negative Pull-Ups
Negatives are the surest way to get your body used to going through the range of motion needed for a full pull-up. Practice these, and you will get really strong in no time.
In the full range of motion for a pull-up (which includes negatives), we engage the same muscles used for the reverse row sit back – the lats, biceps, lower and mid traps, rhomboids, pec minor, rotator cuff, rear deltoids, pec major, and abdominals.
Though it may look different from the reverse row sit back, the actions are the same (which is exactly why the reverse row sit back is a perfect exercise for working up to a full pull-up) – shoulder extension, scapular depression and retraction, shoulder internal and external rotation co-contraction.
This is not just a back exercise, but a full body movement that combines back, shoulder, and arm strength with core strengthening. Even the hips and legs are engaged if you squeeze them tightly throughout the entire exercise.
In this video, I demonstrate many different ways you can use the negative. I suggest picking one variation and sticking with that for a while – don’t try to practice them all at once! Negative training is very intense because you are under tension for much longer than you can do in the regular pulling “up” training. Don’t be surprised if you get sore!
So do less repetitions and sets than you think you can and be slow to increase. More is definitely not better here.
| Do This | Description |
|---|---|
| 8 sets of 1-3 reps | • Jump up to a hold, then slowly lower your body to the ground, making sure to keep your shoulders down. |
| • Perform a halfway jump, then pull yourself the rest of the way. Slowly lower your body. | |
| • Do a full pull-up, starting with a pulling prep. |
Whichever negative practice variation you’re working on, rest about 90 seconds to 2 minutes between sets.
Pull-Up Workout Program – 4 Week Sample Routine
The three exercises I’ve just shown you work together to create strong pulling muscles that are ready for pull-ups, or any activities you need strength for.
Here’s a sample program that incorporates all three exercises.
| Week | Exercises |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | 3 days/week: • Pulling Prep • Reverse Row Sit Back Follow the recommendations for sets and reps listed for each |
| Week 2 | 3 days/week: • Pulling Prep • Reverse Row Sit Back • Jump to Hold, then Lower Follow the recommendations for sets and reps listed for each |
| Week 3 | 3 days/week: • Pulling Prep • Reverse Row Sit Back • Jump to Halfway, then Pull to Top Follow the recommendations for sets and reps listed for each |
| Week 4 | 3 days/week: • Pulling Prep • Reverse Row Sit Back • Jump to Halfway, Pull to Top, Slow Lower to Halfway, then Pull to Top again Follow the recommendations for sets and reps listed for each |
After a month of this program, remove the Reverse Row Sit Back, and just do a few sets of the Pulling Prep as a warm-up, then work on full pull-ups for 3-5 sets of 1-3 reps, and do the last variation of negatives in the video above for the recommended sets and reps.
When working up to your first pull-up, you should attempt a full pull-up once a week. Do no more than 3 attempts, resting 2 minutes between attempts.
Depending on your starting point, four weeks may not be enough (or it may be more than you need). Make adjustments as needed. If you need to stick with one week’s program for two or three weeks before moving on, then do just that.
“What if I don’t have a set of rings?”
If you don’t have rings, don’t worry. While I absolutely LOVE the Reverse Row Sit Back, you can definitely work up to your first pull-up without it.
You can follow the programming recommendations above, just remove the Reverse Row Sit Back from your program, and simply focus on the pulling prep and negatives. While it may take a little longer to get your first pull-up (or improve your current condition), you’ll still be amazed at how much stronger you’ll get by focusing on just these two exercises.
Build a Complete Foundation
Pull-up strength doesn’t exist in isolation. If you want a structured daily practice that builds the full-body strength, mobility, and control that supports everything from pulling to pressing to moving on the ground, our free Bodyweight Reboot is a good place to start.
Build the Pulling Strength You Actually Need
This progression will get you to your first pull-up, or make your existing pull-ups significantly stronger. The pulling prep, reverse row sit back, and negatives are all part of our Integral Strength program, where they fit into a complete training plan alongside pushing, squatting, and hinging patterns.
If all you want is to check “pull-up” off a list, the free program above will get you there. But if you want pulling strength that makes you a better climber, martial artist, or just a more capable person in general, you need training that addresses the full picture.
Practical Strength That Carries Over Into Everything
Integral Strength is a skill-based strength program with tracks for bodyweight, bar, and gymnastic rings. It builds the kind of dynamic, coordinated strength that actually shows up when you need it.
Hi, I'm Ryan Hurst 👋
After a training accident ended his competitive gymnastics career, Ryan moved to Japan and competed in various martial arts until another injury made him reevaluate his priorities in life.
As Head Coach at GMB Fitness, his mission is to show everyone that you can define your own fitness as a sustainable and enjoyable part of your life. He loves handstands, dogs, and hiking.
