Pull-Ups: 3 Exercises to Build Pulling Strength and Technique

How many pull-ups can you do? Can you even do one? If you can’t it’s not just you. It’s a safe bet the average 30-year-old in America can’t either.

It’d be easy to just yell “You should be able to do one! It’s something everyone should be able to do!”

But that begs the question, why though?

Sure it’s better to be strong than weak. That’s also an easy thing to say, it just makes sense.

And being able to pull your own weight is absolutely a useful and practical skill, it translates into a thousand everyday activities — from carrying groceries in one hand and a car seat in the other, to unending chores around your house, to more fun stuff like climbing and basically every sport you can think of.

Having a strong back and arms can definitely make things quite a bit easier for you. And there are literally hundreds of exercises to choose from.

Why should you choose to improve your pull-ups then? Because it’s not so much the exercise itself but what it means to your health and fitness that you can do them.

Why have pull-ups become such a rare ability?

Two reasons:

• First, it wasn’t all that long ago that climbing a tree was a key way to find food, navigate rough terrain, and even escape the occasional predator. We simply had to pull ourselves up more and in various ways, so from a young age we adapted and it just happened. But in 2012 “nearly 28% of girls and 15% of boys were not able to perform any modified pull-ups.”
• Second, most people jump into training for pull-ups without building the proper foundations. They try to go straight into reduced-weight pull-downs or pull-up negatives (slowly lowering themselves down from a top position). It sort of makes sense, just do stuff that looks like the thing you want to get! But it can take a long time to get results this way, if you get them at all.

It’s also very complex, requiring numerous large and small muscle groups working in proper coordination. No wonder most people have a hard time building them up right!

Yet in that complexity also lies the solution and why it’s worth your valuable time and effort to work on your pull-ups.

But you have to make sure you’re building the right kind of strength in the right way that actually matters to you. Being able to do 5 or even 20 pull-ups doesn’t mean anything at all if it doesn’t help to make your life easier.

You’ll see what I mean as we go through this tutorial, where I’ll walk you through building a solid pull-up, starting with the very foundations of muscle activation and strength building.

It’s how we here at GMB Fitness fundamentally approach strength training that will actually make a difference for you.

A whole body, integrated way that translates into building the strength you need for all things you want (and have) to do.

Why You Should Stop Neglecting Your Precious Pulling Muscles

It’s a funny thing, most everything we do would benefit from having a stronger upper back, but the fact that we can get by without using our upper backs and shoulders through their full motion means that a lot of people are pretty weak in this area.

Even for those who spend a lot of time exercising (with the exception of the people that like to hop on the rowing machine) – pushing-dominant activities abound.

There’s usually a dozen bench presses for every pull-up bar at your local gym.

This outright neglect of some of the largest muscles in our body is likely a reason for many physical problems people are experiencing today. A slumped posture, nagging shoulder pain, aching backs – a lot of these can be traced to a decreased capacity and tolerance for what our backs are supposed to help us do!

Maybe we SHOULD have a hungry bear chase us around every once in awhile if that’ll get us thinking about the importance of a strong back!

It’s super simple, the best way to counteract this is to incorporate some pulling exercises into your training. But simple doesn’t mean easy.

Let’s get going with my three favorite bodyweight pulling exercises to strengthen your back, shoulders, and arms. They will lead you to not just being able to do more pull-ups but also attain that practical full body strength we all need.

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.

Get Strong for the Activities You Love

These exercises work because they treat pull-ups like the complex movement they are.

Most people think about strength in pretty simple terms: Do the biceps curl, get stronger biceps. Yeah, that’ll make you stronger for biceps curls, but not much else.

Chances are, you want strength you can actually use—in everything from sports and hobbies to yard work and playing with your kids. That’s why we created our Integral Strength program. It builds dynamic, practical strength throughout your whole body.

If all you want is stronger biceps, sure, do some more curls.

But if you want strength that makes you a better climber, surfer, martial artist—or just generally more capable person—you need training that addresses the complex nature of the strength movements you actually care about.