Mastering the Pull-Up: A Step-by-Step Guide
To do a pull-up, grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder-width with an overhand grip. Hang with a straight body — this position is called a dead hang. Point your toes and keep your core tight.
Before pulling, depress your shoulders — think of pulling them down away from your ears. This position is key for engaging the correct muscles.
Now initiate the pull by driving your elbows down and back, lifting your body until your chin clears the bar. Focus on keeping your chest up and your shoulder blades retracted (squeezed together) throughout each rep. Then, reverse the motion with control, returning to the starting position.
Why Form Matters: Back Engagement Over Arm Dominance
Keeping your shoulder blades retracted is a crucial component of properly engaging your back muscles, especially your lats and upperback.
When I was learning pull-ups, I always felt the movement more in my arms than in my back. As a result, my back was noticeably underdeveloped compared to other muscle groups.
It wasn’t until I started focusing on properly activating my scapula, that I finally began to feel my back doing the work. Once that connection clicked, my back started to grow, and my pull-up performance improved significantly.
Pulling with just our arms isn’t just inefficient, it’s risky. Over time, it can lead to shoulder and elbow injuries, so my advice is to prioritize proper form, even if it means doing fewer reps at first. In the long run, it’ll pay off. Quality over quantity, boys and girls!
Let’s have a look at these different forms:
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Good form: shoulder depression and retraction, chest up, back engaged.
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Bad form: shoulders collapsed, chest drops, back disengaged.
So take your time. Focus on form and on feeling your back work, rather than rushing to increase your pull-up numbers.
Let’s Talk Grip
There are several grip options for pull-ups:
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Overhand grip (palms facing away): Standard pull-up.
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Underhand grip (palms facing you): Also known as a chin-up.
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Neutral grip (palms facing each other): Often done with handles.
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False grip (wrist over the bar): Often done on gymnastic rings.
Chin-ups are usually easier than pull-ups for most people, because they bring the biceps into the movement, especially helping with the lockout at the top.
Just by turning your hands outward into a supination (palms facing you), your biceps kick in right away!
But even though your arms are assisting, don’t forget — your back should still be the main driver of the movement.
Practice both pull-ups and chin-ups to build balanced strength. You can introduce neutral and semi-neutral grips later, mainly to avoid overuse injuries and add variety.
And lastly, we can’t wrap up this topic without talking about grip width.
I recommended starting with a grip that’s slightly wider than shoulder-width, because going too wide can make the movement unnecessarily difficult and put your shoulders in a less stable, more uncomfortable position.
As your standard pull-ups become easier over time, you can begin experimenting with a wider grip — but do so gradually and conservatively to avoid injury and maintain control.
On the flip side, narrow-grip pull-ups tend to place more emphasis on the forearms and arms. Unless you have a strong mind-muscle connection, this grip can shift the focus away from your back — which is the opposite of what we want when we are first learning this exercise.
Pull-Up Progressions: Building the Skill Step-by-Step
When learning any skill or exercise, the most effective approach is to break it down into segments and train each part individually.
1. Scapula Pulls (Bottom of the Pull-Up)
Train shoulder depression and retraction — the foundation of a good pull-up. Hang with straight arms
and just pull your shoulder blades down and together, then release. Practice with overhand or underhand grip. Don’t forget to keep your arms straight, and only focus on your back!
This strengthens the initial engagement needed for a strong pull-up and bulletproofs your shoulders.
2. Chin-Up Top Hold (Top of the Pull-Up)
This isometric (hold) exercise trains the lockout position — the top of the pull-up. I highly recommend practicing these with an underhand grip, until you’re able to complete a full chin up! Once you’ve got that, switch to an overhand grip to begin working toward mastering that variation as well.
Grab a box or sturdy chair that allows you to start at bar level, with your chin already above the bar. This setup not only helps you train the top portion of the pull-up, but also acts as a safety net, so make sure the box is positioned directly underneath the bar.
Grab the bar with an underhand grip, keep your chest up, and engage your back like we discussed earlier. Slowly lift your legs off the box, one at a time, so that your upper body supports your full weight.
You can tuck your knees at first — that often makes it easier to hold the position. But, as you get stronger, work toward extending your legs fully.
And remember: the box is there for a reason — when you finish your set, step back onto it safely and with control.
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Use a box to get you at bar level.
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Grab the bar with underhand grip.
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Engage your back, keep your chest up, and slowly lift your feet off the box.
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Hold for time, keeping control.
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Step back down safely using the box.
3. Partial Pull-Ups
Well done — you can hold the top, and you can perform reps from the bottom. Now it’s time to start closing the gap with partial pull-ups. Partial pull-ups strengthen both the lowering (eccentric) and lifting (concentric) phases, bringing you one step closer to full, unassisted chin-ups.
The setup is similar to before, but now we need to lower the box or use a shorter object so that the bar is roughly at head height. This puts your arms at about 90 degrees, meaning you’re starting from the mid-point of a full pull-up. Now, jump up to the bar and get into an underhand grip top hold position. From there, start lowering yourself down toward the box by slowly extending your elbows.
Go as deep as you can while maintaining control — then pull yourself back up to the top!
Congratulations — you’re now doing partial rep pull-ups! This is a crucial step toward building the strength and control needed for full pull-ups.
As you get stronger, progress this exercise by using lower objects to increase the depth of your partial pull-ups.
Continue gradually lowering the starting position until you can perform a full, unassisted rep from a dead hang to the top — and back down with control.
4. Eccentric Pull-Ups (Negatives)
Once you’re close to a full pull-up, introduce negatives — starting at the top and slowly lowering yourself down to a dead hang. This is a fantastic progression for filling in strength gaps through the full range of motion. Personally, I found it most helpful for improving control between the middle and bottom portion of the pull-up.
Important:
Only use negatives if you can control the descent. If you’re just dropping, you risk injury and could seriously hurt yourself. That’s why earlier steps use a box — to stay safe and in control.
What About Resistance Bands?
I saved this topic for the end because, while resistance bands absolutely have a place in your pull-up training, they shouldn’t make up the majority of it. Here’s why: too often, people rely on very thick bands that do most of the work for them, and they are skipping over essential progressions.
This can delay your progress very significantly, leading to frustration, plateau, and wasting precious years of your fitness journey.
That said, when used wisely, bands can be a great addition to your training. I recommend using them:
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As a finisher after your main progressions (like negatives, partial reps, and holds),
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Or as a way to increase volume when you’re already doing a few solid reps on your own.
Bottom line: bands are useful — and I do recommend having a few in your gym bag. They’re super versatile and can help with many other exercises you’re working on. But remember: they’re a tool, not a replacement for mastering the basics.
And that leads us to our final topic: Body Rows.
Master the Basics: Rows before Pull-Ups
Rows are non-negotiable!
The better you get at bodyweight rows, the easier pull-ups will become — no question about it.
I know — rows aren’t nearly as flashy as pull-ups. They don’t turn heads at the gym, and they won’t flood your social media with those little fire emojis. But if you’re willing to put in the work, the rewards will come. Sometimes, we have to do the “boring stuff” in order to earn the “fancy stuff.” But here’s the thing — it doesn’t have to be boring.
As you get stronger with rows, you’ll:
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Build more muscle
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Gain better scapula control
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Progress to feet-elevated rows
And honestly — that is super cool variation to achieve. It fires you up, keeps you motivated, and makes the journey actually fun.
So, don’t skip this part. Master your horizontal pulling — your bodyweight rows — to build the foundation you’ll need for strong vertical pulling: the pull-up.
Final Notes
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Stay humble, and don’t chase numbers too early.
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Focus on technique and muscle activation.
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Be kind to your body — consistency and patience will pay off.
I wish you a successful journey!
Watch our full pull up tutorial:
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