Pull-Up

How to perform the Pull-Up

1. Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width with a pronated (overhand) grip and a full grip; thumbs around the bar.
2. Hang from the bar with active shoulders — pull the shoulder blades down and back to take the slack out of the joint before initiating the pull.
3. Brace your core and squeeze your glutes to prevent the legs from swinging; cross the ankles or bend the knees if it helps stabilize the body.
4. Pull yourself up by driving your elbows down and slightly back, leading with the chest and aiming to clear the bar with your collarbones.
5. Stop just shy of slamming your chin into the bar; the goal is collarbone height, not chin height by any means necessary.
6. Lower yourself under control to a fully extended (but still active) hang — no dead-hang drop, no kipping — before starting the next rep.

Suggested working range: 5–10 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Common mistakes

• •Kipping the legs forward to gain momentum instead of pulling cleanly with the upper back and arms.
• •Starting each rep from a passive dead hang with the shoulders shrugged up by the ears, leaving the shoulder joint unloaded.
• •Stopping the pull when the chin clears the bar without actually reaching the bar with the chest, which short-changes the back contraction.
• •Lowering too fast — a dead drop from the top wastes the eccentric portion of the lift, which is where most of the back stimulus lives.

Variations & alternatives

Swap in a related movement if equipment, recovery, or progression demands it.