Pull-Up
oec:pull-up
A fundamental upper-body bodyweight exercise where you pull yourself up to an overhead bar using a pronated grip.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: pullup, overhand pull-up, pronated pull-up, pull up, Pull-ups
How to do it
Setup
- Grasp the overhead bar with an overhand (pronated) grip slightly wider than shoulder-width.
- Hang with your arms fully extended in a dead hang, legs slightly bent or crossed if needed, and engage your core.
Movement
- Initiate the movement by depressing and retracting your shoulder blades, drawing them down and together.
- Drive your elbows down toward your hips and pull your chest toward the bar until your chin clears the bar.
- Pause briefly at the top without straining your neck forward.
- Lower yourself in a smooth, controlled motion until your arms and shoulders return fully to the starting hang.
Breathing
Inhale at the bottom or on the way down; exhale forcefully as you drive your elbows down to pull yourself up.
Cues
- Elbows to your back pockets.
- Lead with your chest.
- Stay tight through your core and legs.
- Full hang at the bottom, chin clear at the top.
Common faults
- Kicking or swinging the legs to generate momentum (kipping).
- Brace the abdominals and squeeze the glutes to keep the lower body steady throughout the pull.
- Reaching up with the chin to clear the bar without completing the arm pull.
- Keep the neck neutral and focus on pulling your upper chest to the bar rather than craning your neck.
- Cutting the bottom range of motion short.
- Allow your arms to reach complete extension and let your shoulder blades elevate slightly before initiating the next rep.
Safety
- Ensure the bar is securely mounted and can support your full body weight.
- Avoid dropping rapidly into the bottom lockout to protect the shoulders and elbows.
Muscles
Joints
- Shoulder: Adduction, Extension
- Shoulder blade: Downward rotation, Depression, Retraction
- Elbow: Flexion
- Lumbar spine: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Vertical pull, Pull
- Modality
- Calisthenics, Strength, Hypertrophy
- Mechanics
- compound
- Force
- pull
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- closed
- Level
- intermediate
- Equipment
- Pull-up bar
- Record
- Repetitions
- Load
- bodyweight
Related
- progression of Assisted Pull-Up
- progression of Machine-Assisted Pull-Up
- part of Bar Muscle-Up
- substitute for Chin-Up
- substitute for Cable Lat Pulldown
Sources
- wger: Pull-ups, by wger.de (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.