Pull-Up

A vertical pulling movement where you hang from a bar and pull your body up until your chin clears it. The strict version is pure upper-body strength; the kipping version uses a rhythmic hip drive to move faster and cycle more reps.

Standard: Starting from a dead hang with arms fully extended, the rep counts when the chin rises clearly above the height of the bar.

How to do the Pull-Up

1. Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulder width with palms facing away, and hang with arms completely straight.
2. Set the shoulders by pulling them down and back away from your ears to engage the lats.
3. For a strict rep, drive the elbows down toward your ribs and pull the chest toward the bar.
4. For a kip, alternate between a hollow (arch-forward) and arch (chest-forward) body position to build a pendulum swing.
5. Convert that swing into upward drive by punching the hips forward as you pull.
6. Clear the chin above the bar, then lower under control back to a full dead hang before the next rep.

Common faults

• Chin fails to break the plane above the bar at the top.
• Arms not reaching full extension at the bottom of each rep.
• Chicken-necking or craning the head up instead of raising the whole body.
• A disorganized kip with no distinct hollow-to-arch rhythm, wasting energy.

Scaling & progressions

• Ring rows with feet moved forward to increase the angle and load.
• Banded pull-ups, stepping into a resistance band looped over the bar for assistance.
• Negatives: jump to the top and lower as slowly as possible to build strength.
• Reduce total reps or break large sets into small clusters.