Six Ways to Master Strict Pull-ups

Strict pull-ups are often a major crux for CrossFitters, holding back the development of sexier skills like butterfly pull-ups and muscle ups. Gymnastics development is a more frustrating endeavor, because progress isn’t as straightforward as adding a few pounds to a barbell. Rather than providing a cookie-cutter program that would only help a small population of our readers, we’re going to give you six principles you can apply and tailor to your training. Street Parking put out an amazing quote that captures the essence of this idea. This content is available exclusively to Members Become an member and start enjoying full access to all our community and sports content, and an ad-free experience. PROMO Exclusive content Ad-Free web/app experience Comments on articles Exclusive 15% WIT discount $1 per month for the first 4 months, $8 each month after Get Started for $1 Exclusive content Ad-Free web/app experience Comments on articles Exclusive private Facebook Group Regular coffee breaks hang outs Exclusive 15% WIT discount Get Started $5/month billed annually Already a member? Log In. “Commit to learning not just following directions.” 1. Master the basics: I don’t have anything against using band assistance during a conditioning workout, but they are not the most effective way to develop strict pulling strength. There are basic standards you should work towards on the journey to mastering this movement, while saving the bands for your metcons! Dead-hang: Until you can easily hold a 60 second dead-hang, there’s still work to do. Once you’ve tackled this milestone, start back over with single arm hangs and work up to 30 seconds on each arm. Scapular pull-ups: These are simple, but not easy to do correctly. If you’re a coach, I encourage you to teach athletes to do these in a quality hollow shape with pauses in both the inactive hang and active shrug positions. Work up to sets of 25 unbroken reps. Chin-over-bar holds: Breaking up the movement and training the top segment of the pull-up is a great way to target specific portions of the movement. Make sure you’re not shrugging while doing these holds, attempt to bring the shoulders down to activate the lats. If chin-over-bar holds aren’t challenging, make it more difficult by doing chest-to-bar holds. Negatives: The best way to develop bodyweight strength is to use controlled negatives. Training the eccentric portion of a movement is a safe way to build volume in exercises you might not yet have the concentric strength in. Film yourself performing negatives and look for portions that look choppy or clunky. This is where your weak points are and your body is attempting to compensate. Mastery of a negative is a smooth and controlled lowering of the body without any hiccups along the way. Work your way to a 10 second virtuous negative. 2. Flip your grip. Chin-ups (aka pull-ups in a supinated grip) are a great way to develop strict pull-ups. The reorientation of the hands forces the shoulders into external rotation, which is great for improving shoulder and overhead mobility. Beyond these benefits, it forces the pulling muscles (lats and biceps) to activate and work throughout the movement. When you take someone with a strength deficiency and have them pull with a normal overhand grip, it can cause internal rotation of the shoulders. This is where you’ll see elevation of the shoulders towards the ears, signally that the traps and shoulders are compensating for the lack of strength in the lats and biceps. If this goes uncorrected, it means the muscles we’re trying to target (lats and biceps) are not being used optimally and stunts the efficiency of development. It also poses long term injury risks caused by an imbalanced development of the shoulder girdle and back muscles. (function($) { $.ajax({ url: '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', data: { action: 'mcu_get_wa', page: 'https://morningchalkup.com/2023/04/25/six-ways-to-master-strict-pull-ups/', hide_ads: , show_ads: , hide_advertisers: , show_advertisers: , }, }).done(function(msg) { res JSON.parse(msg); var ad_html ''; if (res.type 'image') { ad_html ` Continue for More Content `; } else if (res.type 'video') { ad_html ` Continue for More Content 0) { window.open($(this).data('link')); $.ajax({ url: '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', data: { action: 'mcu_track_ad_click', page: window.location.href, ad_id: $(this).data('id') }, }); } }); if (res.type 'video') { const vidAds document.querySelectorAll('.video_ad_video'); observer new IntersectionObserver(entries > { entries.forEach(entry > { if (entry.intersectionRatio > 0) { entry.target.play(); } else { entry.target.pause(); } }); }); // var node document.createElement("LI"); vidAds.forEach( vidAd > { observer.observe(vidAd); $(vidAd).closest('.from-sponsor-vid').prepend(""); $('.volume').click(function() { if (vidAd.muted) { vidAd.muted false; $(this).find('svg').attr('data-icon', 'volume-mute'); } else { vidAd.muted true; $(this).find('svg').attr('data-icon', 'volume'); } }); $('.play').click(function() { if (vidAd.paused false) { vidAd.pause(); $(this).find('svg').attr('data-icon', 'play'); } else { vidAd.play(); $(this).find('svg').attr('data-icon', 'pause'); } }); } ); } }); })(jQuery); 3. Make chest-to-bar your standard. Pulling the chest to touch the bar incorporates rotational strength, where the elbows need to be pulled backwards to continue lifting the body vertically. This builds incredible strength in the upper back muscles that won’t be developed with regular pull-ups. I encourage you to make this your standard for mastery of the pull-up, aiming to touch the bar lower on the chest as your strength continues to improve. 4. Do more horizontal pulling work: Most of the pulling movements in CrossFit are vertical in nature (hanging and pulling ourselves upwards). Balancing this with horizontal movements is very important for the long-term health of the shoulders due to motion forcing the correct muscles to be the primary movers (lats and bigger back muscles). When you’re doing accessory work to build muscle, performing three to five sets for eight to 12 reps is typically a good place to start. Make sure you’re progressively overloading and not just doing the same reps and/or weight each time you train. Ring rows: These shouldn’t only be used as a scaling option. Train ring rows with different grips and try elevating the feet to a bench or box to be as inverted as possible. Barbell bent over row variations: There’s a reason barbell rows have been a staple for bodybuilders forever. This movement develops the back muscles in a different way then pull-ups and can be loaded with extremely heavy weights. Dumbbell rowing variations: Unilateral work is important to address strength/muscle imbalances. Dumbbell rows also allow you to pull in a neutral grip, which is not something we do very often in CrossFit. This can transfer better to things like legless rope climbs and ring muscle ups. 5. Make it a priority. You won’t make progress if you’re only training this once per week. Strict gymnastics are something that should be trained frequently, meaning two to three small sessions each week before or after your regular training. If you don’t have time to come early or stay late, I recommend speaking with your coach about working this into the class a few days per week. For example, I would often have athletes sprinkle their pull-up work between sets of lifting sets or between stretches during cool-down segments. 6. Don’t stop once you get there: There’s no finish line for developing your strict strength. It’s an endless process of pushing to higher levels of strength and virtuosity. Stamina: Once you’ve mastered one strict pull-up, there’s plenty of work to still be done. Set benchmarks for yourself, aiming for five reps, 10 reps, 15 reps and eventually 20 unbroken strict pull-ups. Tempo: If you’re not trying to work on high rep sets, you can make lower volume training more difficult by programming tempos for each rep. An example of this would be pulling up for five seconds, pausing with the chest to bar for five seconds, lowering for five seconds and then hanging for five seconds. Weighted: If you’re someone who can do 15 or more unbroken strict pull-ups, it means the bodyweight variation is now targeting stamina instead of strength. You can still work on strength by adding weight that makes sets of three to six reps very challenging.

Six Ways to Master Strict Pull-ups

Pat Vellner is Lights Out on Moving Day at North America West Semifinal

Morning Chalk-up

The Fittest State In North America West

Morning Chalk-up

Nerding Out at Semifinals: Day 1 at North America West Semifinals

Morning Chalk-up

Three Invictus Teams Head into the Final Two Workouts in Qualifying Positions

Morning Chalk-up

Age-Group Athletes Proving Age Don’t Matter at the North America West Semifinal

Morning Chalk-up

Ronnie Coleman — Bodybuilding Career, Competition History, and Biography

Barbend

How Many Steps Are In A Mile?

Barbend

Ellie Turner Vaults from Fifth to First on Saturday in Brisbane

Morning Chalk-up

Day Two at the Torian Pro Proves the Oceania’s Men are Fast and Strong; Crouch Heads Into Final Day in the Lead

Morning Chalk-up