21 Exercises to Build Your Pull Ups

21 Exercises to Build your Pull ups

Here are twenty two exercises to build your pull ups. Start implementing these exercises into your program to help you build full body strength and stamina to dominate pull ups.

Some of these exercises are specific pull up regressions and progressions–which means you will practice the pull up exercise specifically in order to build the strength for the traditional pull up or emphasize certain portions of the exercise so that your regular pull ups feel like a piece of cake in comparison.

Other exercises are not pull up progressions or regressions, but rather will help you to develop the muscle mass to perform pull ups. Still others are included to help you better control your core positioning and make your pull ups safer and more efficient.

Try out these 20 exercises designed to build your pull up and see huge gains in your pull up strength and the development of your entire upper body.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Band Assisted Pull ups

Execution: Loop a band around the center of a pull up bar and hook one knee through the bar. Let your body descend down. Keeping your abs and glutes tight, let your shoulders relax into your ears. Then retract and depress your shoulder blade back and down as you pull your chest up to the bar. Slowly descend down to return to the starting position.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Lower and Middle Traps, rear deltoid, Forearms, abdominals, erector spinae, levator scapulae

Benefits for Pull ups : This is probably the most specific exercise you can do to train the pull up itself. This is the “training wheels” pull up. As you get better at this exercise, you can reduce your band assistance and/or increase the number of reps you do, progressing towards the pull up itself.

A lot of people “poo poo” the band assisted pull up but it really is a great way to train the pull up and get the feel for the exercise.

This exercise will also train the muscles specific to the pull up in the same specific movement pattern–helping you build the muscle and the neuromuscular skill.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Barbell Bent over Row

Execution: Load a barbell at hip height. With glutes engaged and a tight, upright position, in-rack the weight and take 2-3 steps backwards. Keeping your back neutral, push your butt back and maintain a tight bent over position. Let the barbell hang down close to your knees. Pull the bar back to your ribcage by retracting your shoulders back and then bending your elbows. The weight should end at mid ribcage position. Pause for 1 count, and then slowly return to the starting position.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Rear Deltoids, Upper and lower Traps, Levator Scapulae, Biceps, Forearms, spinal erectors.

Benefits for the Pull up: This is an excellent lat strengthener and is a key exercise in any strength and hypertrophy program. The Horizontal pull position allows you to recruit more of your upper back muscles and posterior shoulder girdle, helping to improve posture and scapular stability. While this exercise involves slightly different movement patterns and muscle recruitment than the traditional pull up, it helps to strengthen the muscles involved in the lift and more.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Lat Pulldown

Execution: Using a lat pulldown machine, position your hands just outside the arch of the bar. Sit down with your feet firmly planted in front of you. First, retract and depress your scapula to contract your lats. Then bend your elbows to pull the bar into your upper chest. Pause for one count at the bottom, and then slowly return to the starting position.

Muscles Trained: Lats, rhomboids, teres major, lower and middle traps, rear deltoids, biceps and forearms.

Benefits for the Pull up: This exercise concentrates a lot of stress on the lats, which are the prime movers in the pull up exercise. Strengthening and building your lat muscles will make the pull up exercise significantly easier. Even though this exercise is not a closed chain movement like the pull up, it will still help you build the strength to do pull ups.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: DB Chest Supported Row

Execution: Lie chest down on a flat bench or an incline bench with moderate weights in each hand (go a little lighter than you would for regular bent over rows) and retract your shoulder blades. Use your back and bicep muscles to pull the weights to ribcage height, and then slowly return to the starting position.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Rear Deltoids, Upper and lower Traps, Levator Scapulae, Biceps, Forearms, spinal erectors.

Benefits for the Pull up: This is a horizontal pulling exercise that strengthens the back, very similarly to the bent over row. The difference in this exercise is that the spinal erectors receive much less of a training effect. This is not always a net-negative. Especially if your training program involves a lot of other exercises that stress the lower back, this exercise can be used to take a little stress off of your lower lumbar area.

Strengthening your back will make your pull ups stronger and easier.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups:  Deadlift

Execution: Set up in front of a bar with two 45 pound plates (one at either side) as a minimum. Start with a stance somewhere between ankles touching to a shoulder width stance. You may have to experiment with your stance a little bit to find the stance that feels best to you, but typically somewhere around the stance you would take if you were about to do a vertical jump is a good place to start. Start with your mid-foot directly underneath the bar. Put your hands right underneath your shoulders, and then pull your shins into the bar. Tense your entire back into a neutral position and pull your shoulder blades directly over the bar. Take a big breath through your diaphragm, and push through the floor. Keep the bar against your body throughout the lift. Once you pass your knees, squeeze your glutes to pull the bar back into your body. Once you have “locked out” the movement with your glutes and pulled your shoulders back, push your hips back and then bend your knees, returning the bar to the floor. Reset each rep to make sure you are in the proper position to initiate each lift.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Rear Deltoids, Biceps, Forearms, Traps, Hamstrings, Glutes, Spinal Erectors, Calves, and Quads

Benefits for the Pull up: The deadlift is often considered “the king of all exercises.” It trains virtually every major muscle group in the body and helps you learn to generate tension and intra-abdominal pressure and control your lumbosacral position in space.

The deadlift will make you all-over strong; and this will carry over to other exercises requiring brute strength in both the upper and lower body, like the pull up.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: DB Bicep Curl

Execution: Keeping your shoulders back and down, hold light-moderate weights in your hands and bend your elbows, bringing the weights up to shoulder height and then slowly lower down under control.

Muscles Trained: Biceps and forearms

Benefits for the Pull up: Some trainees struggle with pull ups because their biceps are too weak. The lats should do the majority of the work, but the biceps can help a little bit. And if you are trying to get really good at pull ups, some direct bicep training can help you accomplish that task.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Barbell Abdominal Rollout (or TRX Fallout)

Execution: Set up a barbell with Olympic size plates on either side. You do not have to use 45s. 10 pound bumper plates will work here. Put a mat down to cushion your knees. Get down on your knees with the barbell in front of you, and assume a shoulder width stance. Keeping your abs braced and glutes tight, roll the bar overhead without letting your body deviate from a straight line position. Then use your abdominals and lower back to pull the barbell back underneath your shoulders. Extra props if you can do this exercise with one arm or on toes.

Muscles Trained: Abdominals, front and rear deltoids, lats, lower back, and triceps.

Benefits for the Pull up: This is an excellent anti-extension core exercise. It helps you gain the requisite strength and core tightness to maintain good positioning in your pull ups, among other exercises. A certain amount of torso rigidity is necessary for safe and effective pull up performance. This exercise definitely helps the trainee to develop the core strength and stability necessary to display that torso rigidity.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Barbell Romanian Deadlift

Execution: Set up a barbell in a rack at hip or mid thigh height. Set up against the bar with shoulder blades retracted and back tight. Pull your hips into the bar to engage the weight, then step back 1-2 inches. Initiate the “hip hinge” by pushing your butt way back, keeping your focal point forward or slightly up, and keeping your back in a tight, flat position. Keep the bar against your legs and let it travel downward until you reach the limits of your hamstring mobility. Then reverse the movement by contracting your glutes and pulling them into the bar.

Muscles Trained: Hamstrings, Glutes, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Lower and Middle Traps, rear deltoid, Forearms, abdominals, erector spinae, levator scapulae

Benefits for the Pull up: This exercise is excellent for strengthening the back extensors and teaching that core control, which should transfer to better core control in the pull up, as long as you use it.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Scapular Pull ups

Execution: Hang from a bar with a shoulder with grip. Keeping your abs and glutes tight, depress your shoulder blades by engaging your lats and upper back. Hold for one count and then slowly return to the starting position.

Muscles Trained: Rhomboids, Teres Major, Lower and Middle Traps, rear deltoid, Forearms, abdominals, erector spinae, levator scapulae

Benefits for the Pull up: This is a great exercise for learning how to initate the pull up with your lats instead of just relying on your biceps. You will quickly learn to rely on your bigger and stronger muscle groups to control the movement. This exercise will also teach you to work evenly through both left and right sides, helping to enhance your symmetry of movement in the pull up.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: TRX Face Pull and Rear Deltoid Fly Combo

Execution: Secure a TRX Strap over a pull up bar, in a doorframe, or other secure location. Take the TRX with an overhand grip. Start with your feet about 2-3 feet in front of your body, so you start at an incline. Start the exercise with palms down at shoulder height. Initiate the movement by pulling your hands near your ears and bending your elbows. Squeeze your upper back for one count, and then return to the start of the movement. Next, turn your palms so they face each other. Using your upper back and rear shoulder muscles, pull your hands apart until your hands are in the same plane as your back. Squeeze for one count and then return to start.

Muscles Trained: Rhomboids, Upper and Lower Traps, Teres Major, Levator Scapulae, Rear Deltoids

Benefits for the Pull up: This one helps to keep your shoulders healthy by strengthening your upper back and improving your posture. This exercise also enhances your scapular stability in other pulling and rowing exercises. A key movement for overall shoulder health.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Single Arm Cable Lat Pulldown

Execution: Use a cable attachment hooked up to the top of a cable pulley system. In a half kneeling position, hang onto the weight with your thumb up and your shoulder blade slightly protracted. Retract your shoulder blade to pull the weight into your upper chest. Perform equal reps on both right and left sides of your body.

Muscles Trained: Lats, rhomboids, teres major, infraspinatus, upper and lower traps, levator scapulae, biceps, forearms.

Benefits for the Pull up: This exercise lies somewhere between a vertical and horizontal row, strengthening many of the same muscle groups as the traditional pull up but providing a bit of a novel training stimulus by altering the angle of pull. Incorporated into a solid training program with other vertical and horizontal pulling variations, this one can help you break through a pull up plateau and add muscle to your frame.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Eccentric Pull up

Execution: Hang from a pull up bar with hands at shoulder width, with core tight and glutes contracted. Do a normal pull up, hold for one count at the top, and then slowly descend (take 3-5 seconds) to the bottom position.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Infraspinatus, Upper and Lower Traps, Levator Scapulae, Biceps, and forearm muscles, abdominals, internal and external obliques.

Benefits for the Pull up: You build more strength and size in the eccentric portion of any exercise than the concentric portion. Exaggerating your eccentric will help you build size and strength with your regular pull ups and will incorporate more time under tension into your pull up training. This type of training is also great for teaching control and building tendon strength, making you more resilient under heavy loads. You can read a little bit more about eccentric training and how it helps build muscle here.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Underhand Grip Chin up

Execution: Hang from a pull up bar with an underhand grip. Pull your shoulders back and down to pull your chin above the bar, and then slowly return to the starting position.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Infraspinatus, Upper and Lower Traps, Levator Scapulae, Biceps, and forearm muscles, abdominals, internal and external obliques.

Benefits for the Pull up: The chin up builds your biceps a little better than the pull up, and also allows you to train with heavier loads, so that when you go back to the regular pull up, they feel a little easier.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Hanging L-Sit Hold for Time

Execution: Hang from a pull up bar with your shoulders near your ears (relax your shoulders). Do a 1/2 leg raise and then hold the position for 15-60 seconds at a time.

Muscles Trained: abdominals, hip flexors and quads

Benefits for the Pull up: Builds strong abdominals and helps emphasize core control during the pull up.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Straight Arm Lat. Pulldown

Execution: With a rope at the top of the cable pulley system, keep your arms straight, pull your chest up and out, lean forward slightly and pull the rope down and out, into your sides. This execution will emphasize your lats.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Infraspinatus, Posterior Deltoids

Benefits for the Pull up: This exercise is great as a warm up or primer exercise to get blood flow into the lats so they are ready to work on the pull up. done for high reps, this is an excellent metabolic stress exercise for the lats.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Pike Pull up

Execution: Hang from a pull up bar and perform a 1/2 leg lift. Keep your legs at 90 degrees by keeping your abs tight, and then perform a proper pull up. Slowly return to the starting position.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Infraspinatus, Biceps, Forearms, Abs, internal and external obliques, hip flexors.

Benefits for the Pull up: This exercise makes the proper pull up feel really, really easy in comparison. Train these for a block of 6-12 weeks, and you will see your pull ups really improve.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Glute Bridge or Hip Thrust Exercise

Execution: With your upper back (shoulder blades) on a bench, keep your feet in front of you on the floor with feet hip width apart. With or without external load on your hips (use a pad or mat if using weight), lift your hips to a flat tabletop position, squeeze your glutes and hold for 1 count, and then slowly lower down.

Muscles Trained: Glutes, Quads

Benefits for the Pull up Exercise: Stronger glutes will help you control your lumbo-pelvic position in the pull up. This exercise in particular is great for reinforcing a stable core and pelvis even with movement through the hips.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Stability Ball Tuck ins/Pike Ins

Execution: Position your hands on the ground and your feet behind you on a stability ball. Keeping a straight line from shoulder to toe, pull your feet underneath you by contracting your abdominals and bending your knees. To make the exercise harder, keep your legs straight and pull your butt up to the air, as in a pike position.

Muscles Trained: Shoulders, Triceps, Abdominals, Spinal Erectors, Internal and External Obliques, Hip Flexors

Benefits for the Pull up: Strengthens the abdominals and core control for better control during the pull up and other weighted exercises.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Weighted Plank

Execution: Perform a proper plank for 30-60 seconds with elbows underneath shoulders. Put a plate on your back (10-90 lb depending on your strength) to increase the challenge.

Muscles Trained: Shoulders, upper back, lower back, abdominals

Benefits for the Pull up: Again, this one helps reinforce core control and spinal stability even under load. It helps you keep your spine in a neutral position without using too much of your strength reserve.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Rope Climbs, Pike Climbs, and Straddle Climbs

Execution: Start at the bottom of a rope. Pull your body in a hand over hand fashion until you reach the top of the rope. Keep legs around the rope, or in a straddle or pike position to enhance the difficulty.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Infraspinatus, Biceps, Forearms, Upper and Lower Traps, Levator Scapulae, internal and external obliques, spinal erectors (Abdominals and Hip Flexors moreso if you use a pike or straddle position)

Benefits for the Pull up: Scaling the rope is one of the toughest upper body exercises you can do. Coming down from the top of the rope provides a tough eccentric or lengthening contraction for your lats and biceps. The eccentric component of any exercise builds more size and strength than the concentric portion, making the descent from the rope very effective at improving your size and strength.

Exercises to Build your Pull ups: Strict Chest to Bar Pull ups

Execution: Assume a shoulder width grip on a bar and pull your chest to the bar; so your chest contacts the bar at the top of the movement. Slowly lower to the bottom of the movement.

Muscles Trained: Lats, Rhomboids, Teres Major, Infraspinatus, Biceps, Forearms, Upper and Lower Traps, Levator Scapulae, Internal and external obliques, abdominals, spinal erectors

Benefits for the Pull up: This is the proper execution of the pull up exercise. Many trainees miss the full range of motion, and do not get their chest into the bar. This last “little bit” of the active ROM is where a lot of the lat activation happens; if you miss it, you miss some of the benefit. Start performing your pull ups with a chest-to-bar execution and you will start to see improvements in your size, strength and muscle activation.

The Perfect Pull up Program Includes these Exercises

While many people believe that training the pull up is sufficient, the reality is that most trainees can get a real benefit from also training other exercises to strengthen the muscles and movement patterns involved in the pull up. A comprehensive program featuring these 21 exercises will help you to reach your absolute pull up potential, stay injury-free, and looked jacked at the same time.