Pull-ups are an essential exercise that every calisthenics enthusiast should do. It works most of your upper body muscles, but more specifically hits your latissimus dorsi (also known as lats) and the teres major muscle (shoulder blade muscle). In addition, pull-ups are instrumental for building our shoulders, core, arms, and forearms, and also chest. If you don't even have a pull-up bar yet, take a look at our guide to setting up a calisthenics home gym.
So there are many reasons as to why you should include them in your calisthenics workouts. But, pull-ups are not exactly a beginner-friendly exercise, especially if you are a complete beginner. You might be wondering how to do more pull-ups when you can't even manage to perform one?
Luckily, there's plenty of options when it comes to increasing your pull-up strength. Depending on your level, we will be taking a look at how to increase your max pull-ups. We've split it into four levels:
Total Beginners: For those who can't do a single pull-up. We'll be looking at how to build up your strength to be able to do your first pull-up and then progress from there.
Beginners: this stage is for those who can do up to three or four pull-ups, and would like to be able to do more. The key here is progressing your strength in order to be able to complete more pull-ups.
Intermediate: it should be considered by those who are comfortable with pull-ups and can perform 5 or more.
Advanced: this is only for the seasoned calisthenics trainers. This will include a guide on how to be able to do one-arm pull-ups and even muscle-ups. It can take months or even years to reach this level.
Why Can't I Do More Pull-Ups?
There are various reasons as to why you can't perform a pull-up or why you can't do more of them. One of the most common problems that beginners face is that they just don't have enough strength in their muscles to perform it. The muscles that are required to do pull-ups are lats, spinal erectors (lower back stabilizer muscles), arms, and also chest and abs. The first step would be to increase your strength in these areas first using other exercises, and then progressing onto pull-ups.
The second most common reason is that you might not have enough grip strength. This problem is especially notable with complete beginners, or also even for someone coming from a bodybuilding background. In this case, you'll need to perform various forearm exercises and strengthen your wrists before you're able to do pull-ups.
Another problem that beginners face is a lack of mind-to-muscle connection. But what is this, you might ask? It's simply the ability to be able to focus on your muscles while you are performing your workout. To be more precise, you'll want to make sure that you are really using the right muscles to perform the movement, and for this, you will have to think. It might be hard to do that when you're tired, but try to really focus on the muscles you are feeling while you workout.
Lastly, the problem can occur due to various upper-body injuries. One of the most problematic injuries for performing pull-ups are shoulder injuries; specifically, rotator cuff injuries, or labrum injuries. Other injuries might be stopping you, such as wrist or elbow injuries, and other recurring problems. You will want to do physical therapy and consult with your doctor before you try to do pull-ups.
A good alternative for many of these injuries are chin-ups, which are almost as effective as pull-ups but work different muscles (biceps). If you're just looking for a workout to develop your arms, check out our calisthenics arms workout and guide.
How to Do More Pull-Ups?
Now onto the meat and potatoes of this article. How to do more pull-ups for the level you're at?
We've split this guide into four categories which we discussed above. For each category, different methods are used to improve your ability to perform pull-ups. Let's start with a complete beginner guide. Hopefully, you'll progress into higher levels in no time.
Stage 1: Complete Beginners
If you're a complete beginner, you are not able to do a single pull-up. You dread the pull-up bar; but don't worry, we've all been there at some point. It turns out that there are many methods for building your ability to do pull-ups. Here's how to perform your first pull-up with various methods.
It might also help you to check out our calisthenics beginner's guide.
Note that you'll need a pull-up bar for any of these methods and for all stages.
Method #1: Inverted Rows
One of the best ways to increase your upper back strength and also develop grip strength is to perform inverted rows. It will prepare you for pull-ups effectively, and you can incorporate it into your back calisthenics routine for the first couple of weeks.
After two to three weeks of performing this exercise, you should try to perform a regular pull-up. You'll see a big increase in your strength and you will possibly be able to perform your first pull-up.
How to do inverted rows?
If you have a pull-up bar for door frames, you can place it on a much lower position than normally; it should be at a height of your knees or your hips, depending on your strength; the lower it is, the more challenging it can be, especially for your back muscles.
Then, once you've mounted the bar, grip it with a pronated grip and put your arms shoulder-width distance apart or slightly wider. Your legs should be straight, and you can start performing the rows. The lower you go, the harder the exercise will be.
Do 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps, and try to do it at least once a week (ideally twice).
Method #2: Dead Hangs
Another exercise that you should try is the dead hang. It's not an exercise in its common sense of the word, but it's more of a method of how to increase your grip strength and improve your shoulder strength; it also contributes to the health of your shoulder if you have bad shoulders.
It's pretty simple; put the pull-up bar in the normal position above your head, and latch onto it with a pronated grip.
Then, with the arms straight, hang from the bar. When you do this, drop the pelvis and keep your arms straight; if you can't hang, place a platform underneath your feet so that you can rest the legs and make it slightly easier. This movement will decompress your back but more importantly, build your grip strength and forearm strength.
Do this for a minute; it's probably not possible to do it in one segment, but do it in smaller parts; for example, you can hang for a couple of seconds, have a short rest, and go again. Try to do this every day. Here's a demonstration:
Method #3: Negative Pull-Ups
Doing negative pull-ups is a fantastic way to build your capacity to perform regular pull-ups. It's a great starting point, and you can incorporate it with other methods into your upper-body workout routine.
What are negative pull-ups?
They are similar to the regular pull-ups, but you focus on your downward movement instead. With pull-ups, the hardest thing for beginners is to come up over the bar. Here, you can place a platform (a chair) below the bar and get yourself up above the bar with the help of a platform.
Then, once you're above the bar, activate your shoulder blade muscles and lats and come back down very slowly. This is where the mind-to-muscle connection is very important - try to really focus on the muscles that are working.
This exercise will increase your back strength and grip. Do it for 2-3 sets of maximum reps for the best results possible, and at least once a week. Below is a demonstration:
Method #4: Lose Body Fat
Now, this is not really an exercise, but more of a tip on how to do more pull-ups. If you have excess body fat, it might be weighing you down and keeping you from performing pull-ups. The more weight you have to lift, the harder it'll be to perform pull-ups.
But losing body fat is easier said than done. Ideally, your body fat percentage should be at least around 20% or below to be able to do pull-ups, but that's not necessarily true. Although it will be much easier at that stage.
Try to do more cardio for the first couple of weeks of your training. Combine it with the methods we discussed above, and you'll be able to do your first pull-up in no time at all.
Stage 2: Beginners
Once you're comfortable with performing two or three pull-ups at once, then you are considered a beginner. From here, the real progression starts. The best method to increase your pull-up strength is to slowly progress. Each time you workout, try to do one more pull-up than last time. But, there are some things that you can do to increase your strength.
You can still follow the methods from the complete beginner stage; especially the inverted rows, negative pull-ups and dead hangs will come in handy here.
Method #1: Constant Progression
As we've already mentioned, constantly progressing your push-up ability is the key. Each time you do pull-ups, try to do one or two more than the last time. In a matter of weeks, you should reach the intermediate level when you're comfortable doing 8-12 pull-ups at once.
Method #2: Banded Pull-Ups
Performing pull-ups with a band will make them slightly easier, but they will still be challenging and should increase your strength. The tougher the resistance band, the easier it'll be to do the pull-ups. It's a great method that can help you do a couple of extra pull-ups along the way. Try to do a few regular pull-ups and then use the band to pump out a few extra.
To do this, you'll obviously need a resistance band. Strap the band onto the pull-up bar, and wrap it around your feet. Get as much tension on the band as you can by keeping your feet straight. Then, perform the pull-up.
You can progress this by adding a band with less resistance. Do these as your workout finishers, after you've done your regular pull-ups.
Method #3: Pull-Ups with Pauses
Incorporating pauses into the exercise will give you more tension and will enable you to build the muscles worked quicker.
To do it, simply pause at the top of the pull-up movement for a couple of seconds. Also, you can try to do the pull-ups slightly slower than usual to put more stress on your muscles.
Stage 3: Intermediate
Once you're comfortable doing 8-12 pull-ups at once, you'll be at an intermediate level. Here, the progression will get slightly tougher and it will take longer to see more results. Regular pull-up progressions are still possible, but just won't be as effective as some other methods.
Method #1: Add Weight
Possibly the best thing at this stage would be to consider investing in a weight vest, or some weights. You'll also need a strap to strap the weights around your waist. The more weight you add, the harder it'll be to perform pull-ups.
These work just like the regular pull-ups, but just with a weight. You'll be able to do fewer pull-ups than normally without a weight, but the results will be much better. After some time, progress the number of weighted pull-ups you do.
Method #2: Perform Various Pull-Up Variations
In order to reach the highest level when it comes to pull-up, you'll also want to incorporate some pull-up variations to your workouts. The next step from here is one-arm pull-ups and muscle-ups, but at this stage, it might be slightly too much.
But, you can start to incorporate various movements to your pull-ups. These include:
One-arm hangs: Same as the normal dead hangs, just with one arm. Once comfortable, progress to a one-arm pull-up hold.
L-sits: It's a hard movement at this stage, but you can start small and go from there. L-sits demand a strong core, upper-body, and even legs.
One-arm inverted rows: Use just one arm for the inverted rows. Build your arms, shoulders, and core with other workouts.
Here is a good video guide on how to do some of these movements.
And another one:
Stage 4: Advanced
At this stage, you probably don't need that much guidance anymore. When you are able to do 15 or more pull-ups at once, you can start performing various movements such as muscle-ups, one-arm pull-ups, and other exercises. You can progress from those exercises, but the scope of progression here is somewhat limited.
You can add weight to make them more challenging here. Now you are already an expert on this field and most of the progression has already been made.
Hopefully, one day you'll be able to do this:
More Tips on How to Do More Pull-Ups
To conclude, here are some useful tips for making the progression much easier.
Before you start, perform a good warm-up. Warm-up your shoulders, back, and the whole upper body, regardless of whether you are a beginner or an advanced trainer.
Do your pull-ups before you perform cardio. If you do cardio before, you will find that you will be able to do much less than usual. If you have a track record of injuries, especially in your shoulders or arms, start with physiotherapy and consider building up your rotator cuffs before you start to do ANY pull-ups.
Include other workouts for your muscles that enable you to do pull-ups. This includes the shoulders, the back, your core, arms, and even your chest. Last but not least, go easy. Don't just start and force your way up, it can only result in injuries. Instead, go for a slow progression, which is, in fact, the only way to progress.
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