How to Get Better at Pull-Ups

A complete guide to transitioning from beginner to advanced level pull-ups/chin-ups

Let’s face it. Everyone wants to be better at pull-ups.

Why? Because doing a lot of pull-ups is cool! (Only partially joking.) But seriously, most people I work with want to improve their pull-ups.

The problem is, increasing your pull-up strength can be hard.

Before I owned a gym, I’d run down to the local fitness centre and do three or four sets of as many pull-ups as I could. Some days I’d get 10. Some days I’d get 12. But I never got 15 or 20. I never got better over time.

My training session looked like this: I’d start with a max-rep set. Let’s say I hit 10 reps. Then I’d have a little break and go again. But I’d only get seven or eight. Then I’d rest and hit six on the third set. I’d be lucky to get five on the last set. I did this for years.

Sound familiar? Most people are in the same boat. If you’re always testing your max by doing as many reps as you can, you’ll reach a sticking point and won’t get better over time.

Pull-Up or Chin-Up

I’m going to use the words pull-up and chin-up interchangeably throughout this piece. For the purpose of this article, the grip you choose is irrelevant. Either way, I’m referring to pulling your chin over the bar.

This isn’t about the butterfly pull-ups you see in CrossFit either. I’m talking about strict pull-ups. Butterfly pull-ups are about technique and cardio. This is about strength.

Over my years as a strength coach and gym owner, I’ve learned a few things about chin-ups I’d like to share with you. You may be a novice that can’t do a pull-up. You may be able to do 15. It doesn’t matter. There’s room for growth.

In this article, I’ll show you how to improve your chin-ups and how to progress over the long term. I’ll start at the most basic level and move to the most advanced. But first, meet “Bill.”

Meet Bill

I’ve been training a client in my gym for the past two and a half years. For his privacy, let’s call him “Bill.”

Bill came to me as an athlete that wanted to improve his strength. Part of that, he told me, was to “get better at chin-ups.” Like most people, Bill couldn’t do a single pull-up and had a burning desire to lift his head over that bar.

Bill hadn’t had much experience lifting weights. He was around six feet tall and was a self-proclaimed “skinny fat” guy. He played sports at a reasonable level, so I knew he was leaving potential on the table. I started him at the most basic level and progressed him using the strategies I outline in this article.

Since meeting Bill, his pull-ups have gone from zero to 17. He’s now one pull-up away from getting his name up on the Standards Board in our gym. As a male, you need to complete 18 strict pull-ups to get on the board. It’s 12 for females.

Bill started with inverted rows, and if you can’t do a pull-up yet, you should do the same.

Inverted Rows

I like to start new members off by performing inverted rows on suspension trainers. I like to use the Olympic rings with my clients here. Rows are a great way to build the pulling strength needed on pull-ups. You can break down movements in the gym to these categories:

• Upper-body push
• Upper-body pull
• Squat
• Hinge
• Lunge
• Loaded carry

Yes, there are isolation exercises. Yes, there are different core movements. But let’s stick with these right now.

For the upper-body lifts, we can do pushing and pulling in the vertical or horizontal plane. A chin-up is an example of an upper-body vertical pull. A row is an upper-body horizontal pull. Getting better at horizontal pulls transfers over to your vertical pull because a lot of the same muscles are used in a similar pattern.

Rows on the rings are a great place to start because adjusting the difficulty is easy. Creep your feet in to make it harder. Creep them out to make it easier. Eventually, you can progress by elevating your feet on a box. If you can perform five reps with your feet elevated, you’ll be close to getting your first chin-up.

I started Bill out with inverted rows on the gymnastics rings for four sets of eight reps. We did this two days a week. Each week we progressed by adding reps or moving his feet closer to the wall. This way, he’d have to lift more of his own body weight. We stuck with this for a few months before Bill could elevate his feet on a box. Inverted rows still form a big part of his training plan to this day.

I recommend doing four sets of 5-10 reps, 2-3 times a week. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets.

Here’s a video tutorial for performing inverted rows.

Banded Pull-Ups

We’re weakest in the bottom position of a chin-up. That’s why we find initiating the pull to be so difficult. As we pull closer to the bar, the movement gets a little easier. Using bands to assist you helps you push through the hardest part of the movement.

When you stand on a band, it’s tightest at full stretch — think hanging from the bar. This means it’s providing you with the most assistance at the bottom. You can start with a thick band, and as you get stronger, you can drop down to a skinnier band. A skinnier band provides less resistance, which means you have to do more of the work.

When using bands you can wrap it around the chin-up bar and make a loop for your foot or knee to pop into. There’s a video on how to do this here.

I started Bill on banded pull-ups about a month into his training with me. He found the initial part of the movement really hard but the rest of the movement quite easy. Because of this, I started to apply slight pressure on his shoulders as he got closer to the top of each pull-up. If you have a training partner you might like to do the same. We did these twice a week using the set and rep scheme I outline below — one heavy day, one lighter day.

I recommend doing two different days here. Day 1 can be with a lighter band that provides less resistance. Do four sets of 3-5 reps. Rest two minutes between sets.

The other day you can use a heavier band that provides more resistance. Do four sets of 8-12 reps. Have a two-minute rest again.

The problem people make with bands is never moving past them. They stick with bands, then try to go from bands to full-range chin-ups. That doesn’t work. You need to get practice controlling your body weight. Jump reps, pause reps, and eccentrics are three ways of doing so.

Here’s a video tutorial on banded pull-ups.

Pause Reps

After one month of doing the banded reps, Bill was improving fast and was using skinnier bands each week. He’s quite athletic, so his body was adapting quicker than most. I took him off the banded reps and moved him into pause reps. We continued using the inverted rows twice per week.

I like to use pause reps first because they require less strength and skill. Simply pick a point during the rep and pause in that position.

I started Bill off in a pause with his chin above the bar. To get into the position, he could stand on a box, step off, and hold. Or he could jump up above the bar and hold. This builds relative strength because you’re holding your entire body weight up.

Once he could get to 30 seconds or so in this top position, I moved him to hold at the 90/90 position. This is halfway down from a chin-up. Building up to 30 seconds in this position is beneficial for future development.

You can do pauses in every position of the chin-up. Even a dead hang in the bottom position is helpful for building up grip and arm strength. It’s something I include in the warm-up with most of my clients, including Bill. If you find a particular point of the rep to be the hardest, this is the position you should spend most time pausing on.

I would do this 1-2 times a week for four sets of 10-30 seconds. Start with four sets of 10 seconds and work up to 30-second holds. Once you get there, you can move to eccentrics. Have 2-3 minutes of rest between sets.

Here’s a video tutorial for pause-rep pull-ups.

Eccentrics

Eccentrics are a strategy solely focused on the descent or the lowering phase of a pull-up. This involves setting up a box and getting into position with your chin above the bar. Step off the box, and lower yourself down for 10-30 seconds. People have a tendency to swing around during eccentric pull-ups. Try to tighten up through your core and prevent this from happening.

This is one of the most effective methods for improving pull-up strength. You get control over your entire body throughout the whole range of motion.

We’re always stronger in the lowering phase of an exercise than the lifting phase. For example, you might be able to lower a 100kg in a squat, but can you lift it back up? The same goes for the bench press. Pull-ups are no different. Getting stronger in the eccentric phase of the lift will transfer over to a stronger pull.

Bill was relatively good at these — although he started swinging a lot when we first introduced them to his plan. So in the first few weeks, I’d place a light hand on his back and chest to prevent him from rocking too much. As he got stronger in this position, he was able to prevent any swaying under his own control. If you notice you’re swinging when doing these, you may need to get a partner to help every now and again.

Bill improved quickly on the eccentrics, as he does with most things. He noticed his stomach muscles were really sore whenever he did these pull-ups. You should assume this will happen to you as well. Pull-ups aren’t generally regarded as a core exercise, but they should be. This will go away after a few weeks.

I like to use these 1-2 times a week, for four sets of 10-30 seconds. Have 2-3 minutes of rest between sets. Once you can get to a 30-second lower, you’re ready for the jump reps.

Here’s a video tutorial for eccentric pull-ups.

Jump Reps

Jump reps involve jumping from the floor and pulling yourself up, then controlling the descent. As you get stronger, jump with less intensity and pull yourself up with more force. At the start, it’ll be a big jump with a weak pull. Towards the end, it’ll be a small jump with a strong pull.

Control the lowering phase for 3-10 seconds. I like to use these 1-2 times a week and to do four sets of 3-5 reps. Have 2-3 minutes of rest between sets.

This is the exact plan I used for Bill around four months in. We were still doing inverted rows twice every week. We had dropped the banded pull-ups and the pause reps. But we were doing one day of eccentrics and one day of jump reps for Month 5.

Here’s a video tutorial for jumping pull-ups.

Regular Pull-Ups

After about six months. Bill transitioned to regular pull-ups. Yes, he could have started doing them faster. He was actually doing the grease-the-groove method, which I outline below. So he had gotten his first pull-up by this stage. From memory, he was getting around five full-range reps here. But now at Month 6, he moved to regular pull-ups two days a week and grease the groove for another two days.

Once you’re efficient at jump pull-ups, you can go to regular pull-ups. The only difference with the regular pull-ups is you no longer jump from the floor. You also want to avoid maxing out for the most part. Remember that maxing out doesn’t give us the best results over the long term.

Instead, keep yourself a few reps short of failure. Let’s say you could max out at 10 reps. Instead of doing four sets of 10, do four sets of seven. If that’s easy, in Week 1 go to four sets of eight in Week 2.

I call this keeping reps in the tank. I like to keep 2-3 reps in the tank. That’s not possible if you can only do 1-2 reps. If that’s you, use the grease-the-groove method outlined below.

I recommend doing four max sets while keeping two reps in the tank, 1-2 times a week. Have 2-3 minutes of rest between sets.

For Bill’s training, we did four sets of three reps for a month, then increased to four sets of four reps. Increasing your pull-ups takes time. Be patient.

Grease the Groove

As mentioned above, I used this method with Bill on his off-training days — the days where he wasn’t doing eccentrics or regular pull-ups. This is a strategy I first heard Pavel Tsatsouline talk about. It involves doing one perfect rep multiple times throughout the day. Or during a training session.

If you have a pull-up bar at home, you might set a timer to go off every half hour. When it goes off, go out to the bar and do one perfect pull-up.

If you don’t have access to a bar, you can do this during your gym session. Every few minutes, go over and do one perfect pull-up.

Aim to do 20-100 perfect pull-ups every day, depending on competency. If you’re already strong, you may prefer to do four or five perfect reps each time.

The idea is to build volume over the day. Each rep is perfect so your brain learns the skill of doing pull-ups more effectively. This won’t feel hard and you might not feel like you’re getting anything out of it. Good! You should be staying well away from fatigue. I’ve seen it work wonders with the people I train.

You can do this most days of the week. If you’re a novice, aim for 20 reps, five days a week. If you’re experienced, you could do 100 reps, three or four days a week. Start with less than you think. Come back the next day, and assess how your body is feeling. If you’re sore, drop a few reps.

I introduced Bill to grease the groove by getting him to do one perfect rep after he finished each set of an unrelated exercise. For example, let’s say his session involved four sets of eight on the bench press. When he’d finish his eighth rep, he’d walk over to the pull-up bar and do one perfect, full-range rep. He’d then recover and repeat that three more times. This didn’t fatigue Bill or affect the rest of his session. It does, however, sneak in a high-volume of pull-ups.

Weight Pull-Ups

For some reason, we don’t look at the chin-up like the other exercises in the gym. To progress on the bench press, you add more weight. The deadlift? More weight. The squat? More weight. You don’t just stop at body weight then add more reps. So why do we do it with the chin-up?

Adding weight to chin-ups is the most effective way to improve chin-up strength. If you want to go from 10 to 20 chin-ups, this will be your fastest route. The same goes for five to 10. If you can do less than five chin-ups, stick to body weight–only stuff. Do grease the groove, reps in the tank, eccentrics, and pauses.

How do we add weight to chin-ups? Like anything else, start light and build up over time. You can use a weight vest or put weights between your legs. My favourite way involves wrapping a dip belt around my hips and attaching the load to that. This is the easiest way and allows for the most progression.

I recommend doing four sets for 1-5 reps, one or two days a week. Have at least three minutes of rest between sets.

Once Bill’s maximal chin-ups got to eight, we started doing weighted pull-ups. This was around 12-14 months into his training with me. If your only goal is pull-ups, then you might be able to get to this level faster. But if you play a sport or have other priorities, like Bill did, it may take this long or longer.

We started with four sets of three at 8kg. We use kettlebells to load chin-ups in our gym, hence the unusual starting weight. We progressed over time, using various set/rep schemes and different weights. His latest session was 24kg for three reps.

Lose the Love Handles

This isn’t an area Bill struggled with, but it’s important to mention. The last method for increasing your chin-ups is losing fat mass. Fat is useless for generating pulling strength on your chin-up. When you lose fat but maintain strength, your pull-ups will skyrocket. Why? Because you’re lifting less weight with the same level of strength.

I’m not going into detail on how to lose fat in this article, but it’s done mostly in the kitchen. Going for walks and conditioning helps. Drinking water and sleeping more work, too. Oh, and did I mention putting the fork down sooner?

Final Thoughts

This is a general guide only. For example, on the jump reps, I say to do four sets of 3-5 reps, 1-2 times a week. That’s not your only option. You may prefer to mix and match. For example, you could do four sets of five jump reps one day and four sets of 30-second eccentric reps later in the week.

In fact, I’d actually encourage you to do this after you’ve got some experience. Mixing up your training like this will have a different effect on your body and speed up your results.

Don’t think you’re finished once you get up to weighted chin-ups either. You can always go back and do regular pull-ups, pause reps, and eccentrics. I have athletes that can do three chin-ups with 44kg attached. They still benefit from eccentrics if they’re programmed correctly. I’d do weighted chin-ups with them one day and high-rep body weight or eccentrics later in the week.

As you’d have picked up from Bill’s story, it’s not an overnight solution. There’s no quick fix. It’s going to take effort and a lot of time. You can’t rush strength. You just need to continually come back each day and do the right thing. That’s what Bill did. He barely missed a scheduled session, and after two and a half years, he’s close to 18 strict pull-ups.

You could get there much faster if you made it your sole focus and followed the steps in this article. Bill had sports and holidays to worry about. Going from zero to 18 in under three years is nothing to scoff at anyway!

I hope this advice helps you overcome a sticking point in your training. If you follow the guidelines in this article, I’m confident you can get your first chin-up or move from 20 to 25. Good luck with your training, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out.