How To Get Your First Pull-Up

Pull-ups are a great compound exercise that works most of the upper body. However, it can be frustrating for many, if unable to do more than dangle and struggle while not going anywhere. That’s not actually bad, by the way! Of course it’s not great athletic performance, but in terms of exercise, “dangling and struggling while not going anywhere” is an isometric exercise that has plenty of benefits of its own. However, for those who would rather go up in the world, personal trainer Meg Gallagher shows the way:

The Only Way Is Up?

Gallagher offers a few methods; the first is simply an improvement on the “dangling and struggling while not going anywhere” method, but doing it with good form. It’s called the…

Hollow body hold:

• Hang from the bar with legs and feet together.
• Maintain a posterior pelvic tilt (i.e. don’t let your hips roll forwards, and don’t let your butt stick out more than is necessary by mere virtue of having a butt)
• Engage your core by shortening the space between your ribs and pelvis.
• Turn on your abs and lats, with your head slightly behind the bar.
• Practice the hollow body hang instead of dead hangs to build grip and core strength.

Another method is now moving on from the hollow body hold, and shows that in fact, up is not the only way. It’s called…

Negative pull-ups:

• Jump up to get your chin over the bar, then slowly lower yourself in a controlled manner.
• Prioritize negative pull-ups over other exercises to build strength.
• You can use modifications like resistance bands or feet assistance if necessary to extend the duration of your negative pull-up, but these are “crutches”, so try to move on from them as soon as you reasonably can—same if your gym has an “assisted pull-up” machine, consisting of a moving platform with a variable counterweight, mimicking how a pull-up would feel if your body were lighter.
• Practice resisting throughout the entire range of motion.

To give a sense of direction, Gallagher offers the following program:

• On day 1, test how long you can resist the negative pull-up (e.g., 10 seconds).
• For each session, multiply your time by 2 (e.g., 10 seconds × 2 = 20 seconds total).
• Break the total volume into as many sets as needed (e.g., 2 sets of 10 seconds or 4 sets of 5 seconds).
• After each session, add 2 seconds to the total volume for the next session.
• Aim for 3 sessions per week for 3–4 weeks, increasing by 2 seconds each session.
• When you reach about 25 seconds, you should be close to performing your first pull-up.

For more on all of this, plus a few other things to try, plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

• Resistance Is Useful! (Especially As We Get Older)
• Resistance Beyond Weights

Take care!