30 types of pull-ups for any level of training

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Spoiler from Iya Zorina: you can't even imagine that such options are generally possible.

You should try pull-ups because they:

• Strengthens the entire upper shoulder girdle, forearm muscles and back. A small part of the load also falls on the upper part of the pectoral muscles. Depending on the type of pull-up, it can change, but not much. All pull-up options load the listed muscles approximately equally.
• They stimulate the growth of muscles in the shoulders and back. You can only work with your body weight and get a beautiful relief figure.
• Versatile and accessible to everyone. Even if you have never pulled yourself up in your life, you can perform simplified versions of this exercise and eventually move on to the classic and complex ones.
• Will not let progress stop. This exercise can be complicated indefinitely, so that you will always have something to strive for.

1. With an elastic band-expander

This is a lead-up exercise for classic pull-ups. For it, you will need an elastic band-expander. You can buy it on AliExpress or in any sports store and use it not only for pull-ups, but also to complicate other exercises with your body weight.

Hook the elastic over the bar, insert one or both legs into the loop, and pull yourself up. The expander will push you under your feet and make the exercise easier. If you buy a set of elastic bands with different resistances, you can change them as your muscles strengthen.

2. Australian

For such pull-ups, you need a low horizontal bar. If you are practicing at home, you can disassemble your own and hang it lower during training. You can also buy highlighters for calisthenics - they come in handy for push-ups on the uneven bars and many other exercises with your body weight.

Grasp the low horizontal bar with a straight grip shoulder-width apart, stretch the body in one line. Pull yourself up until your chest touches the horizontal bar and lower yourself back down.

3. Australian with feet on a dais

In this version, the center of gravity shifts slightly, so it becomes more difficult to pull up. Grasp the low horizontal bar, place your feet on a stable elevation so that your body is aligned in one line parallel to the ground, and pull yourself up until your chest touches the horizontal bar.

4. Australian rings

In this version, it is more difficult to perform the exercise due to instability. Grasp the rings and pull the body in one line. Pull yourself up to the rings and come back. Try to keep the body stretched and tense, make sure that the pelvis does not fall through.

5. Eccentric

Jump onto the bar and pull yourself up using the momentum of the jump. Linger at the top and lower back down as slowly as possible.

6. Direct grip

This grip is better than others in loading the trapezius muscle, located in the middle of the back, and the brachioradialis muscle of the forearm. Hang on a horizontal bar, lower your shoulders and bring your shoulder blades together. Pull yourself up to the chin behind the horizontal bar and lower yourself back down. Move smoothly and in control. Do not stretch your neck up or forward, do not relax your shoulders at the bottom of the pull-up.

7. Reverse grip

This grip puts a little more stress on the biceps and infraspinatus muscle lining the scapula. However, the differences in load are negligible. Many people find it easier to pull up with a reverse grip because of the comfortable position of the forearms, so you can start mastering the classic pull-ups with it.

8. Different grip

Grasp the bar with a straight grip with one hand and reverse with the other. Switch hands on the next set.

9. Neutral grip

Neutral grip is a champion in biceps load. To pull up like this, you will need two crossbars located close to each other - on some models of domestic horizontal bars there are special handles for this. If you are outside, you can do the ladder exercise.

10. Commando

These are pull-ups with a neutral grip, but on one bar. The exercise is made more difficult by the need to stabilize the body. If you relax, your body will swing and rotate in different directions.

Pull yourself up to the exit of your head on the horizontal bar, alternate the sides every other time.

11. Narrow grip

Place your hands narrower so that there is no more than the width of your palm between the wrists on the horizontal bar. You can perform both direct and reverse grip: in any version with a narrow stance, more load goes to the biceps of the shoulder.

12. Wide grip

This option is more difficult than pull-ups with arms shoulder-width apart, so start mastering only when you learn to pull up in the classics well. Grab the bar with a straight grip wider than your shoulders, pull yourself up until your chest touches the horizontal bar and lower back down.

13. Behind the head

In this exercise, you bring your head forward, beyond the horizontal bar line, which provides a more straight body position and increases the load on the large round muscles of the back. Grasp the horizontal bar with a straight grip wider than your shoulders, pull yourself up, bringing your body forward, beyond the horizontal bar line, and lower back down.

14. On two ropes

This pull-up works perfectly on the deltas, lats and infraspinatus muscles of the back. Hang ropes or towels on the horizontal bar shoulder-width apart, grab them closer to the horizontal bar and pull yourself up like this, trying not to swing.

15. On the rings

These pull-ups are more difficult to perform due to instability: you have to connect the body to keep the rings from swinging.

16. With weight

If you can easily do 10 pull-ups per set, try the weighted option. To do this, you can use a special vest with sand or metal plates or, if you work out in the gym, a belt with pancakes.

17. With bent knees (tuck)

This exercise will pump not only the shoulder girdle, but also the core muscles: abs and hip flexors. Hang on a horizontal bar, raise your legs, bent at the knees at a right angle. Pull up in this position without lowering your legs until the end of the exercise.

18. L ‑ chin-ups

This exercise is more difficult than the previous one, as the shoulder of strength increases, and with it the load on the hip flexors and abs increases. Hang on a horizontal bar, raise your straight legs to a 90 ° angle in the pelvis and pull yourself up in this position. If you are good at classic pull-ups, try more challenging options with increased load on one arm.

19. With one hand on a rope

Throw a rope or a regular towel over the bar. Grasp the bar with one hand and the towel with the other and pull yourself up in this position. Switch hands on the next set.

20. With one hand on the expander

Hook the elastic band-expander on the horizontal bar. Grab it with one hand and the horizontal bar with the other. Do an equal number of sets with both the right and left hands on an elastic band.

21. Archer

Grasp the horizontal bar with a straight wide grip. Pull up to your right hand and straighten your left. Then lower yourself down and repeat the same to your left hand.

22. Typewriter

Do one stretch. Then, without lowering, move the body to the right, straightening one arm, and do the same in the other direction. Continue walking from side to side.

23. On one hand with a grip on the other

Hang on one hand, grab the wrist with the other. Pull up in this position, and in the next approach, change hands.

24. Eccentric on one hand

Do a pull-up on two hands, then leave one on the horizontal bar and slowly lower yourself down.

25. Australian on one hand

Hang on a low horizontal bar, stretch your body in a straight line, put one hand on the opposite shoulder. Pull yourself up until your shoulder touches the horizontal bar.

26. Kipping

Pull-ups like this are popular in CrossFit. Due to inertia, they remove some of the load from the muscles and allow you to perform more times in less time. However, due to sharp explosive movements, they can be dangerous for an unprepared person. Therefore, it is better to start them no earlier than you can complete 8-10 classic pull-ups.

Hang on the horizontal bar, jerk your shoulders forward, gaining momentum, and then simultaneously push them back and pull yourself up to the bar.

27. Butterfly

This technique allows you to perform pull-ups very quickly, without stopping and unnecessary movements. However, learning the butterfly is not so easy: movement requires practice.

Hang on a horizontal bar, lower your shoulders and bring your shoulder blades together. Bring your shoulders and body forward, beyond the horizontal bar line. Arch the body in an arc so that the hands, elbows and shins remain in the back, and the body, shoulders and hips come out forward.

From this position, on inertia, move back and up, and straighten your legs and bring them forward. As soon as the head goes beyond the level of the horizontal bar, begin to go down in an arc: again bring the body, shoulders and hips forward. It turns out movement up and down not in a straight line, but along the trajectory of an ellipse with going beyond the plane of the horizontal bar at the bottom point.

28. With a separation from the horizontal bar

Sway a little in your shoulders, pull yourself up sharply and at the top point, tear your hands off the horizontal bar.

29. With cotton

Gather a little momentum, putting your shoulders behind the plane of the horizontal bar, as in pull-ups with kipping, then pull up sharply and at the top point, tear off your hands and clap your hands.

30. With a change of grip

Grasp the horizontal bar with a reverse grip, gain momentum and at the top point, quickly change the grip from reverse to straight.

Write down how many types of pull-ups you managed to complete. Maybe some of them you want to consider in more detail? Let us know in the comments.