Yes, You Can Do a Pullup
Here's how I got my first.
It took me forever to get my first pullup. Or rather, it took me forever to find the right approach to build the strength for my first pullup.
My junior year of college, I took a one-credit weightlifting class. Part of our routine for half the semester were pullups or — in the case of the women — assisted pullups where a partner held your feet and helped you up as you pulled with your arms. It was the first time I moved through the full range of motion, and though I got stronger over the half semester, I still couldn’t manage a full pullup by the time the class ended. But I felt that it was within reach.
The rest of college and the first few years after, I tried to progress to a pullup. I used the pullup machine at the gym and tried to add on more weight. I tried jumping pullups — literally jumping up to the top of the pullup position and lowering myself down. When I started doing CrossFit in 2016, I added banded pullups to the mix, while the rest of the training regimen beefed up my shoulders and back and made my upper-body muscles visible for the first time.
I felt closer to doing a pullup than ever before, but still couldn’t manage one.
It wasn’t until 2018, when I was consistently CrossFitting 4-5 days a week, that I fixed my sights on achieving my first pullup and succeeded. The accomplishment was certainly helped by the strength I’d built through the rest of my gym’s programming — but ultimately, it resulted from intentional, focused effort in the form of specific drills I did almost every day I was at the gym for something like 4-6 weeks.
For the longest time, I thought I would never be able to do a pullup. But I was wrong.
Since getting my first pullup almost 7 years ago, I’ve slowly built up to higher reps. My current PR for strict pullups is 8 in a row, and I’ve maxed out my weighted pullup at 37.5 pounds, just barely failing at 40 pounds the last time I tried. The progress hasn’t been linear — I lost a lot of strength during the pandemic and had to rebuild — but the graph has trended in the direction of stronger. Which is just cool. Doing pullups makes me feel like a superhero. I’d love for you to join the club.
How to Get Your First Pullup
1. Dead hang from the bar.
The pullup involves strength and coordination. It also involves grip endurance and the ability to move up and down without swinging. To develop this, practice simply hanging from the pullup rig. Hold your spine in a neutral position (don’t arch your lower back) and look straight ahead. Build up to about 30 seconds.
2. Engage your shoulders.
It’s not just your arms that are engaged in the pullup. Your shoulders initiate the pullup and enable your back to participate in the movement. To engage your shoulders, hang from the bar and draw your shoulder blades together. These are called scapular pullups. Do 5-10 of these at a time, pulling your shoulder blades together, releasing, and repeating. Over time, work up to 3 sets of 10.
These may feel strange at first — that’s okay, most unfamiliar movements do — but don’t skip them. One of the hardest parts of the pullup is the initial pull. Drilling this movement will strengthen the beginning of your pullup.
3. Hold yourself in the top position. Then slowly lower yourself down.
With the help of a box or chair, jump up to the top position of the pullup. Your hands should be outside your shoulders, your chin over the bar. Hold yourself in this position for as long as you can, and then slowly control your descent. Try to accumulate 60-120 seconds in the top position, even if you have to do 10-second holds.
When you lower yourself down, maintain as much control as possible. Your muscles should be engaged; don’t just drop. Descend as slowly as possible. Do this at the end of each hold and then do a few more negatives, for a total of 5-10 controlled descents.
4. Do partial pullups.
From the top position, lower yourself down just slightly and pull yourself back up. At first, you may only be able to manage a few degrees of the movement. That’s fine. Over time, you’ll be able to extend further down and still pull yourself back up. Do 3-7 reps, but keep your focus on the range of motion. Don’t rush through these reps. Slow is better.
Pair these with the scapular pullups and as much of a pullup as you can manage from the bottom position. You may find that you have a sticking point somewhere in the middle, likely where the pullup switches from being primarily a back exercise to engaging the arms more. Working the top and bottom of the movement will help you get past that sticking point.
5. Keep running the drills.
Once you can manage a 20-second dead hang, start doing the rest of the drills. Do scapular pullups first, then holds at the top of the bar, then partial pullups (if you can manage them) from the top of the bar, then negatives. You may not be able to do any partial pullups at first, but they’ll come soon enough.
Do these drills at the end of your regular workouts 3-5 days a week — yes, including leg days. They shouldn’t take you too long and working already fatigued muscles may help you get more out of the drills. Progressively build up your reps and time under tension, and pay attention to how each drill feels. The full pullup may take a while, but you should see each drill get easier as time goes on. Consistency pays off, so be consistent. Over time, your partial pullups will get stronger and cover a greater range of motion — until you find yourself doing the full thing. Trust me, you’ve got this.
Note: These drills are not a replacement for regular strength work. Pairing them with an upper-body lifting program will help you progress to a pullup more quickly, especially if your program includes rows, lat pulldowns, and tricep work.
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