The pull-up lifts your own bodyweight to the bar: lats, biceps and the muscles between your shoulder blades.
1Starting position2End position
Setup
Grab the bar with an overhand grip a little wider than your shoulders and hang with straight arms. Pull your shoulders away from your ears, brace your abs and glutes, legs together — that keeps the body from swinging.
Execution
Grab the bar with an overhand grip wider than shoulder-width, arms straight — starting position.
Exhale and pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar, squeezing your shoulder blades together.
Inhale and lower yourself back down until your arms are fully straight.
Common mistakes
Swinging and kicking — every rep starts from a still hang.
Partial reps — straight arms at the bottom, chin over the bar at the top.
Shoulders shrug up to your ears — set the shoulder blades down first, then pull.
Can't do one yet — start with negatives and band-assisted reps; I'll track your progress by reps.
