Pull-ups, types of muscles involved. What muscles swing when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar with different methods of gripping the bar?

Pull-ups are universal exercises. When you pull up, you work with your own weight. As a rule, when you decide to start doing pull-ups, the question arises: what muscles work during them? To get the answer to this, you need to understand how to do pull-ups correctly, what types and techniques of pull-ups exist.

Exercises on the horizontal bar are a complex type of training. Pull-ups are a cyclic exercise, and are based on repeating the same action a certain number of times. The complex consists of a cycle of exercises repeated in a similar sequence. This exercise works all the muscle groups of the upper body together. Each cycle is divided into several phases. So:

Starting position - placing your hands on top of the horizontal bar, clasp the crossbar with your fingers, hang on it with straight arms
Lifting the body
Hanging on bent arms
Lower to starting position

Starting position: arms (hands) on the bar, body straightened, heels brought together, toes pointed. The load is predominantly placed on the shoulder girdle and arms, the muscles of which strive to hold the body in this position. This phase takes the longest compared to the others. There is a recovery from the previous pull-up. If you unsuccessfully pulled yourself up and hung, swaying, use the efforts of your leg muscles or core to fix a static position. If your arm gets tired, shift your weight to the other for a while.

Keep in mind that breathing becomes deeper during exercise as your muscles need more oxygen to perform better.

The next phase is lifting the body. With the force of the muscles, the elbow and shoulder joints are bent and then extended, while the body tilts slightly back, and the legs and hips protrude forward to maintain balance. The load is placed on the biceps brachii muscle. The force with which it works is determined by the width of the grip. The lift is performed while exhaling, occasionally while holding your breath.

After this phase, hang with bent arms on the crossbar. By and large, based on the rational technique of doing pull-ups, this phase should not exist. However, when performing exercises on the crossbar, it is still present, although it takes the shortest possible time. When hanging with bent arms, the muscular frame of the body is maximally tense, and breathing is very difficult.

In conclusion - return to the starting position. When lowering the body, the same muscles that lift it work, but in the opposite mode. In essence, they slow down a body that falls down under the force of gravity. The slower this “fall” occurs, the greater the load on the muscles. If you hang suddenly, you can simply slide off the horizontal bar.

When pulling up, the joint work of not only the upper muscle groups of the body is required, but also the joints: elbows and shoulders.

The horizontal bar will give a load and make it work effectively:

Muscles of the midsection, such as the obliques, transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis (abs), and the straightening muscle.
Deltoid. Superficial muscles of the shoulder, making its contour attractively sloping. Pull-ups involve the posterior deltoid muscle.
The trapezius is a broad superficial flat muscle that stretches from the back of the neck to the middle of the back and laterally to the shoulder joints. Moves the shoulder blades and supports the arms.
The teres major is a flat, elongated muscle.
The latissimus dorsi is superficial, occupying the lower back. They play a big role in pull-ups. Athletes call them “wings.”
Diamond-shaped - located between the shoulder blades.
Biceps. Or the biceps muscle - large, clearly visible. It is auxiliary when pulling up, its role is to bend the arms at the elbows and rotate the forearms. Located on the front side of the shoulder.
The infraspinatus is a triangular flat muscle that is located under the scapula.
The triceps brachii muscle, also known as the triceps. Attaches to the back of the humerus.

Description of pull-ups

Most professional athletes are convinced that pull-ups are exactly the exercises that are necessary to build a wide back. There are several rules for performing exercises on the horizontal bar, despite the fact that their types and methods vary.

Do not do other exercises before doing pull-ups. This is an important rule. Start your workout with pull-ups. If you start training the bar after other exercises, the muscles that are used during the pull-up will be fatigued, which are the forearm muscles, latissimus dorsi and biceps. As a result, you will not get the proper load and the desired result. Pull-ups require the use of quite a lot of physical strength, so it is better to perform them on unloaded muscles. To verify this, simply compare the number of pull-ups you can do at the beginning and end of your workout.

Professional athletes advise not to use wrist straps. By doing pull-ups without them, you can significantly increase the strength of your biceps and strengthen your grip on the bar. It is especially important to do without straps in the first two approaches. It’s okay if you can’t do as many repetitions as you did with wrist straps. Over time, the ability to not only do the same amount will return, but your grip strength will also increase. Of course, for those who cannot pull themselves up without wrist straps, it is simply necessary to use them.

When doing pull-ups, it is best to hold onto the horizontal bar not with your fingers, but with your palm, that is, all fingers, including the thumb, should be on top of the bar. With this grip method, the main load is distributed to the latissimus dorsi muscles, making it easier for the biceps, which are the weak link in this chain. It takes time to master this grip. But once you get used to it, you can see a noticeable effect on your back muscles.

Half pull-ups are not a panacea for those who are unable to do them completely. With such under-pull-ups, the latissimus dorsi muscles only partially contract, which means that there is no point in them as such. That is, if it’s hard for you to do pull-ups, but you want to master this exercise, don’t chase the quantity. It’s better to do a minimum number of, but full, pull-ups. Improve your results over time.

Various pull-up techniques

To find the answer to the question of what muscles are pumped up during pull-ups, you need to understand the types of grips used for them. After all, depending on its type, different groups are worked out.

This type of grip is divided into two types: narrow forward and narrow reverse. To perform this, you need to grab the crossbar slightly narrower than shoulder width. Try to raise your head and torso as high as possible when performing the exercise. With this version of pull-ups, the lower and upper chest and shoulders are pumped well.

When performing pull-ups with a reverse narrow grip, the hands on the bar are positioned in such a way that the thumbs are turned out, looking in directions opposite to each other. During pull-ups with a reverse grip, those same “wings” are especially involved and trained and the coveted biceps are pumped up.

To perform this type of pull-up, you need to place your arms as far as possible from one another, raise your head up, and bend your back a little. When bending your elbows, your shoulders should be parallel to the bar. The thumbs are on top of the bar of the horizontal bar. It is necessary to stretch upward not with the help of your hands, but by bringing your shoulder blades together. During the peak phase, try to fix the position in which the chest touches the bar. Wide-grip chest pull-ups intensively work the lower latissimus dorsi and paired orbicularis muscles.

When pulling up with a wide grip behind the head, the broadest muscles of the middle part, round paired and trapezius actively develop and work. It is performed as follows: with your back arched as much as possible, your hands are fixed on the bar in a wide grip, your elbows are lowered. From the starting position, smoothly and slowly begin to pull yourself up, and at the top point, place your head under the bar of the horizontal bar so that the back of your head touches it. This type of pull-up is quite complicated and dangerous, so it is not recommended for beginners. In the process of performing pull-ups with a wide grip behind the head, the shoulder joint is especially heavily loaded. Based on this, it is extremely necessary for training experienced athletes and not only to properly stretch the muscles of the shoulder girdle in order to avoid injury.

Pull-ups in this way are perfect for those who have just started doing them, since the load when performed with a medium grip is distributed evenly. The reverse medium grip pull-up effectively engages and works the biceps and lats. Their elaboration and development is necessary for subsequent performance of pull-ups in more complex ways described above. The technique is quite simple. Grasp the horizontal bar with your hands, hands shoulder-width apart, turn them so that the palms with the inner side are turned towards you. Start pulling up by moving your shoulders back a little, but your head should be in a strictly horizontal position.

Whatever method of pull-ups you choose, almost all muscles will still work in one way or another during the exercise. And if you decide to pump up your abs while doing pull-ups, raise and lower your legs in the process.

Another method recommended for those who have just started doing pull-ups. The exercise is simple and non-traumatic. By following the execution technique, you can work out the biceps, brachioradialis muscles, and lower part of the latissimus dorsi muscles well. The bonus will be the development and strengthening of the elbow joint area. The peculiarity of pulling up using the described method is that to perform it you need not one horizontal bar, but two bars at once, which are located in parallel.

There are two ways to perform pull-ups with a parallel grip:

Grab the bars with your hands, straighten your torso as much as possible, smoothly and slowly lift your body up, fixing the position at the highest point, and also smoothly lower down
Place your hands on the bars one after the other. When pulling up, your back should be tilted back as much as possible. Turn your head to the side. Pull yourself up, at the peak point, fix the position in which you need to touch the bar with your lower chest.

There are also more complicated types of pull-ups described, for example, with clap, with rolls, and so on.

Ways to make your pull-ups more effective

If you are determined to achieve maximum results, to pump up certain muscle groups extremely quickly by doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar or bars, follow a few simple but very necessary recommendations.

You need to pull yourself up as smoothly and slowly as possible, carefully focusing on the sensations in the muscles. To work hard exactly those that you want to develop and train with a specific method of pull-up exercises
To achieve the best results, give your muscles time to rest and recover from intense training. This means that there is no need to overload them or exhaust them with frequent training. Especially at the initial stage. At a minimum, this approach can very quickly cool the ardor with which you initially began training. Moderation is important in everything, and in sports too.
The ideal sports schedule would be one in which training is conducted three times a week, with a mandatory interval a day for rest and recovery.
A rather subjective question regarding the duration of the workout. It is quite difficult to determine its duration if you practice on your own. The only thing you can focus on is your own well-being. If you work out in the gym, the trainer will create a program for you with the duration of classes that will correspond to your gender, age, physical fitness, health, presence or absence of excess weight. If you are working out on your own, do not overload your muscles in pursuit of quick results! This can cause you to injure yourself, damaging your joints or tearing your muscles. The load and duration of training should increase gradually.
Take rest breaks between sets. The workout should consist of several approaches. For those new to pull-ups, it is best to do a small number of repetitions per set. A larger number of approaches with a small number of pull-ups in each will be more effective.
A very important condition for achieving the desired result is nutrition. After all, from what we eat, the body takes building substances for muscle growth. And they need protein. It is precisely this protein-rich food that should be included in the diet.

Thus, by following all these simple rules and recommendations, observing regularity and systematic training, with the help of pull-ups you can achieve well-developed, beautiful muscles of the back, chest, arms, shoulders and abdominals, making the body strong and harmonious.

Close-grip pull-ups are one of the most common variations of this exercise. Depending on your grip and range of motion, you can focus the load on one or another muscle group: the upper back or arms. This exercise will help improve the definition of the muscles of the upper body, increase muscle mass and strength, and also make your back more flexible and resilient.

In our article today we will tell and show what close-grip pull-ups provide, how to do them correctly and what exercise can replace them.

What muscles work when performing the exercise?

By performing pull-ups with a narrow reverse grip, you load the latissimus, rhomboid and trapezius back muscles, rear deltoids, biceps and forearms. Moreover, in the first half of the movement the back muscles work more strongly, and in the upper part of the amplitude – the arms. Therefore, you can work the arm muscles in isolation, performing pull-ups with a close grip on the biceps, without straightening your arms at the lowest point. Wide-grip pull-ups do not give us this opportunity; the back takes on most of the load.

When performing pull-ups with a narrow straight grip, you put the most stress on your arms, especially your forearms and brachialis. The latissimus dorsi muscles are also involved in the movement, but it is very difficult to concentrate on contracting and stretching them. If you want to put more stress on your back, it is best to perform wide-grip pull-ups and exercises with additional equipment, such as barbell and dumbbell rows.

In all cases, the abdominal muscles and spinal extensors act as stabilizers in movement.

Exercise technique

Traditionally, pull-ups are divided into 2 main types depending on the grip - reverse and straight. Let's figure out how to do pull-ups with a narrow grip in both variations.

Reverse grip

Pull-ups on the bar with a reverse narrow grip are performed as follows:

Hang on the horizontal bar with your knuckles facing away from you. Use a closed grip for greater security; your thumb should grip the bar from below - this will reduce the load on the ligaments of your hands. The distance between the hands is about 15 cm. The back is completely straight, we make a slight deflection in the thoracic region. Wrist straps are not recommended, as a narrow grip combined with relaxed forearms and biceps puts too much stress on the wrists.
As you exhale, begin to pull your body up. Hands should move along the body. Try to go through the first 60% of the amplitude only by working the back muscles and only after that include the biceps in the work - this will only increase the productivity of this exercise. Continue moving upward until your chin is level with the horizontal bar.
There is no need to pause at the top point. Slowly lower yourself down while inhaling. Fully straighten and perform one more repetition.

Straight grip

Pull-ups on the bar with a straight narrow grip are performed as follows:

Hang from the bar and place your hands with your knuckles facing up. Keep your back straight, your gaze directed forward or slightly upward. You can use both an open and closed grip.
As you exhale, perform a pull-up. When lifting, your arms should be spread slightly to the sides, and not pressed against the body - this will allow you to perform more repetitions in one approach. Try to squeeze the bar in your hands as much as possible to put maximum stress on your forearms and brachialis.
As you inhale, lower yourself down, relax your arms a little at the bottom point and do another repetition.

What can replace close-grip pull-ups?

Close-grip pull-ups are a great exercise for the back and arms, but many athletes are simply uncomfortable doing them. This primarily applies to athletes with a large body weight. Too much stress is created on the joints and ligaments of the shoulders, elbows and wrists, causing discomfort and pain.

If you experience a similar problem, the exercise should be changed to a similar one. It is best to replace it with a vertical pull-down block to the chest. Almost every gym has a short handle so you can completely simulate the movement using both a forward and reverse grip. In the lat pulldown it is much easier to concentrate on the work of the necessary muscle groups, and there is also no axial load on the spine.

Also a good alternative to this exercise is a pullover with a dumbbell or on a vertical block. The pullover also perfectly stretches the back muscles and does not involve other muscle groups.

Hi all!

Recently I analyzed training programs in the gym. I selected the most compatible exercises in one workout, described them to those who wanted them, and suddenly realized that in this blog you can find at most a third of the exercises that I recommend to my readers to do. So I decided to correct the current situation, opened it, took the very first exercise from there and began to disassemble it. So I decided to start with types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar.

Pull-ups on the horizontal bar - all the pros and cons

The crossbar fixed in a horizontal position is a very useful and practical thing. How many useful and not so useful exercises have already been invented on the horizontal bar, from ordinary pull-ups to doing one-armed exercises with a clap behind your back (I agree, I exaggerated). I deliberately did not include all types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar in the article. I rightly believe that the most convenient, practical and universal types of pull-ups, which are suitable for the vast majority of the RuNet audience, deserve attention.

The benefits of pull-ups on the horizontal bar

All the benefits of a horizontal stick suspended in the air cannot be overestimated. Perhaps of the existing exercises that involve working with your own weight, pull-ups on the bar more than outperform all the others. Indeed, in addition to pumping up the muscles, this exercise also stretches the spine lengthwise, which has a very positive effect on the growth of the growing athlete.

It is especially good to do pull-ups for young men who are already striving to acquire an Apollonian figure, but their body is still growing and it is too early to start lifting the barbell. And of course, the horizontal bar is especially useful for practicing athletes.

I rightly believe that no men's gym training program should leave out pull-ups. A huge advantage of pull-ups on a horizontal bar is that the equipment for pull-ups is available to absolutely everyone. There is a horizontal bar in every hall, on school sports grounds, in courtyards, parks, and besides, everyone can hang it safely at home.

True, it would be fair to note the severity of this exercise. For me personally, pull-ups on the bar still remain one of the hardest exercises, and if when working with weights you can profile and hang 5 kilograms less on the barbell, then you can’t cut off the excess weight from your own body. Well, maybe just take off your sneakers, although this technique can scare away all the girls in the room.

The cool thing is that this exercise has great benefits both independently and in combination with any other sports. It is especially important to note the need for pull-ups specifically for bodybuilders., it is doubtful that it will be possible to pump up a wide, powerful back without the help of a horizontal bar. In addition, high biceps are built precisely by doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Within the framework of the article, pull-ups, types and features of this most worthy of the most worthy exercises are analyzed. The horizontal bar will not help much in gaining muscle mass, but it will perfectly emphasize the relief of the upper shoulder corset. All muscles located above the waist are indirectly loaded, which guarantees the turnstile a well-formed figure of the upper body.

Particular attention should be paid to the back muscles, which are very heavily loaded when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar. The V-shaped, conical figure of the turnstile is guaranteed! And even despite the fact that most gym goers have no idea about the correct pull-up technique and other nuances of this exercise, the crossbar in any way carries invaluable benefits for the trainee.

Muscles working when pulling up on the bar

Although there are different types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar (they are listed below), in general the horizontal bar uses the same muscles, regardless of the grip or position of the hand. Different types slightly shift the load from one muscle to another, making the exercise slightly easier or more difficult, but in general the muscles working are the same. Here is their full list:

Trapezius, lats, triceps, biceps, deltoids, shoulders, forearms, abs, etc.

In short, when doing pull-ups, all the muscles of the upper body are tensed, from the lower back to the ears.

Features of pull-ups on the horizontal bar

If we talk about simple pull-ups, it is fair to note that pull-ups on a bar can be classified according to 3 main differences:

Types of grips when pulling up:

In fact, this indicator is key. The width of the grip determines which muscles will be more or less loaded during pull-ups. The grip width can be divided into three options:

Narrow hand position;
Average hand position;
Wide hand placement.

Pull-up grip options:

It is also important to consider the direction of the wrist when doing pull-ups. With classic pull-ups, the position of the hand also has three options

Straight grip;
Reverse grip;
Parallel (neutral) grip.

Upper body position for pull-ups:

When doing pull-ups on the bar, it would be appropriate to distinguish two options for the upper body position:

Crossbar to chest;
Crossbar behind the head.

Position of fingers on the crossbar:

Two options for the position of the fingers on the crossbar:

Monkey grip (thumb on top);
Titanium grip (thumb underneath).

In order not to burden your brain with unnecessary work, in each type of pull-up I analyzed, all four parameters will be taken into account.

Leg position for pull-ups

Quite a controversial issue. Some argue that for the best exercise technique, your legs need to be bent and crossed under your body, others are sure that you only need to do pull-ups with straight legs. My dear friends, I advise you not to worry about how to hold your legs at all.. Try one and the other option and choose the most convenient and comfortable for yourself.

Types of pull-ups for different muscle groups

Straight-grip pull-ups

This type of pull-up helps to shift the load for a more thorough workout of the deltoids and serratus muscles, and will perfectly help unprepared athletes quickly master other types of pull-ups. Since the exercise is the easiest of the straight-grip exercises, experienced athletes often do it with additional weights, which, in turn, has a positive effect on gaining overall muscle mass.

What muscles work when doing pull-ups with a narrow straight grip? Serratus, lats and deltoids muscles. In this exercise, a good load is placed on the front and side beams of the shoulders, but wide deltoids cannot be developed by just doing pull-ups with a narrow straight grip.

Performing the exercise: Hands should be placed as close to each other as possible, ideally the thumbs should touch each other. True, this approach can be complicated by twisting the wrist, and if this position of the wrist causes discomfort, a distance between the hands of up to 10 centimeters is allowed, since a larger distance can already be equated to pull-ups with a medium straight grip (next exercise). This exercise is best done with titanium grip, although anyone convenient can use monkey grip.

The back is slightly arched in the lower back, at the lowest point there is a slight bend in the arms at the elbow joint, because if you fully straighten your arms, you can also pull the ligaments, especially if we are talking about weighted pull-ups. The lower back is slightly arched, the body moves vertically upward, at the top point the chin rises above the line of the bar.

This is perhaps the most traditional, most familiar and generally the most-very type of pull-up on the horizontal bar. If pull-ups are for the trainee (that is, for you) the goal of general muscle development, I advise you to pay close attention to this particular method of performing pull-ups. The golden mean, the load is distributed almost evenly between all the muscles of the upper shoulder corset. This type of stretching does not pose a high danger to the body, so it can be safely performed with additional weights (only for experienced ones).

What muscles work when doing pull-ups with a straight medium grip? Latissimus, trapezius, deltoids, triceps, forearms and abs. Performing the exercise: The grip is approximately shoulder-width apart, the thumb hugs the bar, the body moves almost in a vertical line, only slightly leaning the shoulders back at the top point. At the top, the chin rises above the line of the crossbar, at the bottom the arms are straightened as fully as possible.

Wide straight grip pull-ups to chest

This type of pull-up involves a relatively small range of motion, and carries a danger to joints and ligaments. It is highly undesirable to perform it with weights. In fact, this type of pull-up for the back has the most impressive strength because it develops the latissimus dorsi muscles.

What muscles work when doing wide-grip pull-ups to the chest? Most of all, in this type of pull-up, the upper part of the lats (the wings in common parlance) is loaded. In addition, the trapezius, as well as the large and small round muscles of the back, are perfectly worked out.

Performing the exercise: The grip width is approximately the same as in a bench press, one hand and a half wider than shoulder level on each side. In this version of pull-ups, it is important to grasp the main essence of the exercise: you need to pull the torso towards the bar using the strength of the latissimus muscles, while excluding the biceps from the exercise as much as possible. The hands are the performers in this exercise; they help to perform it, but do not take on much of the load. The athlete's gaze is directed upward to the crossbar, the shoulders can be slightly tilted back and the chest can be pulled as close to the horizontal bar as possible. But this does not mean that you need to touch the bar with your chest, this is only possible with incorrect technique. The lower back is slightly arched, it is better to cross your legs (personally, I find it more convenient to do pull-ups with a wide, straight grip to the chest).

Wide straight head grip pull-ups

I want to warn you right away: this type of pull-up is quite traumatic, and it was because of the unpleasant sensations in my back that I stopped doing it at one time. Compared to a wide chest pull-up, this type of exercise is aimed more at expanding the upper part of the latissimus muscles. This exercise is absolutely unacceptable for those who have any problems in the upper spine, neck or shoulder joints (whether from illnesses or past injuries).

What muscles work when doing pull-ups with a straight head grip? The latissimus dorsi muscles primarily receive an expanding effect; if, when pulling the wide ones towards the chest, the wings, in addition to expanding, also thicken, then the goal of this exercise is to expand your latissimus muscles as much as possible. In addition, the neck and trapezium are perfectly worked out. Also, pull-ups with a wide grip behind the head engage the teres dorsi muscle, which is much less involved in other types of pull-ups. Therefore, by performing this exercise you can reach those muscles that do not receive proper load in other exercises. But again, I warn you - due to the risk of injury, I consider this exercise unacceptable.

Performing the exercise: The grip is 10–15 centimeters wider than shoulder level, at the lowest point the arms are slightly bent at the elbow joint (just a little). It is important to pay attention to the position of the elbows: they move to the side when performing the exercise. The lower half of the amplitude is done almost as in the previous exercise, but having overcome the dead point of the movement, it is necessary to bend the neck and direct the head forward so that the neck at the top point of the movement touches the crossbar (or is as close as possible to touching the crossbar).

This exercise cannot be performed with weights due to the high risk of injury. The famous Arnie recommended that beginners not do pull-ups with a wide straight grip for more than 6 repetitions per set.

Reverse close grip pull-ups

This type of pull-up is quite light, which makes it possible to use additional weights for the exercise. Working with weights, in turn, makes it easier for the athlete to gain muscle mass. The exercise is quite safe for ligaments and joints, but this does not make it ineffective or insignificant in the processes of muscle building.

What muscles work when doing a reverse close grip pull-up? The load is shifted as much as possible to the lower part of the latissimus muscles, and the biceps brachii muscle works very well. In addition, the serratus muscles, little by little the rhomboid and trapezius muscles, work. Well, and a little chest and abs.

Performing the exercise: It is better to use a titanium (closed grip). Hands with a reverse grip stand as close to each other as possible, and unlike pull-ups with a narrow straight grip, this position of the hands does not cause any discomfort. At the bottom point, you need to straighten your arms as much as possible, and at the top point, rise to the level of the top of your chest. It will not work to turn off the biceps from the exercise, no matter how much you want it, but you still need to pay special attention to this moment and do the exercise with the help of the power of the wings, and this moment must be felt.

This type of pull-up is really easy, and you don’t need to help yourself with rocking and jerking, just smooth, precise execution! At the top point, you need to keep your elbows as close to each other as possible and press them against the body. When the exercise is easy and can be done 10–15 times without much difficulty, you need to use additional weights. This will help you gain those always missing kilograms of muscle mass.

Reverse medium grip pull-up

This type of exercise is slightly more difficult than the previous one, although it is also quite easy. The load is the same as in the previous one: biceps and lower lats.

What muscles work when doing pull-ups with a reverse medium grip? This exercise works the biceps and lower lats better than others by increasing the range of motion. Due to the fact that the arms are parallel to each other, the amplitude is slightly more advantageous than with narrow reverse and wide reverse pull-ups. Well, of course, trapezoidal, pectoral, jagged and abs also work.

Performing the exercise: At the lowest point, the arms are straightened as much as possible. As you exhale, using the power of the latissimus muscles, we pull ourselves up as high as possible, as high as possible. The ideal design would be one in which the crossbar at the top point is level with the nipples. It is important not to spread your elbows to the sides, otherwise the target load will spread between the muscles and there will be nothing left for the biceps and wings.

Reverse wide grip pull-up

The exercise shifts part of the load from the latissimus muscles to the biceps brachii and deltoids.

What muscles work when doing a reverse wide grip pull-up? As I already said, the load moves slightly to the shoulders and biceps. And everything would be fine if it weren’t for the high risk of injury from the exercise. I would not recommend doing it with weights, and even if there is no particular need to resort to this type of pull-up.

Performing the exercise: It is necessary to grab the bar with a reverse grip wider than shoulder level, at the bottom point the elbow joint is slightly bent, at the top point we lean back and pull the chin to the same horizontal level with the bar.

Parallel (neutral) grip pull-ups

I personally (even though no one asked my opinion) like this type of pull-up perhaps more than others. Not painfully heavy, but not the lightest, this type very well distributes the load between the muscles of the entire upper corset and does not cause any pain in the muscles and ligaments.

What muscles work when doing parallel grip pull-ups? As I said above, the exercise distributes the load almost evenly across the entire upper body of the trainee, using both the back muscles and the shoulders and arms.

Performing the exercise: To perform this exercise, you need a horizontal bar with handles for parallel bars (or bars with the ability to adjust the height). The hands are turned towards each other with palms, while the hands themselves are parallel to each other throughout the entire exercise. At the bottom point, the arms are fully straightened, the upward movement is accompanied by a slight tilt of the body back. The amplitude of movement is maximum, we go down as far as possible, and then go up as far as possible. At the top, the back seems to bend a little back, and the upper part of the pecs tends up and forward.

Narrow parallel grip pull-ups

This type of pull-up requires special handles with the ability to fix them on the crossbar. It is not so much general developmental as it is aimed at working out the posterior delta bundle.

What muscles work when doing pull-ups with a narrow parallel grip? The load is taken from the latissimus and given to the posterior bundle of deltoid muscles. The work also involves the biceps, serratus and slightly pectoral muscles.

Performing the exercise: You grab the fixed handles and reach for them with your chest. At the top point, the shoulders lean back, the back is arched, the goal is to reach the handles with your chest.

Types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar for girls

I don’t write articles for professional athletes, and if a girl’s goal is to have an attractive and desirable figure, then it’s enough to do imitation pull-ups on a block machine. Although I’ll tell you a secret that there’s no better way to meet a handsome guy at the gym than to ask him to help you with pull-ups. I wrote about this in an article.

What type of pull-ups should you choose?

Yes, a little bit of everything. If it is difficult to do pull-ups on a horizontal bar, you need to use just a little imagination and on a vertical block device you can imitate any type of pull-ups described above.

With one sentence I cross out all my work

For each type of pull-up, I wrote which muscle works best. But the difference in muscle load is so minuscule that I confidently question everything I wrote about today.

ALL TYPES OF PULL-UPS USE THE WHOLE UPPER BODY!!!

Pull-ups or imitation of pull-ups on the upper block will be useful to absolutely everyone who, one way or another, has decided to acquire a beautiful and healthy body. And the only compelling argument that can stop you from doing pull-ups is medical contraindications (I hope there are none).

That's it, my faithful friends, it's time for us to say goodbye. It would be more accurate to say goodbye, because as one philosopher put it: “If souls do not die, then saying goodbye means denying separation.” Well, that’s it, now it’s definitely time to finish before the author finally gets carried away. P.S. To do well, you need to clear your karma by pressing buttons on social networks. Health and longevity to everyone! I will be glad to see each of you in the attendance counters.

Was on the line Vitakha Okhrimenko!

12 comments on “Types of pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Which ones should I choose?”

Thank you for the article. Everything is described in detail. Now I do pull-ups with a regular medium grip. I believe that most muscles are equally tensed this way. When I was actively involved in sports, then I could afford to experiment and load different muscle groups. But now I’m short on time and I forget with what grip and in what order I should do the exercises today. So I walk past the horizontal bar, come up, do it with a medium grip, and off to the next one.

Hey, damn it, somehow I didn’t even think about the inattentive ones
The thing is that you won’t find it in the past, I remove the keyword from the previous post when publishing a new one, but in this one it’s still there, take a look at the article again and I’m sure you’ll find it

It turns out that doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar is a whole science! So many ways! Vitaly, you need to write a book on bodybuilding. A course for women and a course for men. Not everyone can train in gyms. This will give you a wide audience reach. For example, a video course for those who want to train at home. And sell courses. This will help you make money on the Internet. I know one guy who wrote a cheap book about solo travel and has been making over a hundred thousand a month selling that book for several years now.
And your topic is popular and in demand. But not everyone has time to read blogs, look for articles, exercises; it is easier for them to buy a ready-made course with sequential lessons and tasks, and complete them daily.

Thanks Irina for the idea. In fact, I was already thinking about courses, books or something like that. But I plan to spend the first year or maybe more exclusively developing the blog, then I’ll make a video blog, and only after that I’ll take courses and other things

There's no need to put it off until later! You can combine blogging and course writing. Gradually, slowly. The fact is that having received an additional financial trickle, you will be able to invest money more freely in promoting your blog.
Without funding, it is now very difficult to promote a blog.
Thanks to your course, you will gain wider fame and recognition of your brand!
And as a side effect - greater traffic and popularity of the blog.
As you can see, everything is interconnected and does not interfere with blogging, but only helps it.
So don’t put off releasing your courses for too long!
I undertake to be your partner in distributing courses (for good commissions)

Interesting article. I pull myself up with a wide grip and lift my legs.

Pull-ups are a purely male type of exercise (although there are exceptions for amateur girls).
But so that there are so many types of pull-ups, different types of grips?! I am surprised.

Ksyusha has no reason to be afraid that if she gets carried away with pull-ups, she will develop such a too wide back.
If you exercise moderately, nothing bad will happen.

What you need

With the help of a horizontal bar you can set an excellent load on the muscles of the back and arms. Along with classic wide-grip pull-ups, athletes around the world also use reverse-grip pull-ups. The biomechanics of this exercise are a little different from regular pull-ups, and it's a great way to add variety to your workout and work your muscles from a slightly different angle. This exercise is used in almost all strength sports: from crossfit to powerlifting, but athletes everywhere set different goals for themselves.

In this article we will tell you how to do this exercise correctly and for what tasks it will be useful for you.

Benefits and contraindications

By regularly performing pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a reverse grip, you will perfectly develop your core muscles and make them stronger. They're also a great accessory to other, more challenging bodyweight exercises, like jumping plyometric pull-ups, angle pull-ups, or two-arm muscle-ups.

Reverse grip pull-ups are great for developing strength in your palms, hands, and forearms. This will work to our advantage when performing exercises such as deadlifts, bent-over rows, or climbs.

Due to a strong grip, the projectile will not slip out of your hands, and your forearms and hands will not get tired before the target muscle group.

However, not everything is so simple with this exercise. Some athletes often have problems with it. Its implementation requires good stretching and mobility of the shoulder joints. If your deltoid muscles are tight, it will be difficult to perform, and in very advanced cases it can even be fraught with injury to the shoulder ligaments or a tear in the deltoid muscle.

You can and should combat this problem, just make it a rule to start any workout with a thorough warm-up and stretching of the shoulder girdle. The most effective exercise for this exercise is cranking your arms with a stick. After a couple of weeks of doing this, you will notice that the shoulder joint has become much more mobile, and any kind of pulling exercises for the back or pressing exercises for the chest and shoulders are much easier and more comfortable.

Also, a heavy load falls on the elbow joints and ligaments. If you have had problems with them in the relatively recent past, it is better to refuse to perform this exercise or replace it with regular pull-ups or lat pull-downs.

What muscles work?

Let's figure out which muscles work when doing pull-ups with a reverse grip:

The main load falls on the back muscles: latissimus, rhomboid, trapezius.
The biceps and posterior deltoid muscles are also actively involved in the movement.
The abdominal muscles and spinal extensors stabilize the movement and prevent us from losing balance.

Varieties of exercise

There are three main varieties of this exercise:

Close-grip pull-ups

This option shifts the load on the hands the most. The back works much less here, and only in the first half of the amplitude. Further lifting of the body is carried out purely by bending the arms at the elbow joint, which in biomechanics is more reminiscent of lifting a barbell for biceps than doing pull-ups. The narrower your hands are, the more isolated the work on the biceps is, however, placing your hands too narrow (close to each other) can harm the ligaments of your wrists.

Medium reverse grip pull-ups

Using a medium grip width, you almost exactly imitate a lat pulldown with a medium reverse grip. And this, in turn, is one of the exercises for developing the lower part of the latissimus muscles, due to which the V-shaped back is formed. It is important to try to “turn off” your arms from the movement as much as possible and try to fully focus on working your back. The deflection in the thoracic spine in this variation should be slightly less than in the others, so it will be easier for you to concentrate on working the lats.

Wide-grip pull-ups

An extremely effective exercise for giving your back impressive width. However, it is not without its disadvantages: due to the wide grip, the hands are slightly “twisted” inward. Hanging on the horizontal bar becomes uncomfortable and sometimes even painful. Straps only make this problem worse. If you also do this exercise with additional weight, your hands will literally break out. To avoid this, you need to work with a comfortable amplitude (slightly wider than your shoulders) and not try to reach the bar with your chin, but focus the load only on working your back (do not go through the last 25% of the amplitude).

Exercise technique

The technique of performing the exercise consists of the following sequence of movements:

Choosing a grip

Once you have decided on the grip width you need, start doing pull-ups. Beginners often have a question: “Which grip should you use: open or closed?” When doing pull-ups with a narrow reverse grip, it is better to use an open grip and place your thumb on top of your index finger. This way, the biceps and forearms will receive more load, and the load will be continuous: at the top point - maximum contraction, at the bottom - full stretch.

Good pumping is guaranteed. In other variations this point is not so important, do it as you feel comfortable. But keep in mind that holding your weight with a closed grip is much easier. The likelihood of your fingers unclenching is reduced. The next frequently asked question is: “Do I need to use straps?” If your goal is to isolate your back muscles as much as possible, then yes. However, they are completely useless when performing pull-ups with a narrow reverse grip.

Start of movement

Start an upward pulling movement with your back muscles. Approximately the first half of the amplitude should be completed solely due to their contraction. To better feel their contraction, as you rise, try to bring your shoulder blades together and create a slight arch in the thoracic spine. The positive phase of the amplitude will be performed while exhaling. The most common mistake when doing pull-ups is throwing your head back; almost every second athlete does it. And both beginners and experienced ones. There is no need to do this, otherwise you will create too much compression on the cervical spine. Watch the position of your elbows; you don’t need to place them to the sides, they should move along the body.

Maintain the correct amplitude

Perform pull-ups at the planned amplitude. It is not necessary to raise your chin above the bar; it is much more important for us to fully work out the muscles than to amuse our “ego”. At the end point you should not feel any discomfort in your shoulders or hands.

Completion phase

Pause for a second at the point of peak contraction to increase the load on the latissimus dorsi or biceps muscles. After this, begin to smoothly lower down, placing your shoulder blades to the side and feeling the stretch in the muscles. The downward movement should occur while inhaling. Fully straighten at the bottom and repeat the movement a second later.

Pull-up program

If you have difficulty performing this exercise, and you can’t do more than 5-7 repetitions in one approach, try training with this program. It is designed for 10 workouts, the rest time between them should be 2-3 days. We do not only reverse grip pull-ups, but also other exercises for the back and arms in order to comprehensively work out all the muscles involved in the movement.

Training no.	Exercises	Number of repetitions and approaches
1	Wide grip pull-ups Horizontal block row with a narrow parallel grip	4x8 3x12 3x12 3x10
2	Reverse medium grip pull-ups "Hammers" with dumbbells	3x6 3x10 3x10 3x15
3	Wide grip pull-ups Vertical row with a narrow parallel grip Hanging on a towel	3x10 4x12 3 – to failure
4		4x6 4x6 3 – to failure
5	Wide grip pull-ups Dumbbell curls with supination Hanging Leg Raise	4x10 3x5 4x10 4x15
6	Two-handed force exit "Jumping" pull-ups Hanging on a towel	3x6 3x15 3 – to failure
7	Diagonal pull-ups Reverse medium grip pull-ups	3x12 3x12 3x12

Crossfit complexes with exercise

Most CrossFit complexes contain pull-ups on the horizontal bar. No one is stopping you from diversifying the load and replacing classic wide-grip pull-ups with reverse-grip pull-ups with any comfortable position of your hands. This will increase the productivity of the workout, since most athletes find this exercise much more difficult. After a couple of weeks of training in this format, you will notice that your arms have become noticeably stronger, your grip has improved, and the volume of your biceps has increased.

Which muscles work when doing pull-ups is an important question that interests all people planning to master exercises on the horizontal bar. In order to get a reliable answer, you need to study the existing types of techniques and understand which muscle groups are involved in the training process.

general characteristics

Exercises on the horizontal bar are an effective, comprehensive form of sports training. After all, almost all muscle groups are involved in the pull-up process. Performing the exercise involves the athlete holding his own body weight on the crossbar using his hands. In this case, a person needs to bend his elbows and arch his back, raising his head above the bar of the horizontal bar. During this exercise, the following types of muscles work to the greatest extent:

Trapezoidal.
Lat.
Biceps.
Flexors and extensors of the forearms and fingers.
Oblique and transverse abdominal muscles.
Deltoid.
Biceps.

To a greater extent, when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar, the abdominal muscles, a group of pectoral and spinal muscles, forearms and shoulders work. There are different types and techniques of pull-ups that contribute to the effective development of certain muscle groups by placing an extremely intense load on them.

Technicians

To understand which muscles swing when doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar, you should study the types of basic grips used by athletes during training. Let's take a closer look at which muscle groups work out which types of grip:

Close-grip pull-ups are divided into two varieties: narrow straight and narrow reverse. When performing an exercise with a narrow straight grip, the athlete places his hands on the bar somewhat narrower than the width of his shoulders, raising the body and head above the level of the horizontal bar. This type of training is ideal for working the lower pectoral and shoulder muscles, and also works the serratus muscles. If the pull-up is performed with a narrow reverse grip, then when grasping the crossbar, the thumbs of each hand turn slightly in different directions. When training with a narrow reverse grip, the latissimus muscles and biceps area are effectively worked.
Wide grip chest pull-ups. When performing this category of exercise, the athlete places his hands on the horizontal bar, moving them as far as possible from one another. At this time, you need to raise your head up and bend your back a little. The fixed peak phase of the lift is when the lower pectoral muscles touch the horizontal bar. When training with a wide grip to the chest area, the latissimus dorsi muscles (in the lower section) and paired teres muscles work intensively.
Pull-ups with a wide grip behind the head. When performing these exercises, the trapezius, paired round, and middle section of the latissimus muscles effectively work and develop. Grasping the bar with a wide grip, the athlete bends his back as much as possible and lowers his elbows down. Then slowly and smoothly rises to the top point, moving your head behind the bar so as to touch it with the back of your head. Pull-ups with a wide grip behind the head are not recommended for beginners due to the risk of injury. This exercise places excessive stress on the shoulder joint area. Experienced athletes should warm up their muscles thoroughly with preliminary training before starting classes.
Pull-ups with a medium reverse grip are the optimal exercises on the horizontal bar for beginner athletes, promoting even distribution of the load. This pull-up technique is easier to perform than the above. When pulling up with a reverse grip, the biceps and latissimus dorsi muscles work most effectively, the development of which is necessary for high-quality practice of the exercises. When performing pull-ups with a medium reverse grip, the athlete needs to grab the horizontal bar, placing his hands shoulder-width apart, turning them so that the palms are turned towards the face. When lifting on the horizontal bar, the head must be fixed in a flat horizontal position, and the shoulders must be slightly pulled back.
Pull-ups on a horizontal bar using a parallel grip are the easiest and safest exercise recommended for beginners who decide to swing. When performed correctly, the technique works the biceps, the lower part of the latissimus and brachioradialis muscles, while it is possible to develop and strengthen the area of the elbow joints. The main feature of this exercise is that to perform it the athlete will need two crossbars located parallel to each other.

There are two options for performing pull-ups using the proposed method:

Taking hold of the bars, the athlete needs to straighten the body as much as possible and slowly lift it up, fixing it at the peak point.
You need to grab the bars, placing your hands one after the other. When performing a pull-up, you should tilt your back as far as possible, turning your head to the side. The peak point of the lift is when the lower chest touches the bar area.

Thus, knowing which muscles work when pulling up using a particular type of grip, an athlete can choose exercises that are ideal for his level of training and individual characteristics. This makes training on the horizontal bar as high quality, safe and effective as possible.

How to make your training more effective

In order for exercises on the horizontal bar to be extremely effective and contribute to the accelerated development of certain muscle groups, professional trainers recommend that beginning athletes follow a few simple and effective rules:

Perform pull-ups as slowly and smoothly as possible, focusing on those muscles that are working at this moment.
To achieve favorable results, muscles must be able to recover after training. Therefore, excessive load should be avoided, especially in the early stages. The ideal option would be to train three times a week with an interval of one day.
The duration of one workout is a purely individual question, which depends on many factors, such as age, state of health, physical fitness of the athlete, etc. It is not recommended to pump hard, putting excessive stress on the muscles and joints, since the result may be unfavorable, even yes muscle tears and joint damage. Increase the load gradually, adding 2-3 pull-ups each week of training.
Take breaks between exercises. Break your workout into several sets with a small number of repetitions. Beginners are advised to use the frequent repetition technique. The essence of this technique is that the athlete approaches the horizontal bar up to 7-8 times during the day, performing 2-3 pull-ups in each cycle. After a week, the number of approaches and repetitions can be increased by several units.
Eat properly. To build muscle mass, you need food rich in proteins. That is why a novice athlete’s diet must include dairy products, eggs, nuts, meat and fish.

Following the recommendations of experts, with regular and systematic pull-ups on the horizontal bar, you can ideally work out the muscles of the arms, chest, back, shoulders, and abdominals, making your body strong, beautiful and toned even without visiting the gym!