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When performing a pullup, what techniques would be ideal for getting higher than chin-even-with-bar?

When I perform pullups, I can get the bar to the base of my neck / my collarbone if I pull explosively in the lower part of the movement. I can do 12 pullups, and get this high on about 8 or 9 of them. But I can't pull that far if I'm moving slowly. For instance, if I start with my chin just above the bar, I can't statically pull myself any higher. So:

  • Should I focus on pulling explosively when I want to go higher
  • Should I specifically work on pulling slowly from some mid point (say, chin-just-over-bar)

When I look at different groups doing pullups some (military physical fitness tests, Mark Rippetoe's book) seem to think that just getting your chin above the bar is totally adequate. But if I wanted to perform a muscle up, I'd obviously need to get higher.

This is sort of a theoretical question at the moment for me - I got some tendonitis in my elbows trying option B, and am on a long, slow road to recovery. But I'd like to understand better how I should have trained, for when I'm better. I feel like pulling explosively was working fine, and had been for a while, and that switching to option B was what injured me. But I'd like to understand how other people do it, for when I'm recovered.

DavidR
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  • Are you kipping on the explosive ones, or just pulling hard? – Dave Liepmann Jan 08 '13 at 22:49
  • Just pulling hard, I hold my legs in place so I don't kip accidentally. – DavidR Jan 09 '13 at 00:48
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    What is your purpose for being able to lift your collar bone higher than the bar? Once you reach that part you are at the end of the range of motion for that exercise... – BryceH Jan 09 '13 at 02:40
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    @Grohlier To perform a muscle-up, like he says, or to get his chest to the bar, which many people consider to be the full range of motion for the exercise. – Dave Liepmann Jan 09 '13 at 16:10
  • I agree that part of the function of the lat muscle is to medially rotate the shoulder because of its insertion on the floor of the bicipital groove. However, it is more of a stabilizing muscle as the rear-deltoid, teres minor, sub-scapularis, and trapezius muscle are the active muscle that would help you get into the position being described after the end of the ROM for the lat. – BryceH Jan 09 '13 at 20:07
  • Are you sure it's not just flexibility? Have you tried moving your hands slightly further apart and going chest-to-bar? – Megasaur Jan 12 '13 at 08:48

5 Answers5

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If I were having this problem, I'd focus on changing most or all of my pull-up and chin-up reps to "chest to bar", and accepting nothing less. This would probably mean a reduction in how many reps I could perform. If that reduced my volume too much, I'd do one (maybe two) "chin-to-bar" sets for as many reps as possible at the end of my pull-up work.

I also expect that holding at the top for five or ten or twenty seconds, either between reps or at the end of a set, could help tremendously.

Dave Liepmann
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  • can you describe what muscles you're using when you're holding your chest to the bar statically? I think I'm missing something there. I had been trying to use my biceps, and was focusing on pulling my biceps into my forearms to get the extra distance, and injured my elbows doing so. Was I doing it the wrong way? In that range, is the pullup still being driven by the lats / teres / rhomboids? Thanks. – DavidR Jan 09 '13 at 01:03
  • Proper pull-up form, as I dimly understand it, is to maximize the pull one gets from squeezing the shoulder blades together. Of course the biceps will be involved as well. – Dave Liepmann Jan 09 '13 at 02:17
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    +1. I had the same problem, and what helped me was reducing the number of reps in each set, and holding the top position of the pull-up for about 5 seconds. As Dave said, don't do partial pull-ups, otherwise you will just train the lower part of the movement and the imbalance will just become bigger. Instead, focus on the upper part of the movement, with static holds or eccentrics. As far as I know, the muscles involved are still the same, but your muscles get stronger within their weak parts of the range of motion. – zero-divisor Jan 09 '13 at 05:55
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Your problem is the lack of strength at the very top part of the pull-up. It is normal for most people don't go that high on their chin/pull-ups anyways. I will give you several exercises to follow in order to develop enough strength for what you want.

  1. Begin with explosive pull-ups, try remaining at the top position where the bar is touching your collarbone. Try it both with the pronated and supinated grips(in other words with the pull-up and chin-up grips). Hold it for a good amount of 5 seconds then release and do another repetition using momentum to get there. Repeat this for 4-6 reps per set. 3 sets.

  2. Once holding this top position for over 10 seconds gets easy start focusing onto negatives. Basically where you release the position but in a very controlled manner up to your chin. Then pull yourself explosively(from this position or from the starting pull-up position), using momentum, to the top position again and release slowly. Repeat this for 6 repetitions per set.

  3. After #2 gets easy, add some ankle or other type of weight to your body for the negatives.

  4. If you have rubberbands attach them to the bar and "step" into them so they can help you for a slow and controlled pull-up. Try decreasing the assistance of the bands once you reach 10 reps. If you don't have any bands use a chair. Move it further and further away as you are gaining more and more strength.

These are direct exercises for developing this strength as I call them in my tutorials. Developing additional strength will be much easier if you use some assisting exercises as well. The top part of the pull-up specifically engages the top part of your lateral muscles. Working them will help you increase the strength needed for your goal. Working them in a specific manner which resembles the pull-up motion will do miracles for you. Attach rubberbands above you to the point where they end hanging just above the top part of your head. Now focus on the ending motion of the pull-up. Grab the rubberbands in a pronated(pull-up) grip. Pull them for 12 reps, 3 sets. Do this after you are done with your pull-ups being your first/direct exercise.

Also, if you are experiencing elbow tendonitis, wait until it's gone before you start with this program. I had the most severe elbow tendonitis and had to go from one doctor to another doctor for a whole year before it got better. All because I did not rest when I had to. If you have any questions fire away at me!

Arthlete
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A simple way to improve on the high part is doing negative pull-ups. Jump up and slowly lower yourself.

Negative pull-ups use a smaller range of motion than regular pull-ups to help you build muscle mass in your triceps and rhomboid.

Masterclass Article

Fralle
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What you need to work on is waist pullups. Basically pulling the bar to your hips in a pullup without momentum or explosiveness. Requires great forearm strength and strong wrists and flexibility. A lot of core and lats are used in this once you cross the range of motion of a standard pullup.

Start by doing eccentric and isometric waist pullups by finding a bar or a ledge to the height of your chest. Grab the ledge or bar as you would when you are in the highest position for a pullup. Then try to pull yourself as much as you can so that you can bring the bar to your waist, using the support of your legs (because you should be standing while doing this). Over time you will develop great strength and then you need to reduce support given by your legs. Finaly you will unlock this range of motion.

For example, I use two chairs in parallel to each other and I bend down while mimicking the pullup to the hip from the chin.

Alec
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Sully
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The truth is, the standard pullup you see most people doing, they have their arms and elbows flared out to sides.

If you want instant improvement for your ROM such that you pull your chest to bar strict, you need to let your elbows track out to the front. This will give you a lot more natural range of motion as that's the plane your arms/shoulders should move in, i.e. to the front

Try this: using a close parallel grip (neutral grip), do a strict pullup. You should naturally find your arms and shoulders track to the front. Now with medium pronated grip, keep your arms tracked to the front and you should still get higher.

tripleee
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JohnK
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