What muscles do pull-ups work?

The lats do the work of pulling your upper arms down and in. The biceps and mid-back help finish the rep, and the lower trapezius sets the shoulder blades before the pull starts. If you feel it almost entirely in your arms, the shoulder blades are not setting first.

Are chin-ups easier than pull-ups?

Most people can do more of them, but not because the back works less. The underhand grip recruits significantly more biceps and chest, so more muscle shares the load. The lats work hard in both.

Why can I not do a single pull-up?

Usually a mix of not yet having the strength and starting the pull with the arms instead of the shoulder blades. Lowering yourself slowly from the top is the version you can do before you can pull, and it trains the same movement.

Should I use a wide grip for a wider back?

A wide overhand grip showed the highest lat activation of the grips tested, so it is a reasonable default. The differences are small though, and activation is not the same as growth. Use the grip your shoulders and elbows are comfortable in.

Do I have to touch my chest to the bar?

No, but aim your chest at the bar rather than your chin. Craning the neck to clear the bar shortens the rep at the top, which is the part your back was working hardest through.

Are pull-ups enough to train my back?

They cover pulling from overhead, which is half of it. Pulling toward your ribs is a separate pattern that rows train. A back built only on pull-ups is trained in one direction.

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Bodyweight · intermediate · back

Pull up

Also called Pullup, Overhand pull-up, Pronated pull-up, Strict pull-up.

The short answer

A pull-up hangs you from a bar with your palms facing away and lifts your chest to it. Your lats pull your upper arms down and in toward your ribs, which is what raises you. Your biceps and mid-back help finish the pull, and your shoulder blades set the position before it starts. The pull actually begins in your back, not your arms, which is why it stalls for people who try to start it by bending the elbows.

How to do it

Step oneHang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Step twoEngage your core and depress your shoulder blades before initiating the pull.
Step threeDrive your elbows toward the floor to pull your chest up toward the bar.
Step fourContinue until your chin clears the bar, holding the top position briefly.
Step fiveSlowly lower yourself back to the fully extended hang position.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

You hang, pull hard, and barely move.

WhyThe shoulders are still up by your ears when the pull starts, so the muscles that should begin the movement never engage and your arms are left to do all of it.

FixBefore you bend an elbow, pull your shoulder blades down away from your ears until your chest lifts slightly. Start every rep from there. The measurable order of a pull-up is back first, arms second.

Your chin clears the bar but your chest never gets close.

WhyThe neck is craning forward to put the chin over, rather than the body rising.

FixAim your collarbones at the bar and keep your chin tucked. It is a harder rep and a shorter number, and it is the range you were trying to train.

You swing your legs to get up.

WhyThe kick generates momentum the back cannot, usually near the end of a set.

FixSqueeze your glutes and cross your ankles to make swinging harder. If the rep only happens with a kick, the set finished the rep before.

You drop out of the top instead of lowering.

WhyTreating the way up as the exercise and the way down as the reset.

FixLower yourself to a full hang under control, taking two or three seconds. It is the half of the rep you can complete when you can no longer pull, which is why it is the most useful part when you are learning.

Pull-up or chin-up

The only difference is which way your palms face. Overhand, away from you, is a pull-up. Underhand, toward you, is a chin-up.

The common claim is that chin-ups are the easy version, or a cheat. What the measurements actually show is a different distribution rather than a smaller one: the underhand grip brings in significantly more biceps and more chest, while the overhand grip recruits more of the lower trapezius. That was 25 adults, mostly men, in the one study that compared the two grips head to head. Your lats work hard either way.

Most people can do more chin-ups than pull-ups, which is where the cheating idea comes from. That is the biceps contributing more, not the back contributing less. If you can only do one of them, do the one you can do, and do it under control.

Does grip width matter

A wide overhand grip did produce the highest lat activation of the six hand positions tested in one comparison, so there is something to the conventional advice.

The differences between grips are modest, though, and they are differences between versions of an exercise that all work. Whether you can do the movement at all, under control, through the full range, matters more than which grip you chose.

Rotate them if you like. A grip that hurts your elbows or shoulders is the wrong grip for you regardless of what a study measured.

What it will not do

The pull-up is treated as the complete back exercise, the one movement that builds the shape people are after. It is closer than most single exercises get, and it still is not complete.

A pull-up trains pulling your arms down from overhead. Pulling something toward your ribs is a different pattern, and it is the one rows cover. A back trained only with pull-ups is a back trained in one direction. If you can do both, do both.

Grip choice on its own does not build width. Activation is not the same measurement as growth, and every study above measured the former. Getting stronger at the movement over months is what does the work, whichever grip you get there with.

What it is for

The pull up is a classic bodyweight exercise targeting the lats, with secondary engagement of the biceps, traps, and rhomboids. It involves pulling the body upward to the bar from a dead hang, making it one of the most effective compound exercises for building upper back width and pulling strength.

Questions people ask

What muscles do pull-ups work?: The lats do the work of pulling your upper arms down and in. The biceps and mid-back help finish the rep, and the lower trapezius sets the shoulder blades before the pull starts. If you feel it almost entirely in your arms, the shoulder blades are not setting first.
Are chin-ups easier than pull-ups?: Most people can do more of them, but not because the back works less. The underhand grip recruits significantly more biceps and chest, so more muscle shares the load. The lats work hard in both.
Why can I not do a single pull-up?: Usually a mix of not yet having the strength and starting the pull with the arms instead of the shoulder blades. Lowering yourself slowly from the top is the version you can do before you can pull, and it trains the same movement.
Should I use a wide grip for a wider back?: A wide overhand grip showed the highest lat activation of the grips tested, so it is a reasonable default. The differences are small though, and activation is not the same as growth. Use the grip your shoulders and elbows are comfortable in.
Do I have to touch my chest to the bar?: No, but aim your chest at the bar rather than your chin. Craning the neck to clear the bar shortens the rep at the top, which is the part your back was working hardest through.
Are pull-ups enough to train my back?: They cover pulling from overhead, which is half of it. Pulling toward your ribs is a separate pattern that rows train. A back built only on pull-ups is trained in one direction.