30 Pull-Up Variations for All Fitness Levels

Here's a spoiler from Ia Zorina: you might not realize how many pull-up variations are possible.

You should try pull-ups because they:

• Strengthen your entire upper shoulder girdle, forearm muscles, and back. A small portion of the effort also engages the upper chest muscles. Depending on the pull-up type, this can vary slightly, but all variations generally target these muscles evenly.
• Stimulate muscle growth in your shoulders and back. You can train using just your body weight and achieve a sculpted, defined physique.
• Are versatile and accessible to everyone. Even if you’ve never done a pull-up before, you can start with easier variations and gradually progress to classic and advanced styles.
• Ensure continuous progress. This exercise can be made increasingly challenging indefinitely, so there’s always room to improve.

1. Resistance Band Assisted Pull-Ups

This is a preparatory exercise for classic pull-ups. You’ll need a resistance band, which can be purchased on global platforms like Amazon or at any sports store. It’s also useful for intensifying other bodyweight exercises.

Attach the band to the pull-up bar, place one or both feet in the loop, and pull yourself up. The band will assist by pushing your legs upward, making the movement easier. Using bands with varying resistance allows you to adjust difficulty as your strength improves.

2. Australian Pull-Ups

You need a low pull-up bar for this variation. If training at home, you can temporarily lower your bar or purchase calisthenics parallettes, which are also great for dips and other bodyweight exercises.

Grip the low bar with an overhand grip shoulder-width apart, extend your body in a straight line, pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar, then lower yourself back down.

3. Australian Pull-Ups with Elevated Feet

Raising your feet shifts your center of gravity, making the exercise more challenging. Hold the low bar, place your feet on a stable elevated surface so your body is parallel to the ground, and pull up until your chest touches the bar.

4. Ring Australian Pull-Ups

This variation is tougher due to instability. Grab the rings and keep your body straight. Pull yourself towards the rings and slowly lower back down. Maintain tension and avoid letting your hips sag.

5. Eccentric Pull-Ups

Jump up to the bar and use momentum to pull yourself up. Hold at the top, then lower yourself down as slowly as possible.

6. Overhand Grip Pull-Ups

This grip emphasizes the trapezius muscles in the mid-back and the brachioradialis in the forearms. Hang from the bar, relax your shoulders, retract your shoulder blades, pull yourself up until your chin clears the bar, then lower down smoothly. Avoid straining your neck or relaxing your shoulders at the bottom.

7. Underhand Grip Pull-Ups

This grip slightly increases biceps and infraspinatus muscle engagement. Many find underhand grip easier due to forearm positioning, making it a good starting point for classic pull-ups.

8. Mixed Grip Pull-Ups

Grip the bar overhand with one hand and underhand with the other, then switch grips in the next set.

9. Neutral Grip Pull-Ups

The neutral grip maximizes biceps engagement. You’ll need two parallel bars close together, which some home pull-up stations include. Outdoors, you can use monkey bars for this variation.

10. Commando Pull-Ups

Perform neutral grip pull-ups on a single bar. This variation demands core stabilization to prevent your body from swinging or twisting. Pull yourself up until your head clears the bar, alternating sides.

11. Narrow Grip Pull-Ups

Place your hands close together so the space between your wrists is no wider than your palm. Use either overhand or underhand grip. This narrow positioning increases biceps workload.

12. Wide Grip Pull-Ups

This is more challenging than shoulder-width pull-ups. Only attempt after mastering classic pull-ups. Grip the bar wider than shoulder-width, pull up until your chest touches the bar, then lower down.

13. Behind-the-Neck Pull-Ups

Pull your head forward beyond the bar’s line, which straightens your torso and increases load on the teres major muscles. Grip the bar overhand wider than shoulder-width, pull up moving your body forward beyond the bar, then lower down.

14. Rope Pull-Ups

Hang ropes or towels over the bar shoulder-width apart, grip them close to the bar, and pull yourself up while minimizing swinging. This variation targets deltoids, lats, and infraspinatus muscles.

15. Ring Pull-Ups

Due to instability, ring pull-ups require core engagement to prevent swinging.

16. Weighted Pull-Ups

If you can do 10 pull-ups easily, add weight using a weighted vest or a belt with plates, commonly available in gyms.

17. Tuck Pull-Ups (Bent Knees)

This works your shoulder girdle and core muscles, including abs and hip flexors. Hang from the bar, lift your knees bent at 90°, and perform pull-ups without lowering your legs during the movement.

18. L-Pull-Ups

More challenging than tuck pull-ups due to increased lever arm and load on hip flexors and abs. Hang from the bar, raise straight legs to 90°, and pull up. If you master classic pull-ups, try advanced one-arm variations.

19. One-Handed Pull-Ups Using a Rope

Drape a rope or towel over the bar. Grip the bar with one hand and the rope with the other, then pull up. Switch hands each set.

20. One-Handed Pull-Ups with Resistance Band

Attach a resistance band to the bar, grip it with one hand and the bar with the other. Perform equal sets with each hand on the band.

21. Archer Pull-Ups

Grip the bar wide overhand. Pull towards your right hand while extending your left arm, then lower and repeat to the left.

22. Typewriter Pull-Ups

After pulling up, without lowering, shift your torso side to side by straightening one arm at a time. Continue alternating sides.

23. One-Handed Pull-Up with Wrist Grip

Hang with one hand and grip your wrist with the other. Pull yourself up in this position, then switch hands.

24. One-Handed Eccentric Pull-Ups

Pull yourself up with both hands, then release one hand and slowly lower yourself down.

25. One-Handed Australian Pull-Ups

Hang from a low bar in a straight line, place one hand on the opposite shoulder, and pull up until your shoulder touches the bar.

26. Kipping Pull-Ups

Popular in CrossFit, kipping uses momentum to reduce muscle load and increase reps in less time. However, explosive movements can be risky for beginners. Only attempt after you can do 8–10 classic pull-ups.

Hang from the bar, thrust your shoulders forward to generate momentum, then pull back and up simultaneously.

27. Butterfly Pull-Ups

This technique enables very fast pull-ups without pauses or unnecessary movements but requires practice to master.

Hang from the bar, relax your shoulders, retract your shoulder blades, move your shoulders and torso forward beyond the bar, arch your body so wrists, elbows, and shins stay behind while torso, shoulders, and hips move forward.

From this position, use momentum to move backward and upward, straighten and extend your legs forward. As your head passes the bar, descend along an elliptical path, moving torso, shoulders, and hips forward again. The movement follows an ellipse above and below the bar plane.

28. Pull-Ups with Bar Release

Slightly swing your shoulders, pull up sharply, and release your grip at the top momentarily.

29. Clapping Pull-Ups

Generate momentum by moving your shoulders behind the bar like in kipping pull-ups, then pull up sharply, release your hands at the top, and clap.

30. Grip Switching Pull-Ups

Start with an underhand grip, generate momentum, and at the top quickly switch to an overhand grip.

Share how many variations you managed to perform. Interested in a deeper dive into any? Let us know in the comments.

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