CrossFit could scare you because we do tons of pull-ups …and you can’t do one.

Being intimidated is unjustified: CrossFitters include many people who could not do a pull-up when they began. The pull-up is easily teachable and achievable — you can begin right here, right now.

The following will give you a schedule consisting of 2 routines which you will use 4 or 5 days a week, and 2 workouts which you will do 3-4 times a week.

A week’s schedule might look like this:

Below you will learn the exercises and workouts you’ll use to develop your pull-up; but first, you need some equipment.

1. Equipment
   Pull-up bar! Your feet should not touch the ground when you hang from your pull-up bar. (7′6″ or 8′0″ are good heights for a bar.)

   You also need at least two other pieces of equipment:

   1. a jumpbox or chair on which you can stand. Standing on a chair, bench or jumpbox, you should be able to hold the pull-up bar with a slight bend in your elbows.
   2. a “low bar” about 30-36″ off the ground that will support your bodyweight. Best method: hang a broomstick, or two rings, from your pull-up bar. The edge of a table or desk, perhaps even a broomstick, bar or pipe supported by furniture may do the trick. If you’re in a commercial gym… this is one of only two legitimate uses for a Smith Machine! (The other is: handstand push-ups)
2. Assistance
   If you can’t do a pull-up, you need to be able to complete the motion somehow Somehow means with assistance:
   1. jumping pull-up: while standing on the chair, bench or box, you jump your chin up above the bar and lower yourself down, controlling your descent with your arms (this controlled descent is called the “negative” or “eccentric” portion of the movement.)
   2. gravitron or machine-assist: A wonderful tool, you can set the exact amount of assistance (in increments of 5 pounds). A kneepad or foot bars will push up against you, helping you with the motion. You can even incorporate a kipping motion with a gravitron, which you’ll soon learn.
   3. assistance bands: these are big rubber bands, either hung from the pull-up bar or stretched horizontally below the pull-up bars at about knee-level.
   4. partner assist: your partner can hold your ankles from behind and help you complete the pull-up movement. Strongly recommended if you have an attentive partner, strongly discouraged if your partner can’t figure out when he needs to let go of your ankles and let you dismount gracefully.
3. Exercises
   • Body rows or ring rows - hang your body below the low bar (or rings, or table’s edge, 30-36″ from the ground). Your feet rest on the ground or on a slightly elevated support like a step or bench. Pull your chest up to the bar / rings and lower back down. Aim for the greatest range-of-motion you can achieve.

   

   • Swings - the kipping pull-up begins from a swing: your torso moves backward and forward, while your feet stay in place below the bar. At the front and back of your swing, your body should look like these parentheses: ) and (
   • Jumping pull-ups - described above in Assistance. You can do A LOT of these. But those negatives — those eccentric contractions, as you’re controlling your descents — can really make your arms sore!
   • Assisted pull-ups - especially when assisted by a partner, these can very closely shadow your maximum effort to do a pull-up, giving you just enough help to complete the motion. A partner can make your pull-ups more productive and more satisfying.
   • Knees-to-chest - hanging from a pull-up bar, lift your knees up towards your chest, allowing your legs to bend. Return to fully open hang position.
   • L-sit - hanging from a pull-up bar, lift your straightened legs in front of you until you are ‘piked’ 90-degrees at the hips, your legs horizontal to the ground and held rigidly, straight in front of you. Do not swing. If you can’t get it, bend your knees. Progress towards straightening your legs.

   

4. Daily Routines
   • Grease-the-Groove, or GTG. This is a method: it means stopping a few times throughout the day to do several repetitions of an exercise, in an attempt to increase the number of reps one can do.
     1. Routine 1: jPU: Everyday, grease the groove with jumping pull-ups, descending slowly (emphasizing the negative). Aim for 5-7 sets of ~5 reps each over the course of the day.
     2. Routine 2: assisted PU: Exactly the same as routine 1, but use assisted pull-ups instead of jumping pull-ups
5. Workouts
   • Workout 1: Body Rows & Knees-to-Chest

     3 rounds, 12-9-6

     • body rows
     • knees-to-chest

     For time.

     If your time gets better than 3:15, increase reps to 15-12-9. :-)
     Workout 2: L-swing-jump
     

     5 rounds of

     • 5 L-sits
     • 10 swings
     • 15 jumping pull-ups

     For time.

     (substitute knees-to-chest if L-sits are too difficult)

6. Variables
   Grip: you can use any grip you like, but the overhand, “pull-up” grip will enable you to swing, which will pay off down the road. Importantly — you can and should switch between grips. There are four total grips you might use on a normal pull-up bar — both hands under, both hands over, and mixed (left-under, right-over or left-over, right-under, which gives you two more variants).

The above routines and workouts will not only develop your ability to do a pull-up, but will develop the skills, strength and confidence to achieve kipping pull-ups. Kipping pull-ups can actually develop your ability to do deadhang, strict pull-ups faster than if you were working only on strict pull-ups all the time.

This is because kipping pull-ups generate more power, and power — work per unit of time — is the secret sauce of effective physical training; it is what stimulates neuroendocrine response, getting you a greater return in strength than any similar but slower effort.

Please, tell me about your progress in developing pull-ups, I love to hear about it, especially including the details of what was the most difficult part for you, how it felt, what obstacles you encountered, and what you think made your success possible.

Go get some.