Pull-ups are a powerful exercise that targets various muscles in the upper body and core, including the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, teres major, teres minor, biceps, and forearm muscles. The main muscles worked during pull-ups include the lats, trapezius, teres major, teres minor, rhomboids, and scapular stabilizers.
The main muscles targeted during pull-ups are the lats, trapezius, teres major, teres minor, biceps, and forearm muscles. The latissimus dorsi muscles are prominent in most pull-up variations, but they are less prominent during a chin up due to the narrow grip used. A correct pull-up involves using an overhand grip, ensuring the chin clears the height of the bar while maintaining stability and coordination throughout the body.
The spinal erectors, which comprise the spinalis, longissimus, and iliocostalis, help extend and stabilize the spine. As the swing progresses downward, the pectoral muscles (chest), latissimus dorsi (back), and forearm muscles become increasingly engaged. The chest and back muscles help maintain a strong, controlled swing path, while the forearm muscles are essential for grip and wrist stability.
Pull-ups also activate shoulder stabilizers and forearm muscles, with the back muscles doing best with 2 or 3 sets of reps, sets, and programs. The main muscle groups involved in pull-ups include the lats, rhomboids, traps, shoulders, posterior deltoids, and brachialis.
📹 Pull Ups & Dips with Muscular Analysis
In this preview video, see the target muscles, synergists, and stabilizers involved in pull ups, dips, and standing hip abductions.
What muscles do you use in a pull-up?
The study found that different pull-up variations target different muscles. The wide-grip pullup uses more lats, traps, and rhomboids, while the classic pullup uses more biceps and brachialis. No matter what variation you do, you’ll build muscle and strength from your waist to your shoulders. The benefits of the pullup. It’s a great all-over upper body exercise. You don’t need much equipment. It builds strength. Let’s recap what we’ve learned. The pullup works many muscles. Plus, it’s one of the best moves to target your lats, which are the fan-shaped muscles on either side of your torso.
Do pullups build muscle?
3. Your muscles may get bigger over time. Over time, resistance exercises like pull-ups make your muscles bigger if you eat more calories and get enough protein. This takes longer than the other gains because your body makes new muscle from the food you eat. However, the increase in muscle size will likely be less than if you had adequate recovery time because this process occurs at rest, not during the workout.
Do pull-ups build traps?
Trapezius. Pull-up workouts use your trapezius muscle. To build this muscle, you need to do vertical pulling movements. Pull-ups are hard to start with. Pull-ups are a great way to build strength and muscle in your upper body if you do them right. Knowing which muscles are stimulated by pull-ups is important for choosing this exercise or one of its variations for your regular training routine. This article looks at the muscles used in pull-ups, how they work together, and how different pull-up variations affect different muscles. The latissimus dorsi, also called the lats muscle, is a flat muscle on your back that stretches out to the sides of the body. It looks like a triangle and is partly covered by the trapezius muscle. Your lats muscle helps you move your upper arms closer to your body when doing pull-ups. Pull-ups require this action to be able to pull yourself up on the bar. When doing a pull-up, the lats muscle pulls on the upper arms, moving them closer to the body. Your body rises to the bar. If you do pull-ups, you’re working out your arms, which means using your biceps. Pull-ups work your biceps because they help you pull yourself up on the bar. They work with your lats muscles, like when you lower your body. Pull-ups alone won’t give you a full biceps workout, but they’re a good start.
Is doing pull-ups every day overtraining?
You don’t have to worry about overtraining your lats. This is a state of the central nervous system that affects the whole body and mind. But you can still overtrain if you do pull-ups every day. If you feel tired after a workout and can’t sleep, stop training!
Tip: Pure pull-up workouts don’t over-train, but we still don’t recommend doing pull-ups very often. Do pull-ups every day? If so, only as a warmup. We’ve shown that there are reasons to do pull-ups every day (e.g. to save time). But there are many reasons not to do them every day. Your muscles can only adapt if you rest between workouts. Leave at least 48 hours between two pull-up sessions. This helps your muscles recover and perform well in the next workout. These points make your pull-up workout effective. If your muscles are sore or stiff, wait longer.
What muscle is engaged with a pulling movement?
Push workouts train the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pull workouts train the back, biceps, and forearms. This training split also includes a day for training the lower body and core. This training regimen supports muscle recovery and can be done by anyone, regardless of experience. If you have trouble getting started or are worried about your form, ask a personal trainer for help.
Do pull-ups give you a six pack?
#3 – GIVES YOU SIX PACK ABS. Strict pull-ups work your lats, abs, and midline to stabilize your shoulders and lift your lower body. Strict pull-ups are great for building your six-pack abs! Do you remember doing pull-ups in gym class in elementary school? Some of us couldn’t do a single rep, while others did a lot. As a child, I wondered why we had to do this in gym class. Was it just to shame those who couldn’t? That test made me aware of my weaknesses and pushed me to pursue health and fitness. You should do strict pull-ups to stay healthy and fit. Who doesn’t admire the 70-year-old who can still do strict pull-ups?
Why do bodybuilders not do pullups?
Weight and Body Composition: Bodybuilders want to build muscle and get very little fat to show off their muscles in competitions. The extra muscle and less fat make it harder to do pull-ups. The extra weight makes it harder to pull up against gravity, especially if they don’t do pull-ups in their training.
Grip Strength: Pull-ups require a strong grip to support your body weight and hold on to the bar. Bodybuilding programs usually don’t focus on exercises that only build grip strength because it’s not a main muscle growth factor. Many bodybuilders struggle with pull-ups because they don’t have strong hands.
Priorities for Training: Bodybuilders have different training goals than athletes or fitness enthusiasts. They want to build muscle, get bigger, and look more defined. This often means they avoid exercises that don’t help them achieve these goals. Pull-ups are a great exercise, but they don’t help isolated muscle development. This is why they’re not a priority in many training programs.
Is 100 pull-ups a day too much?
Overtraining and the Risk of Injury. Doing 100 pull-ups a day can make you overtrain. This is when your body doesn’t have time to recover between workouts. Overtraining can cause muscle imbalances, poor performance, and increased injury risk. Listen to your body and don’t push yourself too hard. Give your body time to recover.
Signs of Overuse or Strain on Joints and Muscles. Doing a lot of pull-ups every day can hurt your joints and muscles. Watch out for signs of overuse or strain, like pain, discomfort, or limited movement. These can mean you’re overtraining or injured. If you have any signs, reduce the intensity or volume of pull-ups, get professional help, and allow for proper recovery. Rest and recovery are important for optimal performance. Rest and recovery are important for any exercise routine, including pull-ups. Not resting enough can make progress harder, increase the risk of injuries, and affect performance. Resting is important for muscle growth and overall well-being. Rest days are important. Vary your workouts. Sleep and nutrition are also important for recovery.
What is the antagonist muscle in a pull-up?
Down. Pull up with your lats and push away with your pecs. In a lat pull-up, you’re working your back and chest, and your pectoral muscles are the antagonist. I’m Michael Luongo with Luango.
What if I do 20 pull-ups a day?
You’ll get better at pull-ups. If you did 20 sets of 5 reps, you might do 10 sets of 10 reps by the end of the month. Your upper body will get stronger.
What muscle is used the most in pull-ups?
The latissimus dorsi muscles are used in a pull-up. They are two big muscles across your back and sides, from the shoulder blades and below, and they move your upper arms down. What muscles do pull-ups work? This exercise uses many muscles. Most of your body is involved. If you’re not in shape, pull-ups are hard. That’s why many gym-goers want to do them. If you understand how the exercise works, you can do it even if you’re a beginner. The key to success is in the approach. Ask a personal trainer or get a fitness tracker to help you track your progress. Before you know it, you’ll be making headway.
📹 Pull-ups vs Chin-ups: The Big Difference
Pull-ups and chin-ups are functional upper-body exercises that build strength in your arms, shoulders, core and back through one …
I’m female, almost 69 and fit! listen to your body…i began my pullup journey doing narrow grip, palms facing. It was easy on my shoulder. As I got stronger, I started changing the width and the angle… I’m now doing Lhangs with pullups, over and underhand grip! I hang or pull myself on anything I find and just do a few. I even go to a couple of playgrounds where I am the grandma doing the monkey bars! Just do it!
Hopefully absolutely no one takes this seriously. The Pull Ups are a back building exercise that unlocks the lats, like no other exercise can. This is ESSENTIAL for a full body program to keep your physique balanced. Venturing into the harder pull ups, like wide grip and archers, is the best way to ensure a strong a functional back. Yes, Chin Ups are a good biceps exercise, but so are lots of other exercises.
Better for what? Since it is primarily considered a back exercise and clearly hits the back more, pull ups are the best exercise for that. In chins your arms can exhaust far more quickly than your back will so that the exercise peters out before the back is ever anywhere near failure. Making it more like an overblown exercise for biceps and a moderate exercise for the back/core. Doing pull ups and then taking biceps immediately to failure with a curl gets you the entire thing. Pull-ups are better.
both pull ups and chin ups should be in your routine as well as the neutral grip variation… you can build a well developed back/shoulders/chest/arms/core using these 3 exercises alone; master them and you’ll build a strength that will translate positively to every lift in the gym – neglect them and you’ll likely never even bench 2 plates.
I use the padded grip perpendicular extensions on my doorway pull up bar for a midway “neutral” grip. I feel that it distributes the effort between the biceps, lats, pecs, and back. I am into high rep pull ups and can do 100 in two sets, such as 51+49 or 52+48 with 4 minutes rest in between. This requires intense cardio training on a bicycle, deep breathing to the point of hyperventilation, and pre-workout super beet chews. It’s all about blood flow at high reps. For completeness, I also do feet on bench push ups, plank ring rows, and ab roller crunches.
I’ve actually been doing mixed grip sets with one palm forward, one palm backward, and alternating sides each set. It feels like a nice balance and a very natural motion, like climbing a tree. You wouldn’t pull your body weight up to a branch in a pull-up or chin-up style. You’d wrap your hands around the branch with a mixed grip.
I do pull-ups as my first exercise every workout. I might start alternating with chins. Honestly, I started doing pull-ups after I saw a guy doing them in the gym, and it looked really impressive, so I wanted to get good at them, so I could look impressive too. 😆 I do think pull-ups look more impressive.
Pull ups are better for posture, they reinforce the shoulders back cue and involve the traps /rear delts more . Chin ups sacrifice that with more chest (and of course bicep) activity. Too many people, including some fitness influencers, have a hunched over posture and pull ups are one weapon in your armoury to help correct that.
For many people who are not that strong, doing assisted chin ups or pull ups on either an assisted machine, or doing them on a pulley type machine is much better, b/c you can reduce the weight. If you can only do a couple chin or pull ups, it’s gonna be real hard to progress. If you do something where you can do 8-10 reps and steadily increase how much weight you do (or decrease the amount of assistance), you are much more likely to maintain and use better form than if you are straining using maximal effort all the time. Sometimes less is more, esp if somebody is not already strong enough to do several unassisted pull or chin ups.
Great article. Finally someone who makes exercise articles and actually knows about it. The grips are not mutually exclusive. I do both with four different combinations of grips. I do at least a hundred a day and sometimes more. Chin ups / pull ups are the best exercise you can do for over all fitness. People at the gym can’t believe I’m 69. The abs get an excellent workout too and this helps a lot at my running.
To me its the other way round. The version you say is easier or less demanding is much harder for me, while the standard/popular version (palms back, lot of unwanted bicep involvement) is much easier for me. I can do nearly twice as many. Its annoying because I’m trying to focus on my torso/back/core WITHOUT majorly ripping my biceps too (which that version does). You end up with biceps & triceps looking disproportionately large compared to shoulders, which looks totally wrong (small shoulders + thick arms = no). So you have to find a back ripping exercise that just works the back, but I haven’t found one yet.
it always suprises me why most people choose pull ups over chinups but when it comes to squats they choose normal squats over front squats although they elicit more quads activation but we choose normal squats because we’re stronger at them so it means theyre better for hypertrophy the same should go for chinups. If you choose weighted chinups you can lift more and your hypertrohhy will get better the biceps doesnt take over the lats like most people say the truth is you will be just stronger using that grip thats why I choose chinups and i never do pull ups
If you can do pull ups you don’t need to do chin ups anymore. Yes there is benefit to doing chin ups as well but pull ups are a much better exercise to focus on. Yes better bicep activation from chin ups and if you do close grip chin ups the emphasis on the biceps is even bigger. Here is the deal though, do you really need to focus on your biceps? Biceps are used a lot in many exercises. Today for example I did weighted pull ups, lat pulldowns, singe arm rows, dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell chest press and cable lateral raises. The pull ups, lat pulldowns and rows already hit my biceps plenty. Sure every now and then you could throw in some bicep specific work but it’s not needed to get a great looking physique.
The biggest issue with chin ups is if you use a doorway pull up bar, there isn’t usually a good grip to use. The way the bars are constructed, there are usually bars in the way of a good grip. You need a gym, solid bar, rings or some other way to do them. I love chin ups, but it’s hard to find equipment to do them.
The latest studies show there is literally no difference between pronated or supinated or wide or narrow grips in pull ups. They all target the lats the same and they all hit the biceps the same. The only difference is how it feels. The results will be the same no matter which one you choose. What I’m saying is pullups and chin-ups are identical in results. Unsurprising when you do pullups correctly you would realize it hits the lats far more than the chest or biceps when you do the full extension range of motion. You can check this, its been confirmed.
I only do pull-ups now and every pull day I do at least 7 sets making them my main pulling exercise. About 3 months ago I could do only around 5 pull-ups now I can do 13+ or 7-8 with extra 10kg on top of the 90+ kg I already weigh. I feel about double the activation in my lats and traps with pull-ups vs chin-ups and around 75% activation of my biceps compared to chin-ups and much more activation of forearms. Now I can do more pull-ups compared to chin-ups. Pull-ups imo are just a better overall compound exercise for overall size. I might switch to chin ups to target my biceps more once I can do muscle ups because even though my overall arm muscles are huge, my biceps don’t have an impressive peak because of how big my shoulders are, making my arms just a big and thick version of the average persons arms.
Nobody talks about WIDE grip chinups!!! They are the best for me I find. Wide grip chins works lats way harder than close and I suspect more than wide pullups because of the biceps support you talk about, why would you want the arm limiting the lat work? Also, I feel better rom and stretch on a wide grip chinup.
I don’t understand how you can recommend one over the other without functional training in mind. For example for climbing, pull ups are far more advantageous than chin ups. Yes chinups are great for biceps but so are lots of other exercises. If your goal is bicep hypertrophy then yeah chinups are cool. But they won’t make you much stronger in your back, traps and lats which you will need if you actually do strength training for strength
Whenever I do chin-ups my shoulder/long head biceps acts up so I stick to pull-ups. So clearly pull-ups are superior. Source: me Data points: 1 Gonna do some more ring exercises before I give chin-ups another go. Chin-ups are much easier though and I miss that “stronk” feeling when doing the exercise. On another note: rings make every exercise much harder. Don’t know why I bought them 🤣
Guys, seriously, there’s a time and a place for both, but pull-ups are the singular best muscle-building exercise there is, for upper body. Full stop. Pull-ups are harder for a reason. Knock out 20 of them, and you’re a champ. Chin-ups serve a purpose but they’re not the same quality exercise as the pull-up.