Pull-ups are one of the most humbling bodyweight exercises out there. Many people (even fit ones!) have trouble completing a single rep. Case in point: An April 2020 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research examined the pull-up performance of almost 1,000 law-enforcement-officer recruits in a standardized fitness assessment. Only 20 percent of the female recruits completed more than two pull-up reps.
“A true bodyweight pull-up can be considered the holy grail of movement patterns for a lot of people,” says Stacy Orsborn, CPT, certified personal trainer and co-founder of Victress MVMT.
It can take time, sweat, and tears to master pull-ups, but it’s certainly not impossible—and the benefits you get in return are pretty powerful, from a stronger upper body and grip to an empowered can-do attitude. Keep reading for more on the key benefits of pull-ups, plus how to do them correctly and modify them for any level.
The benefits of pull-ups
1. Increased functional strength
“The biggest benefits of pull-ups include increased upper-body strength, improved grip strength, and enhanced muscular endurance,” says Ingrid Clay, CPT, a certified personal trainer on Chris Hemsworth’s fitness and wellness platform Centr.
We probably don’t need to sell you on the value of getting stronger, but they bear repeating. “These benefits translate well to everyday activities such as lifting heavy objects, climbing, or even carrying groceries,” Clay says. Pull-ups engage muscles from your lower back up to your fingertips, recruiting a ton of muscles and helping you build strength throughout your upper body.
2. Better posture
The functional strength developed through pull-ups can also help improve posture, Clay says. Pull-ups mainly work muscles in your back (including the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, and trapezius) as well as stabilizer muscles in your core and shoulders, all of which help you maintain upright posture for long periods of time.
3. Boosted sports performance
The upper-body strength you build with pull-ups can help you power through other workouts (think: crushing a 2000m row, lifting heavier weights, doing HIIT on an air bike) or tackle your favorite activities with more ease.
“For sports—particularly anything involving pulling motions like rowing, swimming, or rock climbing—mastering pull-ups will give you a huge advantage in terms of power and endurance,” Orsborn says. Building up back and shoulder strength with pull-ups can also help you execute a strong overhead smash on the pickleball court and a more powerful paddle on a surfboard or kayak.
4. Improved grip strength
As Clay mentioned above, pull-ups can help improve grip strength—and that’s no small thing. A stronger grip can help you do everyday things like open peanut butter jars or better hold onto a heavy suitcase, but it also has bigger implications. A November 2022 study in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle shows that increased grip strength is associated with a longer life span, while a weaker grip may be a predictor of negative future health outcomes like cardiovascular disease and cancer.
That said, it’s unclear whether improving grip alone will convey health benefits; researchers involved in an October 2019 review in Clinical Interventions in Aging believe the protective effect of grip strength may be due to its associations with more total-body strength, bone density, and reduced risk of falls, for example.
5. Healthier shoulders
Fun fact: The shoulder joint has the largest range of motion of any joint in the human body. Pull-ups take the shoulder through nearly this entire range and strengthen muscles all around it, improving the health of the joint by promoting stability in the shoulder girdle and activating the muscles that stabilize the scapulas (aka shoulder blades).
“Pull-ups help you develop the kind of back and shoulder strength that supports your posture and makes everyday movements easier, which is a big deal, especially as you age,” Orsborn says.
6. More balanced strength
Many people’s workout routines unintentionally emphasize “push” movements—exercises that focus on the pushing muscles on the front of the body, like planks, push-ups, and presses. This can lead you to develop an imbalance in strength between the front and back of the body.
An April 2013 study published in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy found that upper body “pushing” muscles were approximately 1.5 to 2.7 times stronger than the “pulling” muscles in healthy recreationally active adults. As their name suggests, pull-ups work the pulling muscles. Regularly including them in your routine can help balance out your upper-body strength or prevent imbalances from developing in the first place.
7. Better mental health
Research shows that strength training, in general, has a positive effect on mental health, including reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety and potentially increasing self-efficacy and self-worth.
There’s a unique magic to working toward and mastering a challenging move like pull-ups. “Being able to complete a true full pull-up can be such a mentally and physically empowering experience,” Orsborn says. The sense of accomplishment you get when you complete your first pull-up or gain the ability to bang out a few reps in a row is pretty darn powerful.
How to do a pull-up perfectly every time
To do a pull-up properly, you’ll need a pull-up bar—ideally, one that’s high enough that you can hang with your legs and arms extended and not touch the ground. This means you’ll likely need to step up onto a bench or box to grab the bar. Be sure to choose something stable and recruit a spotter if necessary. Here’s how to do a pull-up with proper form, according to Clay and Orsborn.
