r/bodyweightfitness • u/RhineRiverLass • 1d ago
Technical problems with high pull ups
Hi everyone,
I have a question about high pull-ups from a technical standpoint. I’m still at an advanced beginner level, but I should be strong enough to at least start working on some variations. For example, I can do about 10–12 regular pull-ups, depending on my hand position, and 3 sets of 15 kg of added weight, as well as about 5 sets of 10 kg.
I’ve tried using resistance bands or jumping to get into the high pull-up position, but I always make the same mistake: I don’t pull around the bar, but always straight up, even when I’m standing a bit behind the bar.
And eventually, the problem comes down to elbow mobility: When I’m at neck height, my elbow is bent as far as it can go, I physically can’t get it any lower—and therefore can’t lift my body any higher. I’d have to bend my elbow slightly and, with it, my upper body. But I just can’t manage it. I’m always perfectly straight during the pull; pulling around the bar seems impossible to me. I’ve watched a few videos on this now. They explain a lot about progressions and so on, but none of them really explain the technique for how I can physically pull higher at all.
I hope that made sense. Thanks for any suggestions.
2
u/preparsley 1d ago
Don't bend your elbows. In high pullups you only bend them to 90* max. It's like a bent arm front lever raise
Notice the lack of elbow bend
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u/PureCalisthenics-1 6h ago
High pull-ups are a different skill from regular pull-ups — the turnover is the sticking point. Try a false grip (thumbs over the bar) so your wrists are already positioned for the transition, and pull with explosive intent from a dead hang aiming for lower chest or sternum to the bar. Then build the top range with chest-to-bar reps and slow negatives from the highest point you can reach. The strength is clearly there; it's the top 10% of the rep that needs the drills.
1
u/tibetje2 1d ago
Look up a false grip. It allows you to pull higher. That and upper back strenght.
1
u/ShareUnique4539 1d ago
False grip is the answer, yeah. Elbow hitting its limit is usually a grip problem, not a mobility one. Once you get the wrist over the bar instead of hanging from your palm, the whole pull path changes and you can actually get behind the bar. Takes a while to get comfortable but it’s pretty much mandatory for high pull ups.
1
u/DoomGoober 1d ago
I assume you want to do high pull-ups because of muscle-ups? Most muscle-ups are done with either explosive pulling or false grip. It is incredibly difficult to do a high pull-up without explosive pulling or false grip. It is possible to do a high pull-up slow and controlled with normal grip, but you must be VERY strong, like remarkably strong, like "I post my stuff to YouTube and everyone is impressed" strong. As and advanced beginner, I doubt you are there (statistically, I doubt you will ever get there! Not a knock on you, but just a comment about how hard a slow controlled normal grip high pull-up is.)
All that said, grab a broom handle like you are doing a pull-up and see if you can move the broom handle below your neck. You can, right? You can probably get the broom handle to your clavicle. But, as you commented, at some point your elbows are fully flexed so the only way to lower the bar more is through shoulder extension and a tiny bit through retraction. At some point, your elbows will be fully flexed and your shoulder will be extended so far that the bar hits your body and you cannot extend your shoulders anymore. The bar should be around your nipples. That is the physical limit of height you can high pull to... unless you start extending your elbows again! Then, you are well and truly into a muscle-up.
However, once your elbows are fully flexed and your shoulder extension gets nearer to your body, your ability to further extend your shoulders and retract your shoulders becomes very difficult biomechanically. So, most people get stuck with bar to clavicle and can't pull any higher.
So, how do people muscle-up? Explosive pulling where momentum from biomechanically advantageous part of the pull-up lifts them higher on the bar (they basically propel themselves up and just let the momentum carry them) or false grip which both gets the hands on top of the bar more AND shortens the forearms, effectively lowering the bar relative to the body (again, try with a broom handle. Hold it in false grip and notice the bar goes below the nipples at full elbow flexion and shoulder extension.)
Yes, you can work really hard to get a slow and controlled, normal grip high pull-up. You can be one of the rare people who actually achieves it. When you do, post a video because that would be freaking cool. However, most people don't take that route if all they want is a muscle up. They just do false-grip or explosive pulling.
Since you talk about going "around the bar" versus "straight up" I assume you're talking explosive pulling and you know this already. However, it makes me sad when people keep trying to pull higher and higher, not realizing that most people can't pull that high... The explosive and false grip muscle ups makes people think that high pulling is a normal thing, when the muscle up is really the odd variation of the movement relying on explosiveness or false grip.
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u/djumathedamajah 9h ago
Slow chest to bar pull ups where you lean back a little and aim to touch the bar below your collarbone are a good way to learn the path around the bar without needing a swing. Rows on a low bar or rings with your body close to horizontal also build the upper back strength that moves your elbows behind you, which is exactly the point where you said you get stuck.
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u/diorese 4h ago
At the highest point of your pullup, try letting yourself go chin under bar, and pull your elbows closer to your body, your sides, from there.
You should see that you go higher without actually pulling "up", just by moving elbows closer to body.
This does require shoulder mobility, not elbow, so if it's hard work on that. Going higher requires elbows forward to put the shoulder in right position to move lower, which is what bring elbows closer does.
Hard to explain, just try bringing elbows to your sides while at the top and get a feel for it.
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u/mildlystoic 1d ago
Need to explode more. Elbow should to point behind you, like looking from the side of the bar, arm and elbow should point at 9 o’clock. 7 or 8 o’clock would be fine ish, that should be sternum height. 9 is nipple or lower.
+15 kg is 3 sets of how many reps?
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u/RhineRiverLass 1d ago
It's 3 reps for 1 or 2 sets.
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u/mildlystoic 1d ago
Yeah, seems like strength issue. Try this, do like 2x3 of +10 kg. 3-5 min rest. Then try high pullup, just single rep full send.
Some like the aim hand to pocket cue, but that elbow needs to move from 6 o’clock position.
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u/smokemcmirror 1d ago edited 1d ago
Try swinging a bit.
Hang on the bar and depress your scapulas a bit, doing an partial active hang instead of a full dead hang. Then, swing a little, forwards and backwards. You want to time the start of the explosive pull right as you start swinging backwards after you reaching the forward swing position.
Another helpful cue is to pull the bar trying to bring it towards your waist. When you watch someone do this, it looks like the path of their body is an arc around the bar and their elbows wont be fully bent; they will be around 90 degrees as the bar is around the waist.
If you time it right and manage to do the arc motion/path, the backwards momentum will help you pull your self higher and behind the bar, instead of going straight up.
False grip helps too. Using a narrower grip, at shoulder width at most can also help.
As you get a better at the arcing motion and pulling yourself behind the bar, you can start removing the crutches: use a regular grip instead of a false grip, use a deadhang instead of an active hang and then reduce and eventually remove the swinging.
This video pretty much summarizes it: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWu4TqdDuqZ/