Wide-Grip Pull-Up

Setup

1. 01Grip the bar roughly 1.5 times shoulder width with a pronated grip.
2. 02Avoid an extreme width that forces the shoulders into a painful position.
3. 03Hang with straight arms, shoulder blades slightly elevated, and legs together.
4. 04Brace the trunk so the body hangs still before the first rep.

Execution

1. 01Pull the shoulder blades down and back to initiate.
2. 02Drive the elbows down toward the sides and bring the chest to the bar.
3. 03Pull until the chin clears the bar; the wide grip means a shorter top range.
4. 04Lower under full control back to a straight-arm hang.

Checkpoints

• -Elbows travel down and out to the sides, not forward.
• -Chest leads the pull rather than the chin poking up.
• -Full elbow extension at the bottom of every rep.
• -No swing or kip through the rep.

Common mistakes

• -Taking a grip so wide that the shoulders impinge at the top.
• -Shrugging into the neck instead of depressing the shoulder blades.
• -Half reps that skip the dead hang.
• -Craning the neck to fake bar clearance.