Wide-Grip Pull-Up

Start

Finish

How to do it

Grip the bar roughly one and a half shoulder widths apart, pull your upper chest toward the bar with the elbows sweeping out and down, and lower to a full hang.

Muscles worked

Primary: back · Also works: rear delts, biceps

Equipment

Pull-up bar, Full gym

Common mistakes

• Going so wide the range shrinks to a few inches — width should not cost you the top of the rep
• Shrugging up at the start instead of setting the shoulder blades down first
• Letting the chest cave in, which turns the pull into a shoulder-forward hang

Variations

• Wide-grip pull-up to sternum with a pause
• Band-assisted wide-grip pull-up while building strength

Can't do this one? Swap it for

• Pull-Up
• Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown
• Band-Assisted Pull-Up

Related exercises

• Pull-Upback
• Lat Pulldownback
• Barbell Bent-Over Rowback
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Rowback
• Resistance Band Rowback
• Inverted Rowback