10 Fun Pull-Up Variations to Keep Your Training Fresh

Hooper’s Beta Ep. 51

Intro

We’re coming at you with 10 MORE pull-up variations you can do on your hangboard. If you’re not familiar, click the button below to check out our first video on this topic!

Notes About the Pulls

Below you’ll find some helpful notes for each type of pull-up we show and a minor note about how this can help with your progression and/or climbing.

1. Assisted pull ups 

   1. Assisted pull-ups are great for a warm up or if you’re newer to working those pull muscles. You’ll need an eyelet (or two) to create a counter weight system for this. A band works great if it is long enough to place under your foot or knee. These are especially good if you cannot do more than 2-3 pull ups at once. Try to gauge your level of resistance by hitting a “failure” point between 8-12 repetitions. So, if you can do 14 reps with a band, it may be too easy.

2. Eccentric pull ups

   1. Awesome to work on control and stability with your pull-ups before you get into more advanced/crazier version. Pull yourself up as high as you can and then slowly lower back down over a 5 second count. Stabilize briefly at the bottom, pull back up, and repeat. 

3. Offset pulls ups 

   1. Great to replicate the fact that with climbing our hands aren’t often perfectly lined up with one another nor are they always touching the same hold type. You may have 1 hand on a jug and the other on a small hold, pocket, and that pocket may be 6 inches lower than the jug, for example. Try to keep it even, however. Whatever setup you do on your left/right, switch so you get equal training right/left.

4. Chin ups

   1. Now, how the heck do you do a chin up on a hangboard? Well, just turn around, duh. 

      1. Chin ups are more helpful for underclings and some cave climbing. So, if you find yourself struggling on underclings and overhung routes quite often, this may be helpful. Otherwise, your standard pull up is better as it places you in a more common climbing position. 

5. Frenchies 

   1. Pull up, hold at the top to the top of your motion and hold this for 4-5 seconds before lowering. Next, pull all the way up again but lower until your elbows are bent to 90 degrees, hold for 4-5 seconds again, then lower. Finally, pull up all the way to the top, but then lower until you are about ⅔ down, hold for 4-5 seconds, and lower again. Repeat for as many reps as you can!

6. Towel/band pull ups

   1. The idea is to be more geared towards single arm pull ups. A towel is more of an intro as it will provide you as much added resistance as you need (however hard you pull down on the towel), whereas a band will provide less (depending on the thickness of the band). Good to practice the single arm strength and potentially lock offs.

7. Touching various holds 

   1. Thanks to my friend Sherwin for pointing this one out. Start on a jug in one hand and then touch EVERY HOLD with your other hand. Talk about lock off and mobility training! Sooooo good. 

      1. To make this harder start on a smaller hold rather than a jug. 

8. Clapping 

   1. Um….. this is just harder, use caution. If you cannot control this at the bottom of the movement, DON’T do it, it’s not worth the injury you’ll create. This is geared towards power training. Especially if you want to work on campus board training but don’t have access.

9. Weighted 

   1. This, in theory, could be the hardest because well, you can make it ridiculously hard by adding more and more weight. If you don’t have a weight…. Use a person! Measure this by percentage of body weight and don’t go crazy with this and especially don’t do this if you haven’t warmed up.

10. Pockets 

    1. Soooo I put this one last because it’s the most dangerous if it is newer to you. DEFINITELY start easier with this using at least 3 fingers before you get crazy and try to move onto two or even 1 finger. Don’t hurt yourself just for the challenge. 

Sets, Reps, Frequency

Sets: shoot for 3-4 sets of each of these (but clearly, you will not be doing all 10! Mix a few into your training cycles. Unless you want to do hundreds of crazy pull-ups and wreck yourself).

Repetitions: depending on your goals, shoot for 5-6 reps for strength or 8-12 for hypertrophy. If you’re newer, add assistance and go for 8-12.

Frequency: this will depend on how often you’re climbing. I would say 1-2x a week is fine to add to your training depending on your frequency of climbing. Remember, you need to rest your pull muscles sometimes too!

Thanks for tuning in! Until next time: Train. Climb. Send. Repeat.

Disclaimer:

As always, exercises are to be performed assuming your own risk and should not be done if you feel you are at risk for injury. See a medical professional if you have concerns before starting new exercises.

Written and Presented by Jason Hooper, PT, DPT, OCS, SCS, CAFS

IG: @hoopersbetaofficial

Filming and Editing by Emile Modesitt

www.emilemodesitt.com

IG: @emile166