Mastering Chest to Bar Pull-Ups: Target Key Back & Arm Muscles

Pull-ups are one of the best back exercises around. Bodybuilders have long used them to build broad, muscular lats and thick, dense mid-traps and rhomboids. The mighty pull-up is also a very useful biceps exercise.

Unfortunately, when it comes to technique, a lot of people don’t do pull-ups correctly. The main fault is failing to get their chins over the bar without using lots of neck hyperextension. This limits upper back engagement and could even cause injury.

This is not unlike doing half-rep squats or bench presses, as not pulling your chin all the way over the bar reduces the range of motion and, therefore, the effectiveness of the exercise.

In many cases, this poor form is caused by a) trying to do too many reps or b) using added weight before building a decent level of basic strength. Some people are also too weak or too heavy to do pull-ups correctly and should stick to lat pulldowns for the time being.

One way to counteract these problems is to start doing chest-to-bar pull-ups. Chest-to-bar pull-ups are more challenging, so you won’t need to add more weight, but they also force you to use a full range of motion, which makes them far more effective than regular pull-ups.

Chest-to-bar pull-ups ARE a more advanced exercise, but the good news is that less experienced lifters can do them, too, providing they use the regressions outlined in this article.

So, take your back development and pull-up performance to a new level by adding chest-to-bar pull-ups into your training program. We reveal how to do this exercise and provide you with a few variations and alternatives to try.

Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups – Muscles Worked

Chest-to-bar pull-ups are a compound or multi-joint exercise. As such, they involve several muscle groups. Because of how they’re performed, chest-to-bar pull-ups work all of your upper back muscles pretty equally.

The muscles trained most during chest-to-bar pull-ups are:

Latissimus dorsi

Known as the lats for short, this is the large fan-shaped muscle of your upper back. The lats are responsible for the adduction and extension of your shoulder joints. Chest-to-bar pull-ups are a very potent lat builder.

Trapezius

The traps are the large diamond-shaped muscle of your upper back. It comprises three sets of fibers, each with different functions. The lower traps pull your shoulders down in a movement called depression, while the middle traps pull your shoulders back, which is called retraction.

The upper traps pull your shoulders upward, which is known as elevation. The mid and lower traps are most active during chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Rhomboids

Located between your shoulder blades, the rhomboid work with your middle traps to retract your shoulder blades. Chest-to-bar pull-ups involve a lot of mid-trap and rhomboid activation.

Deltoids

The delts are your main shoulder muscles. There are three sets of fibers, which are known as heads: anterior (front), medial (middle), and posterior (rear). The rear delts are most active during chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Biceps

You can’t do any kind of row or pull-up without working your biceps, and the chest-to-bar pull-up is no different. You’ll need to pull hard to get your chest up to the bar, which means fully bending your elbows and maximally engaging your biceps. As such, chest-to-bar pull-ups could help you build bigger, more muscular arms.

Triceps

While chest-to-bar pull-ups are undoubtedly a pulling exercise, the long head of your triceps also gets a workout. That’s because they work with your lats to extend your shoulders at the top of each rep. This is something you DON’T get much of during regular pull-ups and chin-ups, especially if you don’t use a full range of motion.  

How to Do Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups

Get more from chest-to-bar pull-ups while keeping your risk of injury to a minimum by following these guidelines:

1. Grip your pull-up bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. Wrap your thumbs around the bar or use a false or thumbless grip as preferred.
2. Hang from the bar with your arms and body straight.
3. Pull your shoulders down and back, and then press your arms forward against the bar to push your body backward. Your hips will naturally move forward in front of the bar. Lean back and lift your chest.
4. Next, drive your elbows down and back and pull yourself up toward the bar. This should be a part pull-up and part rowing motion.
5. Pull up until the bar touches your lower chest. Imagine you are trying to pull your chest through the bar.
6. Descend under control and repeat.

Benefits

Switching from regular to chest-to-bar pull-ups invariably means doing fewer reps because they are significantly more challenging. This can be a bitter pill to swallow. Ego hurt much?! The good news is that there are several benefits to doing chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Increased back muscle activation

Regular pull-ups work your lats, rhomboids, traps, etc., but the emphasis is mainly on the lats. That’s because the main joint action during pull-ups is shoulder adduction. With the chest-to-bar version, you don’t only pull your arms into the mid-line of your body but also pull your arms back. This increases lat engagement and means your lats, traps, and rhomboids have much more work to do.

If you want to build upper back thickness and width but don’t want to do pull-ups AND rows, do chest-to-bar pull-ups instead, which combine both types of movement.

A good form of progression

Most fitness experts recommend adding weight to pull-ups once you can do 10-12 reps. However, while adding weight is an effective way to make pull-ups more challenging, it’s not the only way. Increasing your range of motion means more work per rep, and that’s another way to make your workout more challenging.

A more honest pull-up

It’s entirely possible to do pull-ups without ever getting your chin over the bar. Tilting your head back or craning your neck can make it appear that you are doing full-range reps when, in fact, you are actually cutting your range of motion short.

With chest-to-bar pull-ups, you either get your chest to the bar, or you don’t. Other than kipping (NOT recommended!), there is no way to cheat with this exercise.

A prerequisite for muscle ups

Muscle ups combine pull-ups and dips. The higher you can pull your chest up, the easier the transition is between pull-ups and dips. Mastering the chest to bar pull-up will make muscle ups much easier to learn.

Drawbacks

While chest-to-bar pull-ups are a superb upper body pulling exercise, there are a couple of drawbacks to consider:

A far more demanding exercise

Expect your rep count to take a hit the first time you try chest-to-bar pull-ups. In fact, you may find that you can only do 50-60% of your usual number of reps. While this doesn’t really matter, as the exercise is considerably more demanding, it can be off-putting if you are used to doing a certain number of reps.

So, forget your old pull-up rep scores and treat chest-to-bar pull-ups as an entirely different exercise. Your rep count will soon increase as you get better at the movement and get better at simultaneously recruiting all your back muscles.

It can be hard to resist cheating

Chest-to-bar pull-ups start with pushing your arms into the bar so you can lean back into each rep. This is also how kipping pull-ups begin. You’ll need to use all of your personal discipline to stop this technique from turning into a full-on swing.

5 Chest-to-Bar Pull-up Variations and Alternatives

Chest-to-bar pull-ups are a highly effective upper body exercise, but that doesn’t mean you need to do them all the time. There are several variations and alternatives you can use to keep your workouts productive and interesting:

1. Band-assisted chest to bar pull-ups

Pull-ups involve lifting your entire bodyweight with just your arms. This is a considerable feat of strength! Use a resistance band to offset some of your weight and make chest-to-bar pull-ups easier. This is a good option for anyone who isn’t strong enough to do chest-to-bar pull-ups or can only do a few reps.

How to do it:

1. Hang a strong resistance band over your pull-up bar and then thread it through itself to keep it in place.
2. Place one or both feet in the bottom of the band and then grab the bar with an overhand shoulder-width grip. Hang from the bar with your arms and legs straight.
3. Pull your shoulders down and back, and then press your arms forward against the bar to push your body backward. Your hips will naturally move forward in front of the bar. Lean back and lift your chest.
4. Next, drive your elbows down and back and pull yourself up toward the bar. This should be a part pull-up and part rowing motion.
5. Pull up until the bar touches your chest. Imagine you are trying to pull your chest through the bar.
6. Descend under control and repeat.
7. Progress to using a lighter band as you get stronger. Eventually, you should be able to wean yourself off the band entirely.

2. Isometric chest-to-bar hold

One way to develop the strength required for chest-to-bar pull-ups is to focus on the top part of the movement, which is arguably the hardest. Isometric chest-to-bar holds involve using your legs to get into the top of your rep and then holding that position for several seconds. In time, this will develop the strength necessary to do full chest-to-bar pull-ups.

How to do it:

1. Use a step, bench, or box and climb up into the top position of a chest-to-bar pull-up.
2. Engage your back, pull your shoulders down and together, contract your arms, lift your feet, and hold that position for as long as possible.
3. Rest for a moment and repeat.
4. You can end your isometric rep with a slow concentric or lowering movement to challenge your muscles even more.

3. Inverted rows

One of the most challenging parts of chest-to-bar pull-ups is keeping your shoulders back and driving your chest through the bar. Inverted rows, also known as Australian pull-ups and body rows, are a great way to develop the strength necessary to pull your chest up to the bar.

How to do it:

1. Using a Smith machine or squat rack, adjust the bar to about waist height.
2. Sit on the floor below the bar and hold it using an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. Straighten your arms.
3. Lean back, so your legs and body form a straight line. Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your abs and glutes.
4. Bend your elbows and pull your chest up to the bar. As with chest-to-bar pull-ups, imagine you are trying to pull your chest past your hands. Drive your elbows back and pull your shoulders together.
5. Extend your arms and repeat.
6. Make this exercise easier by raising the height of the bar. Make it more demanding by placing your feet on a box or bench.
7. You can also do inverted rows with a suspension trainer (e.g., a TRX) or gymnastic rings.

4. Isometric seated row

Some exercisers have a problem fully engaging their back muscles due to a weak mind-muscle connection. Needless to say, not being able to use your lats, rhomboids, etc., properly will make chest-to-bar pull-ups all but impossible. Isometric seated rows are one of the most effective ways to reengage your back muscles and learn to use them more efficiently.

How to do it:

1. Sit on the floor with your legs out in front of you, knees slightly bent.
2. Loop a large towel over your feet and hold the ends in your hands, so your arms are bent to about 90 degrees.
3. Pull your shoulders together and down, engage your upper back muscles, and pull as hard as possible for 15-20 seconds. Do not hold your breath!
4. Rest for 45-60 seconds and repeat.
5. Focus on trying to generate as much tension in your back as possible. Then, when you do chest-to-bar pull-ups or any other back exercise, do your best to replicate this tension in every rep you perform.

5. Chest-to-bar lat pulldowns

Chest-to-bar lat pulldowns allow you to work the same muscles as chest-to-bar pull-ups but with less weight. This is an excellent way to strengthen your entire back and also learn to engage your lats, rhomboids, traps, etc. You can also use this exercise as a warm-up before doing chest-to-bar pull-ups.

How to do it:

1. Hold the lat pulldown bar with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip.
2. Sit on the machine with your arms extended overhead, shoulders pulled down, and back.
3. Lean back slightly and, driving your elbows down and back, pull the bar down to your upper chest. Pause for 2-3 seconds to maximize back recruitment. Take care not to rotate your arms inward and turn a pull into a push.
4. Smoothly extend your arms and repeat.

Wrapping Up

You won’t see many people doing strict chest-to-bar pull-ups. That’s because this is one tough hombre of an exercise! Chest-to-bar pull-ups are MUCH more challenging than regular pull-ups, and the measurable range of motion means it’s far harder to cheat when doing them.

But, if you are prepared to put your ego aside and accept that you won’t be able to do as many reps, chest-to-bar pull-ups are a fantastic back builder that will develop upper body width and thickness at the same time.

Build your best back ever with chest-to-bar pull-ups, and, as a happy coincidence, they’ll make you better at regular pull-ups, too!

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