6-Week Pull-up Routine for Mass and Strength

Pull-ups have been a cornerstone of my workouts for as long as I can remember. I did them during conditioning circuits as a young athlete, and to build back and biceps strength during my time as a Royal Marine Commando.

Nowadays, I do pull-ups because they are one of the most effective and efficient upper-body exercises I know.

As a veteran personal trainer, pull-ups often feature in my client’s workouts, too. For some, our goal is to do a single pull-up. For others, we’re aiming higher, and ten pull-ups is a common training target.

Getting better at pull-ups is largely a question of consistency. Keep doing them regularly and for long enough, and you’re bound to improve. That said, a more structured approach usually produces better results in less time.

So, to that end, here is a tried-and-tested 6-week pull-up routine for building mass and strength. As a happy side-effect, you should also see a significant increase in the number of pull-ups you can do.

Pull-Up Basics

Before we launch into my six-week pull-up routine for mass and strength, let’s take a moment to ensure we’re all on the same page regarding this classic bodyweight exercise!

Pull-Ups: Correct Form

There are two ways to do any exercise – the right way and the wrong way. The right way is safe and effective. It keeps the tension on the muscles you want to develop and off your joints. In contrast, the wrong way can lead to injuries and is often less effective, even if it allows you to do more reps or lift more weight.

So, with that in mind, make sure you always do pull-ups correctly. Not sure how? Follow these step-by-step instructions!

1. Hang from your pull-up bar with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip.
2. Pull your shoulders down and back, and brace your core.
3. Lean back slightly to lift your chest toward the bar.
4. Bend your arms and pull your chin up and over the bar.
5. Descend smoothly and repeat.
6. Continue for the prescribed number of reps or until failure.

Tips:

• Use gym chalk to prevent your hands from slipping.
• Try a thumbless “suicide” grip – some people find it more comfortable.
• Do not swing your body or kick your legs. Doing so takes tension off the target muscles.
• Drive your elbows down and back to maximize upper-back muscle
• Start each rep with straight arms, and pull your chin over the bar. Half reps are NOT acceptable!

Pull-Ups: Muscles Worked

Pull-ups are a compound upper-body pulling exercise. As such, they involve multiple joints and muscles. The main muscles trained during pull-ups are:

• Latissimus dorsi – located on the side of your upper back, the lats are essentially your wings. Responsible for shoulder extension and adduction, the lats give your upper back its width.
• Biceps brachii – known as the biceps for short, this well-known muscle flexes your elbow and supinates your forearm. It’s also a weak shoulder flexor.
• Trapezius – this large diamond-shaped muscle covers much of your upper back. It comprises three groups of fibers: upper, middle, and lower. All three groups work during pull-ups, but the mid and lower traps are the most active.
• Forearms – pull-ups require and develop a strong grip. As such, in addition to working your back and biceps, your forearms get a great workout, too.
• Core – this is the collective name for the muscles of your midsection, including the rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, and erector spinae. These muscles work together to stabilize your lumber spine during pull-ups.

Pull-Ups vs. Chin-Ups

Pull-ups and chin-ups are very similar and work all the same muscles. However, they’re different enough that you should treat them as separate exercises.

Pull-ups are done with an overhand or pronated grip. This emphasizes the lats while slightly disengaging the biceps. In contrast, chin-ups feature an underhand or supinated grip. This increases biceps engagement while slightly deemphasizing the lats (1).

While this program calls for pull-ups, you can apply it to chin-ups, too. Better yet, do one run-through using pull-ups and then repeat the routine doing chin-ups. However, I do not recommend combining pull-ups and chin-ups, as doing both will dilute your efforts and undermine your results.

Read more about pull-ups vs. chin-ups here.

6-Week Pull-up Routine for Mass and Strength

Do you want to build a stronger, more muscular upper back while getting better at pull-ups? You’ve come to the right place! Follow this program for the next six weeks and experience the transformative power of pull-ups for yourself.

Routine Overview

This routine involves three workouts per week, done on non-consecutive days, e.g., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. While I’m presenting it as a six-week program, you can continue for longer if you are still progressing. Some of my clients have done it for ten or even 12 weeks while continuing to make gains.

Each workout is purposely short so you can put most of your energy into your pull-ups. However, there are also a couple of supplementary exercises for the sake of variety and muscle balance.

But before you begin any of these workouts, make sure you prepare your muscles and joints with an appropriate warm-up. Do 5-10 minutes of light cardio followed by dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises for your upper body. Finish off with a couple of sets of band-assisted pull-ups.

Workout 1 – Max Effort Pull-Ups

	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Pull-up	3	Max	5 minutes
2	Inverted row	3	8-15	90 seconds
3	Dumbbell curl	3	8-15	90 seconds

Your first workout involves three all-out sets to test and improve your pull-up performance. Week by week, your rep count should gradually increase. To ensure you do as many reps as possible, make sure you rest at least five minutes between sets.

While there will be a drop-off in reps from set to set, the long rests should help keep this to a minimum. Use your first set as your performance indicator. Make a note of it, as you’ll need this number for the next workout.

Workout 2 – Pull-Up Volume

	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Pull-ups	10	50% of max	60 seconds
2	Single-arm row	3	8-15	90 seconds
3	Barbell curl	3	8-15	90 seconds

Your second workout involves doing multiple sets of 50% of your best set from session #1. So, if you did 12 reps during the first workout, you’ll be doing sets of six reps today. This adds up to a lot of volume, and volume is a proven driver of muscle hypertrophy.

Keep your rests to a strict 60 seconds between sets. However, don’t worry if your rep count decreases toward the end of this workout; just do your best to hit that 50% target.

Also, don’t be concerned if 50% of your max reps is not a whole number, e.g., you did nine. Just round it down and use that figure instead.

Workout 3 – Pull-Up Ladders

	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	Pull-ups	5	Ladders	30 seconds
2	Pendlay row	3	8-15	90 seconds
3	Hammer curl	3	8-15	90 seconds

Your final pull-up workout of the week uses ladders to pump up the volume and take your muscles to failure. This training twofer will build muscle strength and size simultaneously.

To do a pull-up ladder:

• Do 1 rep and rest for 30 seconds
• 2 reps and rest 30 seconds
• 3 reps and rest 30 seconds
• 4 reps and rest 30 seconds
• 5 rep and rest 30 seconds, etc.

Continue until you are unable to reach the next rep “rung.” That’s one ladder done. Rest for 30 seconds, and then start back at one rep. Repeat this entire sequence five times.

Don’t worry if your reps decrease from one ladder to the next – that’s entirely normal. However, over the course of the routine, you should find your reps scores become more consistent.

A typical ladder workout might look like this:

1. 1/2/3/4/5
2. 1/2/3/4/5
3. 1/2/3/4
4. 1/2/3
5. 1/2/3

FAQ’s

Do you have a question about this pull-up program? No problem, because I’ve got the answers. Need more information? Drop me a line in the comment section below, and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

1. Is this routine suitable for beginners?

 To do this program, you should be able to perform at least five clean pull-ups. As such, it’s probably more of an intermediate or advanced program and not really suitable for beginners. That said, you could do inverted rows or assisted pull-ups instead, making it more beginner-friendly.

All that said, I think most beginners should make adequate progress from a more straightforward program, such as 2-3 sets of pull-ups three times a week.

2. Can I use this routine with other exercises?

I’ve used this program with several other bodyweight exercises, and each time, the results have been excellent. For example, it’s worked well with push-ups, dips, and pistol squats. So, feel free to apply this routine to the other calisthenic movements in your workouts. I think you’ll like the results. 

3. I’m still making gains – how long can I stick with this routine?

I’m a firm believer in not trying to fix things that aren’t broken. Therefore, if you are improving from one week to the next, there is no reason to stop using this routine.

Use the max-effort sets of workout one to judge your progress. So long as your rep count continues to increase, the routine is still working. However, if your progress stalls for two consecutive weeks, it’s probably time for a change.

4. I find pull-ups really hard – do you have any tips for making them easier?

I’m not sure that many people find pull-ups easy! Even after doing them for nearly 40 years, I still find pull-ups humbling. This is hardly surprising given that pull-ups involve lifting your entire body weight with just your arms. That’s a significant feat of strength for anyone.

That said, there are a few things you can do to make pull-ups more manageable. These include:

Lose weight – nothing makes pull-ups harder than being overweight. Drop those excess pounds, and pull-ups become a whole lot easier.

Try “greasing the groove” – pull-ups are a skill, and you’ll get better at them quicker if you do them daily. Do 6-10 submaximal sets a day for a month, and your pull-up numbers will quickly increase. We call this type of training “greasing the groove,” or GTG for short.

Get stronger – weighted pull-ups make regular bodyweight pull-ups feel much easier. Start with about 10% of your body weight.

You’ll find even more pull-up tricks and tips in this article.

5. Which is better – pull-ups or chin-ups?

Pull-ups and chin-ups are so similar that they’re virtually interchangeable. Chin-ups are a little more biceps-centric, while pull-ups work your lats slightly more. However, these differences are slight and probably not big enough to worry about.

As such, I recommend you try pull-ups and chin-ups and use the one you prefer. Invariably, this will be the most comfortable variation or the one that allows you to do more reps.

Alternatively, include both of these great exercises in your workouts and enjoy all the benefits they offer.

Closing Thoughts

Getting better at pull-ups requires more than a positive mindset or wishful thinking – you must work at them. The best way to do this is with a dedicated, progressive pull-up routine. Pour your time and energy into pull-ups, and you’ll be rewarded – both in terms of muscle mass and strength, as well as pull-up performance.

No pull-up bar? No problem! There are several other ways to work your back and biceps without pull-ups. However, in terms of bang for your buck, pull-ups (and chin-ups) are hard to beat. So, if you can do them, you probably should!

References:

1 – Youdas JW, Amundson CL, Cicero KS, Hahn JJ, Harezlak DT, Hollman JH. Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or perfect-pullup™ rotational exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Dec;24(12):3404-14. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181f1598c. PMID: 21068680.

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