Build Muscle With Pull Ups!

When it comes to building muscle with pullups, there are a number of different variations you can do to hit different muscles. It all comes down to where and how you grip the bar when you do your pullups.

Narrow, overhand grip: this will predominantly target your brachioradialis and brachialis. This is because of the pronated grip, causing less biceps activation and more activation of the other elbow flexors. There is also a greater amount of elbow flexion than any other overhand variation of the pullup.

Medium, overhand grip: using this grip, you will be shifting more of the load towards the lats and taking the work away from the brachialis. However, there will still be some brachioradialis activation during this variation thanks to that overhand grip.

Wide, overhand grip: here, you will be shifting the load towards the teres major predominantly. That’s not to say you won’t get any lat activation, however, it will be diminished compared to the teres major due to the fact that you are not able to adduct your arms as much as you would with a standard pullup.

Wide, underhand grip: this will again be targeting the teres major due to that wide grip, but you will start getting biceps activation as well, thanks to the supinated grip. When it comes to the biceps, you will be primarily influencing the inner, short head of the biceps. Remember, what you see is what you train. So if you look in the mirror and see the inside of your biceps, you will preferentially hit the short head of the biceps.

Medium, underhand grip: this variation is a good balance between lat and biceps activation. This is because you are able to adduct the arms more than you can on the wide grip and you will be getting a greater stretch on the lats with your arms out in front of you. Add in the supinated grip and you are using your biceps as one of the two primary movers of the exercise.

Narrow, underhand grip: if you wanted to get the most biceps activation out of the pullup, then this is the grip you would want to use. However, as I mentioned before, what you see is what you train when it comes to the biceps. In this instance, you would be preferentially influencing the outer, long head of the biceps with the narrow grip.

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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).