Back · Pulldown and pull-up
Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up
The Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up mainly trains your lats and upper back. Also working: biceps, rear delts and forearms.
Bodyweight
Pull-up bar
Stable
How to do it
- Start from a full dead hang, body in a slight hollow
- Pull explosively: as fast as you can
- Elbows behind your body, breastbone touches the bar
- Lower under control, extend fully at the bottom
Coach’s tip
This is about speed, not volume: pull every rep as high as you can. When the pull gets slow, the set is over: this is exactly the pulling height you’ll need later for the muscle-up.
Noticeably loads the elbow and shoulder. If you tell DCFT that this joint bothers you, the app leaves exercises like this one out and picks a better supported alternative.
Setup
Grip
Pull-up bar, slightly wider than shoulder width
Load
Bodyweight
Stability
A bench, the floor or the frame takes the counterforce, or the cable pulls straight up or down. Good for heavy sets.
Alternatives
Other exercises for the same movement (pulldown and pull-up). In DCFT you can swap with one tap, and the app only offers what your equipment allows.
Questions about this exercise
What muscles does the Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up work?
Mainly the lats and upper back. The biceps, rear delts and forearms help.
What can I do instead of the Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up?
For the same movement: Pull-Up, Band-Assisted Pull-Up and Kneeling Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown. In DCFT you swap with one tap.
DCFT
The Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up in DCFT
In the app this exercise comes with your weight: the plate to pin, what you lifted last time and a rest timer that starts by itself.
Free on the App Store for iPhone. Pro is a one-time purchase with no subscription.