How to Do Pull-Ups Correctly for Strength and Shoulder Health
- Josh Gainer
- Jan 29
- 2 min read
If your pull ups look like you’re trying to launch yourself into orbit, I’m staging an intervention.
You know the look. Legs kicking, hips snapping, shoulders doing whatever they can to keep up. It's called kipping. I also call it a shortcut...a shortcut to wrecking your joints.
Approaching maximum intensity and exertion in a workout is great. Love it. What I do not love is watching a herky-jerky vertical dance just for the sake of getting more reps.
This type of pull up is something I don’t recommend. Even professional Crossfit trainers only recommend for the sport, and only after you’ve mastered the strength and movement of the traditional pull up.
For most people, their desire to be able to do pull ups (or increase their reps) can actually be addressed by increasing their strength, range, and control in the good old fashioned way: conventional strength training.
A strict pull-up is simple. You hang, you pull, you control your body from start to finish. No momentum doing the work for you.
Here's a quick rundown of how to execute a strict pull-up:
Grab the bar with an overhand grip. Let your body hang completely still.
From that dead hang, set your shoulders first by pulling them slightly down and back. Think of making space between your ears and shoulders while keeping everything tight.
Once you’re set, drive your elbows down toward your ribs. You're not pulling your chin over the bar. You're pulling your chest up to it.
At the top, pause for a moment without losing tension. Then lower yourself under control until your arms are fully extended again.
If you're not in a place to do one strict pull-up unassisted, you can practice these steps with a resistance band.
When you strip the movement down, you’re training your lats, biceps, upper back, and grip in a way that actually builds usable strength. Your shoulders stay stable while moving under load. Your core keeps the movement tight and controlled.
Kipping pulls a different direction. It shifts the work into momentum and timing. That might move your body higher, but it takes away the thing most people are actually trying to build in the first place: Control.
Most people don’t need more speed in their pull-ups. They need more strength in the positions they keep skipping. Dead hang strength. Scapular control. Clean pulling mechanics that don’t fall apart halfway up.
Once that base is there, everything else gets easier. Reps go up. Movement feels smoother. All without blowing out your shoulders or getting whiplash.
Don’t listen to the influencers. Don’t skip the basics. Real strength is built block by block.
Trying to get your first pull up or clean up your form? I got you.
Drop me a line to book your free training session. We’ll get those reps in the injury-free way.
Comments