How to Do Your First Pull-Up and Get to 10

Updated November 7, 2026 · 7 minute read

The pull-up is the exercise most people cannot do on day one, and one of the most satisfying to finally get. The good news: almost everyone can get there with a few weeks of the right practice. Here is a step by step path from hanging on the bar to your first pull-up, and from your first to a set of ten.

Why pull-ups are hard

A pull-up lifts your whole body weight with your back and arms, and very little in daily life trains that. A push-up only moves about two thirds of your weight; a pull-up moves all of it. So the answer is not to try harder, it is to build up the pieces one at a time.

Main muscles	Lats (the wide muscles of the back), biceps, forearms and grip, with the core holding you still
Equipment	A bar. A doorway bar works fine
Nice to have	A resistance band and a low bar or sturdy table for rows

Pull-up or chin-up?

A pull-up uses an overhand grip, palms facing away. A chin-up uses an underhand grip, palms facing you, which brings in more biceps and is usually a little easier. If you are working toward your first rep, chin-ups are a fine place to start. Train both once you can.

Good pull-up form

Start from a dead hang, arms fully straight.
Pull your shoulders down first, away from your ears, then pull with your elbows toward your ribs.
Chin over the bar at the top.
Lower all the way back to straight arms. A rep that stops halfway is not a full rep.
No swinging. Keep your legs together and slightly in front of you, body still.

From zero to your first pull-up

Step 1: Hang

Hang from the bar with straight arms for as long as you can, up to 30 to 60 seconds. It builds grip and gets your shoulders used to the position. Then try scapular pulls: from the hang, pull your shoulders down without bending your arms, so your body rises a few centimeters. Three sets of 5 to 10.

Step 2: Rows

Lie under a low bar or a sturdy table, hold the edge, and pull your chest up to it with your body straight. The more upright you are, the easier it is. Three sets of 8 to 12, getting lower over the weeks.

Step 3: Negatives

Stand on a box or jump so your chin is above the bar, then lower yourself as slowly as you can, aiming for 3 to 5 seconds. This is the single best builder for your first pull-up. Three to five sets of 3, with a full rest between them.

Step 4: Assisted pull-ups

Loop a resistance band over the bar and put a foot or knee in it, or keep a toe on a chair behind you. Do full pull-ups with just enough help to finish them. Use less help every week.

Step 5: Your first rep

Once you can lower slowly for 5 seconds and do 8 assisted reps with a light band, try a real one at the start of your session, when you are fresh. When it comes, keep doing single reps with full rest before chasing more.

From one pull-up to ten

Lots of easy sets. Small sets of 1 to 3, never to failure, add up quickly. An EMOM is perfect for this: 2 pull-ups at the start of every minute for 10 minutes is 20 clean reps. See the EMOM guide.
Grease the groove. Do one easy set every time you pass the bar during the day, about half your max. It trains the movement without tiring you.
Ladders. 1 rep, short rest, 2 reps, short rest, 3 reps, then start again at 1. Stop the ladder when a rep slows down.
One max set a week. Test your best set once a week, at the start of a session, to see the progress.
Keep doing negatives at the end of a session, after your full reps.

A simple 8 week plan

Weeks 1 and 2	Hangs, scapular pulls and rows, 3 times a week
Weeks 3 and 4	Add negatives: 4 sets of 3, slow
Weeks 5 and 6	Assisted pull-ups with a band, 3 sets of 5 to 8, plus negatives
Weeks 7 and 8	Try a full rep at the start of every session, then assisted reps and negatives

Everyone moves at their own pace. If a step feels easy, move on early. If it does not, repeat the week. Body weight matters too: losing a few kilos makes every pull-up easier.

How often to train pull-ups

Three sessions a week with a day of rest between them works well for most people. Your elbows and the tendons of your forearms adapt more slowly than your muscles, so if the inside of your elbow aches, cut back for a week and switch grips. Pull-ups pair well with push-ups: one trains pulling, the other pushing, and doing both keeps your shoulders balanced.

How to train pull-ups with RankTime

Pull-ups are one of the nine exercises RankTime counts with the camera straight away, from the front, the side or behind. Every rep goes to your pull-up history and your pull-up rank, so you can watch both climb.

RankTime running an EMOM, lime screen at the top of the minute with pull-ups as the exercise and 2 reps counted — EMOM pull-ups: 2 reps counted on the right, heart rate on the left.

RankTime pull-ups page: 7,808 total pull-ups at the rank of Second Lieutenant, 10,000 for First Lieutenant, with weekly reps and pace — Every pull-up counts toward your rank.

Open TIME mode and pick the EMOM page, or set your own work, rest and rounds with the circles along the bottom.
Pick PULLUPS. Tap the exercises circle, tick PULLUPS and untick the rest.
Prop the phone up about 2 meters (6 feet) away, so the bar and your whole body are in the frame.
Press play. Pull when the screen turns lime, rest when it turns grey. Sound and vibration cue every change.

Prefer counting reps? Switch to REPS mode, set your reps per set, and the rest starts on its own as soon as you finish a set. To test your max, swipe to AMRAP and build a one set test like the push-up test, with PULLUPS as the exercise.