Why are pull-ups so hard?
Because they expose the gap between being strong and being able to use that strength.
A pull-up isn’t just an upper-body exercise—it’s a full-system demand. You’re lifting your entire bodyweight while coordinating your grip, shoulders, and core in a precise sequence. There’s no external load to scale down, no machine to guide you. It’s just you, your strength-to-weight ratio, and your ability to control it.
For many women—especially over 40—the challenge isn’t a lack of effort or even general fitness. It’s that pull-ups require something highly specific: relative strength, grip capacity, and scapular control working together. You can be strong in rows, consistent in your training, and still feel completely stuck when you hang from a bar.
That’s what makes pull-ups so frustrating—and so valuable.
Because when you train for a pull-up, you’re not just building muscle. You’re developing the kind of integrated strength that carries over into everything: posture, shoulder health, and long-term functional independence.
And it often starts with something surprisingly simple… your grip.
Grip strength is more than a limiting factor in pull-ups—it’s a powerful biomarker. Large cohort studies have shown that lower grip strength is associated with increased risk of functional decline, frailty, and even all-cause mortality. In other words, your grip isn’t just about your hands—it reflects global neuromuscular health.
Pull-ups uniquely integrate grip strength with upper body pulling mechanics, making them one of the most efficient ways to train both simultaneously.
From the literature, developing pulling strength and grip capacity contributes to:
Improved shoulder stability and reduced injury risk
Greater bone density through mechanical loading
Preservation of lean mass (critical in preventing sarcopenia)
Enhanced metabolic health
Maintenance of functional independence
The Path to Your First Pull-Up
Think of this as building a system—not just a single movement.
1. Find your baseline
Before you begin, it’s important to see where your baseline is for the full movement.
First, test your grip. From a stable, pull-up bar set-up, try a dead hang. If you are unable to hang with your full body weight, that’s ok! Proceed to the next step below.
Second, as soon as you are able, set up as many resistance bands as you need from a stable pull-up bar set-up or set up a pull-up assist machine at a high level of assistance.
Review the VIDEO with close attention to movement mechanics. Try your first pull-up.
If a pull-up bar set up is not accessible, a second option is the seated pull-up using a lower bar with a squat rack or bench press set up. The same movement mechanics for the hanging pull-up can be applied to the seated barbell pull-up.
The benefit of the seated pull-up is that you can assist the pull-up with your lower body as much or as little as you need. Once you have developed the ability to do a seated pull-up, you can move to band-assisted pull-ups from a pull-up bar.
2. Develop The Movement
Foundational Strength: Movements such as Lat pulldowns (progressively heavier), Seated or single-arm rows, or barbell rows, performed over the full range of motion with controlled tempo.
Grip Strength: The dead hang is the most effective way to build grip strength for this movement. Ideally, hang from a high bar. Start with 5-10 seconds and work up to 45-60 seconds. Do this for 2-3 sets with 1 minute of rest in between 2-3x per week.
Eccentric Training (Negative Repetitions): Jump or assist yourself to the top of the movement with the chin over the bar. Hold for 1-2 seconds, then lower your body with less assistance over 3-5 seconds. Perform 3-5 repetitions for 2-3 sets twice per week.
Eccentric training is well-supported for improving strength and tendon resilience
Develop Scapular Control
The scapular muscles are a group of muscles that stabilize and control the shoulder blades against the rib cage, creating the foundation for a strong and efficient pull-up. Scapular pull-ups (initiate from the shoulders, not the arms). Perform these with arms completely extended. Perform 5-10 repetitions for 2-3 sets 1-2 times per week.
Cue: “pull your shoulder blades into your back pockets”
Building Pull-Up Capacity
Once you can execute a pull-up -whether assisted or unassisted - with solid mechanics, it’s time to build capacity!
The two accessory segments below help to build capacity (volume) of pull-ups and pull-up stamina - the number of pull-ups in a set unit of time. Each of these accessories takes <10 minutes to do and can be added on at the beginning or end of most training days.
Accessory 1: EMOM (every minute on the minute) x 8 minutes, perform X pull-ups. Set a timer. At the start of the first minute, perform your chosen number of repetitions. Rest until minute 2 starts. Perform the same number of repetitions. Rest until minute 3 starts, and so on, until you have completed 8 minutes.
Select a set number of repetitions between 5 and 10 that you can confidently perform within a 1-minute interval with plenty of rest from the time you finish the repetitions until the next minute begins. Be conservative! You will be doing 8 sets of these. A suggestion would be 5 repetitions to start.
Accessory 2: EMOM (Every minute on the minute). Start a timer. At 0:00, perform 1 pull-up. Rest for the remaining minute. At 1:00, perform 2 pull-ups. Rest for the remaining minute. Continue adding 1 repetition each minute until you cannot complete the number of repetitions in the 1-minute interval.
This is a very different stimulus from Accessory 1. If you are able to complete 10 minutes, then next time start with 2 repetitions and add 2 with each minute. Alternatively, if your pull-ups are assisted, use less assistance (ex - a thinner band).
This week’s workout is a pull-up mini-workout that you can add on to other training or do on its own 2-3 times in a week.
Warm Up
10 arm circles forward, 10 arm circles backward
10 swing both arms crossing in front of the body
10 vertical arm swings (one arm up and one arm down, alternating)
5 shoulder rolls backward, 5 shoulder rolls backward.
10 scap push-ups (From knees or toes)
Hold Child’s Pose for 5 breaths with arms extended over head
Thread the needle stretch - 5 seconds each side, repeat twice
Movement Practice
Set up your pull-up station using the guidelines in this post.
Test your dead hang. Record how many seconds you can hold on until you need to let go.
Perform 10 scap pull-ups. If you need to break this up into 2 sets of 5 repetitions, that is ok too!
Rest 2-5 minutes before beginning the workout.
Workout
Select a pull-up option that allows you to do 5 repetitions confidently in 15-20 seconds.
EMOM 8 (Every minute on the minute for 8 minutes)
Set a timer and perform 5 pull-ups. Rest for the remainder of the minute. Repeat when the next minute turns.
Training Notes:
The goal is to do all sets unbroken. If you are unable to do this, repeat this workout next week and try to make progress until you can do all sets unbroken.
If you can do all sets unbroken, you have 3 options for your next session:
If doing assisted pull-ups, reduce the assistance
Add repetitions. Try 6 or 7 repetitions per minute at your next session.
Perform Accessory 2 above and test your stamina!
Create a document or notebook log for your workouts. Make progress each week by adding repetitions, reducing assistance, or trying Accessory #2.
Take 5 minutes to integrate the other elements described in the Develop The Movement section above into your other training days 2-3 times per week.
Cool Down
There’s nothing like a great shoulder stretch on a shoulder-heavy day! Jump-start your recovery with a little shoulder love from Five Parks Yoga
20-minute Neck and Shoulder Tension Release
References
Dickie JA, Faulkner J, Barnes MJ, Lark SD.
Electromyographic analysis of muscle activation during pull-ups with different techniques. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. 2017;32:30–36.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1050641116302978
Snarr RL, Esco MR.
Electromyographical comparison of a traditional, suspension, and towel pull-up. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2017;59:5–13.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5548150/
Lehman GJ, Buchan DD, Lundy A, Myers N, Nalborczyk A.
Variations in muscle activation levels during traditional lat exercises. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2004;18(4):703–707.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC449729/
Kibler WB, Sciascia A, Uhl TL, Tambay N, Cunningham T.
Electromyographic analysis of specific exercises for scapular control in early phases of shoulder rehabilitation. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2008;36(9):1789–1798.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18469224/
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Pull Ups are probably the lift I am most proud of and something that I have to work really hard at. I notice that if I do not actively train them year round, at least once a week, that I quickly lose my ability to hit my standard "3 sets of 10." It took me about 5 years of focused training to be able to do 5-6. At my peak I could do 15 in a single set (neutral grip) or 3 sets of 5 wearing a 16lb weight vest. But if I back off even slighty in my training I suddenly find myself unable to do the same intensity - like right now I can do a set of 10, then 8, then 6. or I can do 3 sets of 3 with the weight vest. Pull ups are my non-negotiable in my strength programs. I am willing cycle on and off heavy RDLs and try different approaches to squats (higher weight/low reps, lower weight/high reps, pause squats, changing depth). I will happily substitute a dumbbell bench press for a barbell press to work on different muscle groups, or take a break from RDLs with Trap Bar but I never, ever want to skip pull ups. I turn 50 this year and I am determined to not lose this specific aspect of my strength.
Years ago at a CrossFit class, I used a lot of different bands to do some pull-ups. Enormous disaster and I am stuck with never-ending tendinitis in my elbows. My elbows hurt so badly at the time that I had to get Cortizone shots because I couldn’t even sleep. What I do now though is when I swim laps at the pool, I use the bars that hold up the diving stand and I do pull-ups from the water. I curl my hands both ways and do 10 each direction every time I swim laps. (I think something is different about my elbows because I’ve never been able to do overhead tricep exercises because something in my elbows flips back-and-forth and is a problem. If I do bent over triceps, it doesn’t happen and I can use 12 pound weights.)