Weighted Pull Up

How to Perform the Weighted Pull Up

Attach a dipping belt around your waist and load it with the desired weight, or hold a dumbbell between your feet.
Grip the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Hang at full arm extension with your shoulder blades depressed and your core engaged.
Pull yourself up by driving your elbows down and back, focusing on engaging your lats.
Continue pulling until your chin clears the bar or your chest reaches bar height.
Hold the top position briefly, squeezing your back muscles.
Lower yourself in a controlled manner over 2-3 seconds back to the full hang position.
Avoid swinging or kipping; each rep should be strict and controlled.

Using kipping or momentum to get over the bar

Perform strict pull ups with controlled movement; if you cannot complete reps with added weight, reduce the load.

Not achieving full range of motion

Start from a full dead hang and pull until your chin is clearly above the bar on every rep.

Adding weight before mastering bodyweight pull ups

Be able to perform at least 10-12 strict bodyweight pull ups before adding external weight.

✓Builds exceptional lat width and upper back strength beyond what bodyweight alone can provide
✓Develops powerful grip and forearm strength from supporting added external loads
✓Considered one of the gold-standard exercises for back development and upper body pulling strength

●Start with small weight increments (2.5-5 lbs) and build up gradually over weeks.
●Use a controlled eccentric of 3-4 seconds to maximize back muscle recruitment.
●Mix grip widths across training sessions to develop the back from different angles.

Strength

4-5 sets of 3-5 reps at 80-90% 1RM

Hypertrophy

3-4 sets of 6-10 reps at 65-75% 1RM

Endurance

2-3 sets of 10-15 reps at 50-60% 1RM

Join 2,000,000+ lifters tracking their workouts with Stronger. Available on iOS and Android.