Pull-Up
lats
What moves the load, and what it costs
8.0MET
Lats is the prime mover, with the biceps, upper back, forearms assisting. The best upper-back exercise that exists, and the one most people never learn because they attempt it before building the strength. A doorway bar and a band solve that at home for the price of a takeaway.
Cue: Take an overhand grip just outside shoulder width and pull the elbows down towards the ribs rather than pulling the chin up.
Written on other cards as: Chin-up (overhand)
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·കാലിസ്തെനിക്സ്, കഠിനം എന്നതിന് കീഴിൽ·REVIEWED JUL 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files pull-up under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 8.0, and at the top end of what a gym floor produces.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so pull-up is filed under കാലിസ്തെനിക്സ് (ഉദാ. പുഷ്-അപ്പ്, സിറ്റ്-അപ്പ്, പുൾ-അപ്പ്), കഠിനമായ അധ്വാനം.
- Take the category's MET value — 8.0. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 8.0 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Pull-Up: 8.0 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 9.80 kcal/min
SOURCE·ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG·REVIEWED JUL 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| LatsLatissimus dorsi | Prime mover | Pulls the upper arm down and back towards the ribs (shoulder extension and adduction) and rotates it inwards. It is the prime mover in every pull-up and pulldown. |
| BicepsBiceps brachii and brachialis | Synergist / stabiliser | കൈമുട്ട് മടക്കുന്നു, കൂടാതെ (ബൈസെപ്സ് ബ്രാക്കി മാത്രം) ഉള്ളംകൈ മുകളിലേക്ക് തിരിക്കുന്നു. ഇത് തോളിനെയും കടക്കുന്നു, അതുകൊണ്ടാണ് ഇൻക്ലൈൻ കേളും പ്രീച്ചർ കേളും വ്യത്യസ്തമായി തോന്നുന്നത്. |
| Upper backRhomboids and middle trapezius | Synergist / stabiliser | ചുമൽപ്പലകകളെ പരസ്പരം ചേർത്ത് നട്ടെല്ലിനടുത്തേക്ക് അടുപ്പിക്കുന്നു (സ്കാപ്പുലർ റിട്രാക്ഷൻ). എല്ലാ ഹൊറിസോണ്ടൽ റോയും ഇതിന് ഭാരം നൽകുന്നു; എല്ലാ പുൾഡൗണും ഇതിന് കുറഞ്ഞ ഭാരമേ നൽകുന്നുള്ളൂ. |
| ForearmsWrist flexors, extensors and brachioradialis | Synergist / stabiliser | Flex and extend the wrist, rotate the forearm, and grip. Grip failure is what ends most heavy pulling sets before the target muscle is done. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
Pull-up bar, Bodyweight. Every rep should look like the first one. The moment it stops looking like the first one, the set is finished.
PATTERN · PULL
- Hang from the bar with the shoulders relaxed, then pull the shoulder blades down and back before the arms do anything.
- Brace the trunk and squeeze the glutes so the body stays in one piece rather than swinging.
- Take an overhand grip just outside shoulder width and pull the elbows down towards the ribs rather than pulling the chin up.
- Pull the elbows down towards your ribs and drive the chest towards the bar until the chin clears it.
- Lower all the way to straight arms under control — the bottom of the range is where most of the growth is.
- Keep the neck neutral; craning the chin over the bar is not the same as clearing it.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Kipping without meaning to.
A swing that starts at the hips means the lats have handed the job to momentum. If you cannot do it strictly, use a band or do slow negatives.
Stopping halfway down.
Partial reps at the top feel productive and build very little. Full extension every rep.
Pulling with the arms first.
Set the shoulder blades down before the elbows bend, or the biceps will do a job the lats should be leading.
Adding weight too early.
Ten clean bodyweight reps first.
Regress it, or progress it
Regress — earn it first
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a compound lift loads several joints, so it tolerates heavy loads and needs long rests.
| Goal | Sets | Reps | Rest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–5 | 3–6 | 3–5 min | Heavy loads need long rests. Cutting rest to two minutes turns a strength set into a conditioning set. |
| Muscle size | 3–4 | 6–12 | 90–180 sec | Take most sets to within one to three reps of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle matters more than the exact rep number. |
| Endurance / fat loss | 2–4 | 12–20 | 45–75 sec | Lighter loads and shorter rests. Fat loss is decided by the diet; this preserves muscle while it happens. |
| First month | 2–3 | 8–10 | 2 min | Well short of failure, same weight every set, until the movement looks the same on the last rep as the first. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: കാലിസ്തെനിക്സ് (ഉദാ. പുഷ്-അപ്പ്, സിറ്റ്-അപ്പ്, പുൾ-അപ്പ്), കഠിനമായ അധ്വാനം — 8.0 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 8.0 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 9.80 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
SOURCE·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT·REVIEWED JUL 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the pull-up work?
Pull-Up is a compound movement in which the lats is the prime mover, assisted by the biceps, upper back, forearms. Pulls the upper arm down and back towards the ribs (shoulder extension and adduction) and rotates it inwards. It is the prime mover in every pull-up and pulldown.
Is the pull-up good for beginners?
No. It rates 4 out of 5 for technical demand — real technical demand — worth having someone watch your first sessions. Build to it through the easier progressions on this page; the chin-up is the usual step before it.
What can I do instead of the pull-up at home?
This movement is difficult to reproduce without equipment. Where a bodyweight substitute does not exist, progress by slowing the tempo and using single-limb versions instead of adding load.
How many sets and reps of the pull-up should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 6–12 with 90–180 sec rest. For strength, 3–5 sets of 3–6 with 3–5 min rest. In your first month, 2–3 sets of 8–10, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the pull-up burn fat from the lats?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the lats builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
SOURCE·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·REVIEWED JUL 2026
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