Do you use an overhand or underhand grip for exercising? If you always go palms down, flipping your grip can be a game-changer. The reverse grip pull-up is a variation of the pronated grip pull-up but it doesn’t feel like it works. If you want to maximize mind-muscle connection and contraction, using a supinated or underhand grip is the best way to go.
There is a full guide to this movement.
How To Do The Reverse Grip Pull-Up
The reverse grip pull-up isn’t just about changing your grip position. The underhand wide grip will affect how you pull yourself up to a bar. Instructions have been included to make sure you hit the targets.
Step 1: Grip
- Reach up and grasp the pull-up bar with your hands about shoulder width apart and palms facing toward you (underhand grip).
It’s a good safety tip to avoid using a wider than shoulder width grip.
Step 2: Scapular positioning
- While hanging with arms fully extended, pull your shoulders down. This will ensure proper and safe movement of your scapula during the pull-up.
Don’t let your head sink into your shoulders at any point during the exercise, it’s a safety tip.
Step 3: Proper leg positioning
- Keep your legs fully extended and together, then bend at your hips and lift your legs slightly in front of your body. This will help to prevent any energy leaks that may affect your pull-up strength.
Step 4: Pre-rep preparation
- Lean your torso slightly back at an angle, tighten your core, and tense your lats muscles. This will allow you to optimize the movement and perform each rep efficiently.
Step 5: The pull-up
- Drive your elbows down to your hips and pull down on the pull-up bar as hard as you can until your chin reaches the bar. Slowly lower yourself back down until you feel a stretch in your lats and take a few seconds to reset before the next rep.
Reverse Grip Pull-Up Benefits
Pull-ups are the most effective upper body exercise that you can do. There are a lot of benefits that you can read about.
Build a sexy posterior chain
A muscular and toned back is one of the most attractive aspects of a body. Pull-ups hit the lat back muscles more effectively than any other back exercises. Lats help shape the upper rear of your body.
Get a better contraction
If you switch from an overhand to underhand grip, the exercise will feel different. The opposite hand position may cause you to move the weight up a little. Try bending over rows on a Smith machine with an underhand grip. Many feel a difference in the way the muscles contract.
A great biceps and forearm exercise
The bicep, brachialis and brachioradialis muscle groups are engaged by all pulling movements.
Bodyweight only/equipment-free
Pull-ups can be done with a pull-up bar which is very affordable and versatile.
Adding more weight to your pull-ups is very easy. Hold a dumbbell between your feet or use a dipping belt. You can increase the resistance more than you ever could.
Intensify your mind-muscle connection
Lifting weights isn’t enough to build muscle. It’s having a mental connection with your muscles during an exercise. Even though you will still build muscle lugging around weights, other muscles tend to take over and you aren’t maximizing your efforts
There is more information about mind-muscle connection.
Drawbacks
There are some drawbacks to the reverse grip pull-up.
You need upper body strength
Pull-ups require good upper body strength. Here are 8 ways to improve at pull-ups and chin-ups if you can’t.
Grip width
If you go too wide your shoulders can be damaged. If you want to do pull-ups that are wider, use an overhand grip.
Variations
Variations and alternatives allow us to work all of the same muscles regardless of experience. It’s nice to have variety in your training to keep it interesting.
1. Assisted reverse grip pull-up
Whether you use a dedicated assisted pull-up machine or a band, assisted pull-ups are an ideal way to get better at pull-ups because you are mimicking the movement even though you are being helped. It is easy to adjust the resistance and keep track of your strength progress.
2. Close grip reverse pull-up
Do you want to overload the muscles? Push out a few sets of pull-ups by moving your hands in between.
3. Reverse grip inverted or Australian pull-up
The pull-up will involve the same muscles as the inverted one. It is still easy, but you can adjust the resistance by changing your body angle.
These are the best pull up alternatives and variations for all fitness levels
Alternatives
1. Cable/machine reverse grip pulldown
The cable pulldown is the only way to work the same muscles without a pull up bar. A variation of the reverse grip lat movement is1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556
2. Reverse grip rows
Row variations seem to hit all of the back muscles in a symmetrical way, making them the best back exercises. If you do rows, you get a full contraction back there because you pull the arms back behind the body.
How To Program Reverse Grip Pull-Ups In Your Back Workouts
There are other ways to do reverse grip pull-ups.
Drop sets
Drop sets are when you perform a few reps with a heavy weight before dropping the resistance and continuing to perform more reps until you fail. Drop sets can be done multiple times.
Partials
If you want to light your back and biceps on fire, you need to perform partial reps in the top half of the pull-up range. It’s best to do full range of motion pull-ups until you reach a few reps shy of failure before squeezing out as many reps as possible.
How Many Sets and Reps?
Specific sets and reps ranges are usually recommended. All should be used for the best results. Some suggestions are based on what you want to do.
- Muscle endurance: 2-3 sets x 15-25+ reps
- Hypertrophy: 3 sets x 5-8 reps
- Strength: 4-5 sets x 3-5 reps
FAQs
Pull-ups are usually done using a wider grip, so a reverse grip variation will be the same. You could use a tighter grip for chin-ups.
Muscles Worked
Pull-up is known to build a great back, but it is also an effective exercise for other upper body muscles. Below is a brief description of each one.
- Latissimus dorsi – The latissimus dorsi or lats for short is a broad, flat muscle that spans the lower posterior thorax. It helps to adduct, medially rotate, and extend the humerus. The lats are also involved in moving the trunk forward and upward when the arms are positioned overhead like during pullups and pulldown variations.
- Teres Major – The teres major is a thick muscle of the shoulder joint that medially rotates and adducts the arm and stabilizes the shoulder joint. Unlike the teres minor, it’s not a rotator cuff muscle. Wide grip pull-ups especially emphasize these underrated muscles and a reverse grip is the icing on top.
- Brachialis – sandwiched between the outer biceps head and triceps, brachialis extends from the outer upper arm and crosses the elbow joint, making it a primary elbow flexor muscle. When well developed, the brachialis contributes to upper arm width and is most visible on a lean physique.
- Brachioradialis – Making most of the lateral upper forearm, brachioradialis crosses the elbow and is hence a primary elbow flexor. It also supinates and pronates the forearm (flipping the palm up and down respectively) and is involved in all pulling and curling exercises.
- Deltoid Posterior – Anytime you pull your elbows back or down, the rear shoulders are activated. The deltoid posterior is responsible for extension of the arm behind the body plus it works with the other two deltoid heads to assist in arm abduction (lifting the arm up to laterally to your body).
- Levator Scapulae – The levator scapulae is a superficial muscle located on the upper back. This muscle functions to elevate the scapula or shoulder blades with help from the trapezius and rhomboid muscles of the upper back. Surrounding muscles also help the levator scapulae to inferiorly rotate the scapula.
- Pectoralis Major Sternal Head – Also known as the lower chest, the pectoralis sternal head is a separate section of muscle fibers that assist in pulling the arms downward.
- Core – consisting of the abs, obliques, and spinal erectors, the core muscles move the torso in all directions and stabilize the spine to keep your body from swinging to much during pull-ups.
The reverse grip pull-up is a good variation of a classic back builder. It’s one of the best ways to develop mind-muscle connection when you want to build more muscle and strengthen it.
Next time you do a back workout, try this version of the pull-up.
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