How much should my partner help?

Only enough to keep the bar moving. You start every rep on your own, and your partner adds smooth upward pressure when you slow down, usually in the top half, so you still do most of the work.

How should the partner reduce the help over time?

Within a set, give little help on the early reps and a bit more as you tire. From one session to the next, give a little less whenever every rep is clean. Once their hands barely touch your feet for a whole set, move on to the Negative Pull-Up and test a strict Pull-Up.

Is a partner better than a resistance band?

A partner can put the help exactly where you stall, while a band helps most at the bottom and least near the top, where many people need it most. A Band-Assisted Pull-Up is easier to repeat and track from week to week, so many people use both.

Why do I bend my knees?

Bending your knees brings your feet up behind you to about your partner's hip height, where they can hold them and push straight up while standing tall. It also keeps your feet off the floor so you hang freely.

What if I don't have a partner?

Use a Band-Assisted Pull-Up, the Assisted Pull-Up machine or the Negative Pull-Up. Each takes part of your weight off in a different way, and all of them build toward a strict pull-up.

Partner-Assisted Pull-Up

What Is the Partner-Assisted Pull-Up?

Partner-Assisted Pull-Up is a compound exercise that primarily targets the back and also engages the biceps, forearms, rear shoulders and core. It is a beginner-level movement: you hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip and your knees bent, and a partner standing behind you holds your feet and pushes up only as much as you need to finish each rep. You still hang freely and pull through the full range, so it trains the real pull-up rather than an imitation of it.

The exercise is a stepping stone to a strict Pull-Up. Its main advantage over a Band-Assisted Pull-Up is that the help can go where you need it. A band stretches most at the bottom, so it gives the most help there and the least near the top, where many people stall. A partner can let you start each rep on your own and add help only when the bar slows, then give less on the next rep if you move well. The same flexibility lets a stronger lifter squeeze a few more clean reps out of a set after reaching failure on strict pull-ups. It fits the vertical pulling slot of an upper-body or back session.

The lats do most of the work, helped by the teres major, while the biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis bend the elbows and the lower trapezius and rhomboids hold the shoulder blades down and back. Grip changes where the work goes: in a study of hanging pull-ups and chin-ups in healthy young adults, the underhand chin-up drew more biceps and chest activity, while the overhand pull-up drew more from the lower trapezius. If you want more help from the arms, the same partner setup works under a Chin-Up grip.

It suits beginners, people returning to training, and heavier lifters who cannot yet pull their full body weight, as long as they have a partner who will pay attention to every rep. The aim is for your partner's help to shrink over the weeks until their hands barely touch your feet. If a full hang is still too much even with help, build up with the Dead Hang, the Scapular Pull-Up and the Leg-Assisted Pull-Up. Once your partner is doing very little, the Negative Pull-Up and then the strict pull-up are the next steps.

Muscles Worked

MuscleActivation

Latissimus Dorsi: Primary
Biceps Brachii: High
Brachialis: High
Teres Major: High
Brachioradialis: Medium
Infraspinatus: Medium
Lower Trapezius: Medium
Rhomboid Major: Medium
Deltoid: Low
Rectus Abdominis: Low

Instructions

Stand under a sturdy pull-up bar with your partner standing close behind you.
Grip the bar overhand, palms facing away from you, with your hands about shoulder-width apart or slightly wider.
Hang with your arms straight, then bend your knees to about 90 degrees so your lower legs point back toward your partner, feet together.
Your partner stands tall and holds your feet and ankles from below at about hip height, with the elbows bent.
Brace your core and pull your shoulder blades down and back.
Start the pull on your own by driving your elbows down toward your sides. Your partner holds steady and adds a smooth push straight up only when the bar slows.
Pull until your chin clears the bar.
Lower yourself under control until your arms are straight. Your partner eases off so you control most of the descent, but keeps hands on your feet.
Reset your shoulders and repeat. Tell your partner if you need more or less help.
Finish the set at a straight-arm hang, let your partner lower your feet, then step down.

Common Mistakes

Partner lifting the whole rep
A partner who pushes hard from the bottom of every rep does the work your back should be doing, so help should start only when the bar slows.
Pushing forward instead of up
Pushing the feet forward or in jerks swings your body away from the bar, so the partner should press smoothly and straight up.
Pushing off the partner's hands
Kicking or driving down through your feet turns the rep into a leg press against your partner instead of a pull.
Never tapering the help
Getting the same amount of help every set and every week stalls your progress, so your partner should give a little less whenever the reps move cleanly.
Dropping on the way down
Falling back to a hang instead of lowering under control throws away the lowering phase and jars the shoulders.
Cutting the range short
Stopping with your chin below the bar or never straightening your arms at the bottom skips the hardest parts of the pull.

Injuries

Partner-Assisted Pull-Up is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. Your partner takes part of your body weight off your arms, so the shoulders and elbows handle less load than in a strict pull-up, and the help can increase the moment a rep starts to fail.

The usual strain points are the shoulders, the elbows and the lower back. Shrugging toward your ears at the bottom or jerking your chin over the bar can irritate the front of the shoulder, high volume can aggravate the tendons on the inside and outside of the elbow, and a partner who pushes your feet forward instead of straight up sets off a swing that arches the lower back. Agree on a word for "more" and "less" before the set, and have the partner push smoothly and only straight up. Lower yourself under control, and finish each set at a straight-arm hang before your partner lets go of your feet so nobody drops or releases mid-rep. The partner should stand close and tall with the hands at about hip height, so they push with their arms and do not bend over and strain their own back.

If you cannot complete clean reps even with help, regress to the Leg-Assisted Pull-Up or a Band-Assisted Pull-Up with a thicker band. As your partner's help fades, progress to the Negative Pull-Up and then the strict Pull-Up.

Stop if you feel a sharp or pinching pain in the shoulder, elbow pain that lingers after the session, or numbness or tingling in your hands, and have it assessed before you continue.

Overview

Primary Focus: Back
Equipment: Pull-up bar and body weight
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner

Alternative Exercises

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much should my partner help?: Only enough to keep the bar moving. You start every rep on your own, and your partner adds smooth upward pressure when you slow down, usually in the top half, so you still do most of the work.
Q: How should the partner reduce the help over time?: Within a set, give little help on the early reps and a bit more as you tire. From one session to the next, give a little less whenever every rep is clean. Once their hands barely touch your feet for a whole set, move on to the Negative Pull-Up and test a strict Pull-Up.
Q: Is a partner better than a resistance band?: A partner can put the help exactly where you stall, while a band helps most at the bottom and least near the top, where many people need it most. A Band-Assisted Pull-Up is easier to repeat and track from week to week, so many people use both.
Q: Why do I bend my knees?: Bending your knees brings your feet up behind you to about your partner's hip height, where they can hold them and push straight up while standing tall. It also keeps your feet off the floor so you hang freely.
Q: What if I don't have a partner?: Use a Band-Assisted Pull-Up, the Assisted Pull-Up machine or the Negative Pull-Up. Each takes part of your weight off in a different way, and all of them build toward a strict pull-up.