Side-to-Side Pull-Up
What Is the Side-to-Side Pull-Up?
Side-to-Side Pull-Up is a compound exercise that primarily targets the back, chiefly the latissimus dorsi, and also engages the biceps, the muscles between the shoulder blades and the rear shoulders. It is an advanced-level movement: you hang from a bar with a wide grip and pull your body up toward one hand, lower back to the center, then pull toward the other hand, so each rep shifts more of your body weight onto one arm.
It is done with an overhand grip, palms facing away from you and hands set well outside the shoulders. Because your body travels toward one hand, the arm on that side bends fully and does most of the pulling, while the other arm bends only partway and helps push you across.
It sits between the Pull-Up (Wide Grip) and the Archer Pull-Up. In the archer version the assisting arm stays nearly straight along the bar, so the working arm carries more of the load; here both elbows bend and the assisting arm keeps contributing, which makes it the gentler of the two. It also differs from the typewriter pull-up, where you pull up once and then slide from one hand to the other while staying at the top, and from the Commando Pull-Up, which alternates sides with the hands close together and the bar running front to back.
Its main use is as a bridge from two-handed pulling toward one-arm work, and as a way to find and train a side that is weaker than the other, since each side gets its own rep. It suits lifters who can already do about 8 to 10 strict overhand pull-ups with a controlled lowering. If you are not there yet, build up with the Pull-Up, Negative Pull-Up and Band-Assisted Pull-Up first. Thinking of driving the working elbow down toward the hip on that side helps keep the back, not just the arm, doing the work.
Muscles Worked
- Latissimus Dorsi
- Primary
- Biceps Brachii
- High
- Teres Major
- High
- Brachialis
- Medium
- Brachioradialis
- Medium
- Deltoid
- Medium
- Infraspinatus
- Medium
- Lower Trapezius
- Medium
- Rhomboid Major
- Medium
Instructions
- Stand under a pull-up bar and grip it overhand, palms facing away from you, with your hands well outside shoulder width and your thumbs wrapped around the bar.
- Hang with your arms straight, bend your knees and cross your ankles behind you.
- Brace your core and draw your shoulder blades down away from your ears before you bend your elbows.
- Pull your body up and toward your left hand, driving your left elbow down and out to the side while your right arm bends partway to help.
- Keep pulling until your chin reaches bar height beside your left hand, with your head and chest finishing close to that hand.
- Pause briefly at the top with your shoulders down and your body still.
- Lower yourself under control back to the center until both arms are straight.
- Pull toward your right hand the same way, then keep alternating sides for the desired number of reps without swinging.
Common Mistakes
Swinging toward the side
Using a leg kick or body swing to throw yourself toward one hand takes the work off the back and jerks the shoulder at the bottom of the rep.
Shrugging into the pull
Starting with the shoulders up by the ears instead of first drawing the shoulder blades down shifts the load to the upper trapezius and the front of the shoulder.
Skipping the center
Sliding straight from one hand to the other at the top turns the movement into a typewriter pull-up, so lower to a full hang in the center before pulling to the other side.
Favoring one side
Pulling higher or doing more reps toward your stronger hand lets the imbalance grow, so match the range and rep count on both sides.
Half reps
Stopping before the chin reaches bar height or before the arms straighten at the bottom skips the hardest part of the range.
Letting the hips drift
Letting the legs swing out to the side as you shift across turns the pull into a twist, so keep the legs together and the body square to the bar.
Injuries
Side-to-Side Pull-Up is a medium risk exercise when performed with proper technique. You lift your full body weight from a hang with a wide grip, and each rep shifts much of that weight onto one arm, so the shoulder and elbow on the working side carry more than they would in a standard pull-up.
The shoulders are the main strain point. A motion-capture study of 11 people who regularly trained pull-ups found that a wide overhand grip moved the shoulder in patterns linked with impingement risk, compared with a shoulder-width overhand grip. It did not test side-to-side pulling, but this exercise uses the same wide grip and loads one shoulder at a time, so pain at the front or top of the shoulder deserves attention. The elbows are the second: the fully bent working arm takes a large share of the load, and tendon aches on the inside or outside of the elbow usually follow a jump in volume. Drawing the shoulder blades down before each pull, lowering under control rather than dropping into the hang, and adding reps gradually all reduce the stress.
If it is too hard, or one side cannot finish its reps, go back to the Pull-Up (Wide Grip) or the standard Pull-Up, and use the Negative Pull-Up to build strength through the lowering. If the wide grip bothers your shoulders, the Neutral Grip Pull-Up is often more comfortable. Once you can do 5 clean reps to each side, the Archer Pull-Up is the next step, because it keeps the assisting arm straight and shifts even more of the load to the working arm.
Stop if you feel a sharp or pinching pain in the shoulder, elbow pain that lingers after the set or builds from session to session, or numbness or tingling in the hands, and have it assessed by a qualified professional before you continue.
- Primary Focus
- Back
- Equipment
- Pull-up bar and body weight
- Modality
- Strength
- Difficulty
- Advanced
Alternative Exercises
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: How is it different from an archer pull-up?
In the Archer Pull-Up the assisting arm stays nearly straight along the bar, so it does very little. In the side-to-side version both elbows bend and the assisting arm keeps helping, so it is the easier of the two and a good step before archers.
- Q: How is it different from a typewriter pull-up?
A typewriter pull-up stays at the top and slides from one hand to the other without lowering. Here you lower to a full hang in the center between sides, so every rep is a full pull.
- Q: How should I count reps?
Most people count each pull as one rep and alternate sides, so 8 reps means 4 to each side. You can also do all your reps toward one hand before switching, which makes it easier to compare the two sides.
- Q: What should I be able to do before trying it?
Aim for about 8 to 10 strict overhand pull-ups with a controlled lowering. If you cannot get there yet, train the Pull-Up and Negative Pull-Up first.
- Q: Does it help build toward a one-arm pull-up?
It can be an early step, because it gets you used to shifting most of your weight onto one arm. The archer pull-up, one-arm negatives and assisted one-arm work are closer to the full skill.