V-Bar Pullup
Trains the Lats.
- Equipment
- A pull-up bar and a V-handle
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Hook a V-handle over a straight pull-up bar so the handles hang below it.
- Take a handle in each hand with your palms facing each other.
- Hang with straight arms and set your shoulders down away from your ears.
- Pull yourself up, driving the elbows down and toward your ribs.
- Continue until your chest reaches the handle or the bar.
- Lower under control all the way to straight arms.
Common mistakes
- Letting the body swing forward and back. A neutral grip on a hanging handle rotates more freely than a fixed bar, so a still hang at the bottom takes more deliberate effort.
- Pulling the chin over the bar rather than the chest to the handle. The neutral grip lets the chest travel further; stopping at chin height leaves the last part of the range unused.
- Hooking a handle that can slide along the bar. It should sit still; one that shifts under load moves your grip mid-repetition.
- Expecting it to train something different from a pull-up. The neutral grip is usually the most comfortable one on the shoulder and it lets most people do more repetitions — the muscle being shortened is the same.