One arm pull-up is potentially the only pull movement for the top of the food chain. To do so, you’ll need a lot of stamina as well as the right technique. It’s difficult to set specific standards for one-arm pull-ups, but you should be able to do at least 15 strict pull-ups. Weighted pull-ups will still help you gain fundamental strength, but they aren’t a straightforward progression and won’t teach you the proper technique.
Different exercises can be used to train the one-arm pull-up, but we suggest starting with a variation of the bend arm pull-up progression and the one arm scapula raise.
You must first unlock the muscles in your back, as with any other pull movement. Pull the shoulder blade as far down as possible to do this. It is possible to perform a dynamic or to keep it in place.
Later on, as you’ve progressed, you’ll use this same movement at the start of your one-arm pull-up. Now Bend your arm and pick yourself up by pulling your shoulder blade down. The trick is to keep your arm as close to your body as possible.
Also read How to pull-up correctly [3 Step guide to do proper pull up].
Bend Arm Progressions
Now we are taking a look at the bend arm progressions and here are different possible options. Remember, all exercises in this tutorial can be used and you only change the lever and or the resistance and you can also do all exercises with an underhand grip if you want to learn the one-armed chin up.
Let’s start with the first movement, pull-ups with one Bend and one straight arm.
Here you should start with typewrite pull-ups. We recommend to do it on the rings first, because the Rings will adapt to your joint movements and it’s much easier than on the bar.
You stop this movement by doing a regular pull-up and extend one arm to the side when you’re at the top position. Of course, you should always extend both sides equally. If you feel comfortable with this exercise you can try Archer pull-ups or Archer cliffhanger pull-ups.
Here you don’t start with a regular pull-up at the beginning. It’s harder than typewriter pull-ups because you leave one arm straight for the whole movement. Therefore you have to overcome gravity with one straight and one bend arm instead of only extending one arm at the top.
Also read What muscles do pull-ups work? Pull-ups benefits [Pro Guide].
Uneven Pull-ups
The next movement you can do to learn the one arm pull-up are pull-ups with arms on different heights, they are called uneven pull-ups and you can do them in different ways. It’s possible to use rings, but you can also use a resistance band or towel.
The progressions are quite simple. Start with a small height difference between your arms and increase this difference when you get stronger.
Always remember to let your higher arm close to the body to learn the right technique.
One arm Pull-up with a resistance band
The next progression is one-arm pull-ups with the resistance band. This exercise has pros and cons.
The good thing about this exercise is that you already pull yourself up with one arm. You don’t have another arm to support yourself, so you don’t have to worry how much the other one supports the movement.
The downside is that the band doesn’t allow an even resistance. In the first part of the movement the band will take off more weight than on the top, but it’s still a great exercise to learn the movement and you can change the resistance by using different bands.
Also read What muscles do pull-ups work? Pull-ups benefits [Pro Guide].
Negative One Arm Pull-Up
The last movement is the negative one arm pull up. Here you already need a certain amount of strength to let yourself down slowly and controlled.
Negative reps are great to build strength for the one arm pull-up, but we recommend also integrate a hard progression in which you use the positive part as well This can be a resistance band the archer, or the uneven pull-up. Keep in mind to not hurry too much.
In most cases, one arm pull-ups need a lot of time, work, and dedication to master because the intensity is so high you should always warm up very well. If you have some more questions you can leave a comment below.
Hope you guys enjoyed reading our detailed article on one arm pull up. Happy Exercising!
