My Guide to the One-arm-pull-up
The one-arm pull-up is an iconic movement of both callisthenics and climbing!
It requires tremendous pulling strength, shoulder stability, and grip strength.
This move is difficult to obtain and looks as hard as it actually is to most people.
I say this because most people underestimate the difficulty of callisthenics moves like the planche or the front lever.
A lot of people can relate to their pull-up strength and imagine how hard it is to release one arm.
This movement is the one on which I am working the most, first, because it increases my pulling strength for bouldering specifically.
Lock-off strength always has a carryover to boulders and the shoulder stability that you get is unmatched!
Also, it looks freaking cool, to be honest, and it plays a role.
Finally, as a tall guy, vertical callisthenics skills are easier to learn compared to horizontal skills.
This is because of the lever arm, which is very disadvantageous when you have long legs.
There are a lot of different guides out there but I feel like very few give exercises that are actually useful.
Before embarking on this journey, I recommend you have a solid base at pull-ups; this will make you progress faster and safer.
You should be able to do at least 20 pull-ups and be comfortable with 5 reps of weighted pull-ups with 25% of your body weight.
The first exercise that I recommend is the banded one-arm pull-up.
People usually put the band exactly where they would put their second arm when doing classic pull-ups.
As such, the trajectory is not very specific; I prefer to align the band with the working arm!
To do this, loop the band around the bar, put your working hand on top of the band, and put the assisting arm as low as possible on the band.
The lower you grab the band, the less you can pull on it, making the exercise more intense.
That way, everything is perfectly aligned and you can replicate fully the one-arm pull-up.
If you do not have bands, you can do mantle pull-ups; they require you to hold on to an object on the side.
Once again, the lower you go, the harder it is!
However, the top part of the range seems to get exponentially harder as your hands get lower.
This is something that has to be taken into account when you train.
Mantle pull-ups are best done using gymnastics rings, but you can also use a pull-up bar.
Then, I recommend working on your grip strength; you never have enough, and it can help you massively!
Start with two-armed hangs, work your way up to one-arm hangs, and then, if you have weights, feel free to add resistance.
You can also work on your scapula strength by adding a little shoulder shrug; this will improve the beginning of the pull.
Finally, isometric holds can be very beneficial if you lack strength in a specific part of the movement.
To assist yourself, you can use bands once again or use finger assistance this time, even though it changes your position.
You will not be as specific, but it will be better than nothing if you don’t have bands; the priority here is just to fix weak spots.
As the one-arm pull-up is a strength move, train using low rep sets (1–5) or low time under tension sets (5"–10") depending on the nature of the exercises.
Favour low-volume, high-frequency workouts rather than the opposite to practice the skill of strength and rest a lot between sets.
Work hard and reap the reward!
