Top 10 Bodyweight Pull Exercises to Build Muscle & Fitness

If you want to build a stronger and decent-looking upper body without lifting weights, explore the bodyweight pull exercises.

Bodyweight pull exercises are excellent for developing upper body muscles, particularly the latissimus dorsi, traps, rear delts, lower back, and biceps.

From beginner to advanced level, I’ve shared various exercises that you can do on your pull day to improve your overall fitness and body composition.

You can also use these exercises while creating a bodyweight workout routine for yourself.

10 Best Bodyweight Pull Exercises for Muscle & Strength

I’ll show you the 10 most essential bodyweight pull exercises that you can do at home and in the gym to bolster your foundational strength, build a strong upper body, and improve your athletic fitness.

1. Pull-ups

Pull-up is an intermediate-level exercise. It involves hanging on the bar and lifting the body up (usually till below the chin or above the chest level).

It primarily engages the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles, helping build a strong, wide back.¹ Snarr RL, Hallmark AV, Casey JC, Esco MR. Electromyographical Comparison of a Traditional, Suspension Device, and Towel Pull-Up. J Hum Kinet. 2017 Aug 1;58:5-13. doi: 10.1515/hukin-2017-0068. PMID: 28828073; PMCID: PMC5548150.

Pull-ups also strengthen the biceps, improve grip strength, and enhance core muscle endurance.² Hewit, Jennifer. (2018). A Comparison of Muscle Activation during the Pull-up and Three Alternative Pulling Exercises. Journal of Physical Fitness, Medicine & Treatment in Sports. 5. 10.19080/JPFMTS.2018.05.555669.

You can do pull-ups in many ways using the different grip widths, especially the wide, medium, and neutral. All these variations train the back muscles differently and help achieve a V-shaped upper body.³ Ronai, Peter MS, RCEP, CSCSD, NSCA-CPTD; Scibek, Eric MS, ATC, CSCS. The Pull-up. Strength and Conditioning Journal 36(3):p 88-90, June 2014. | DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000052

The Pull-ups involve the following steps:

1. Get under the bar, extend your arms, and grip it with an overhand grip.
2. Keep your hands 1.5 times wider than shoulder-width apart for wide pull-ups, shoulder-width apart for medium grip, and shoulder-width palms facing for neutral grip pull-ups.
3. Hang on the bar with your arms straight and legs slightly bent.
4. Pull yourself up until your chin reaches above the bar.
5. Pause for a moment and lower yourself to the start.

Tips: 1. Perform each rep in a controlled fashion. Using too much momentum can reduce the number of reps you can actually do, 2. Keep your chest up, core tight, and your shoulders slightly back.

Other Pull-up Variations:

1. Negative Pull-Up (slowly lowering down)
2. Commando Pull-Up (Pulling up sideways on the bar)
3. Sternum Pull-Up (Pull your chest toward the bar)
4. L-Sit Pull-Up (Combines a pull-up with an L-sit)
5. Towel Pull-Up (using towels over a bar)
6. Archer Pull-Up (Shift most of your weight to one arm)i
7. Typewriter Pull-Up (Move side to side at the top of each rep)
8. Explosive Pull-Up (Perform each repetition as powerfully as possible)
9. Ring Pull-ups (advanced exercise for grip and strength)

2. Inverted Rows

The inverted row is another form of pull-up (also known as the Australian Pull-up). It involves keeping your feet grounded while pulling the upper body toward the bar.

It is an easier version, suitable for beginners who want to perform pull-ups efficiently, but it’s not limited to them only. In fact, experienced calisthenics athletes use inverted rows to build a strong upper back and improve pulling ability.⁴ Effects of hand-grip during the inverted row with and without a suspension device: An electromyographical investigation – Department of Kinesiology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA & Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science, Auburn University at Montgomery, AL, USA

Inverted rows target multiple muscle groups simultaneously, primarily the traps, lats, posterior deltoids, and biceps.⁵ Youdas JW, Keith JM, Nonn DE, Squires AC, Hollman JH. Activation of Spinal Stabilizers and Shoulder Complex Muscles During an Inverted Row Using a Portable Pull-up Device and Body Weight Resistance. J Strength Cond Res. 2016 Jul;30(7):1933-41. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001210. PMID: 26422610, ⁶Snarr, Ronald & Esco, Michael. (2013). Exercise Highlight: Inverted Row. Journal of Australian Strength and Conditioning. 21

You can do inverted rows on multiple pieces of equipment, including the dip stand, Smith machine bar, or a firm four-legged table where you can get underneath.

Follow these steps to perform inverted rows:

1. Get under the bar and grab it with an overhand grip, with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Walk your feet out and lean back.
2. Keep your arms straight and your legs extended with your heels on the ground and your toes facing upward.
3. Now, pull your torso up until your chest is close to the bar.
4. Pause for a moment and lower yourself to the starting point.

Tips: Keep your core engaged throughout the movement. You can bend your knees softly if you like.

Inverted Row Variations:

1. Bent-Knee Inverted Row (keep knees bent, more beginner-friendly)
2. Wide-Grip Inverted Row (work more on the upper back and rear delts)
3. Close-Grip Inverted Row (hands shorter than shoulder-width)
4. Underhand Inverted Row (good biceps activation).
5. Paused Inverted Row (Pause at the top)
6. Archer Inverted Row (Shift more body weight onto one arm)
7. Ring Row (good for increasing instability and improving shoulder stability)
8. Suspension Row (Using suspension straps, good for improving muscle health)
9. Towel Inverted Row (Uses towels to increase grip significantly)

3. Chinup

Chin-up is another pulling exercise that involves gripping the bar with an underhand grip (palms up) with your hands shorter than shoulder-width apart.

It mostly targets the biceps and back and builds a strong upper body.⁷ Doma K, Deakin GB, Ness KF. Kinematic and electromyographic comparisons between chin-ups and lat-pull down exercises. Sports Biomech. 2013 Sep;12(3):302-13. doi: 10.1080/14763141.2012.760204. PMID: 24245055, ⁸Löfquist, I. (2017). Differences in muscle activity during the chin-up versus lat pulldown exercise. An electromyographic study.

Chin-ups also engage the abdominal muscles, strengthen the forearms, and build the strength for pull-ups.

It is easier to perform than pull-ups, making it suitable for beginners.

Chin-ups involve the following steps:

1. Hang onto the bar with your palms underneath it and your hands hip-to-shoulder-width apart.
2. Pull yourself up until your chin reaches above the bar.
3. Pause for a moment and return to the start.

Pro Tips: Keep your core tight and chest up as you pull yourself toward the bar.

Chin-up Variations:

1. Negative Chin-Up (lower as slow as possible)
2. Neutral-Grip Chin-Up (palms facing each other)
3. Chest-to-Bar Chin-Up (pull until your chest touches the bar)
4. One-Arm Chin-Up (one of the most advanced pulling exercises)
5. Ring Chin-Up (rings allow natural wrist rotation)

4. Superman Row

The superman row is a no-equipment bodyweight pull exercise. It involves lying prone (face down) on the floor with your arms extended overhead, then pulling your elbows backward.

There is no research on this exercise yet, but practically, it’s a good movement to activate the back muscles without weights.

The superman row targets the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, erector spine, and shoulders, all at once. It’s good for activating the important upper body muscles and improving posture.

You can also perform the superman row to increase the blood flow around the back muscles before lifting weights on pull day.

Steps to perform a superman row:

1. Lie prone on the floor with your face down and arms straight in front of you.
2. Lift your chest slightly off the floor and pull your arms inside your torso.
3. Hold for a couple of seconds and extend your arms back to the start.

Pro Tips: Keep your lower body engaged during the movement and focus on contracting your back muscles when you bring your elbows in.

5. Plank Row

The bodyweight renegade row is good for building stability and improving foundational strength.

It involves keeping one hand on the floor while lifting the other at your side, engaging the lats, abs, and arms simultaneously.

Do this exercise if your goal is to build strength in the upper body while improving functional fitness.

Follow these steps to perform a bodyweight Renegade row:

1. Get into a high plank position with your arms straight below your shoulders.
2. Keep feet shoulder-width apart. Increase the width if you find it difficult to perform.
3. Lift your right hand off the floor and pull your elbow to your side.
4. Hold it for a moment, then lower it down and repeat on the opposite side.

Pro Tips: Your core should be tight and your back straight during the exercise.

6. Lying Y Raises

The lying Y raise is another pulling exercise you can do without equipment.

It targets the lats, shoulders, traps, and lower back, all at the same time, and helps make your torso flexible and upright.⁹ Hwang Byeong-Hun, Jeon In-Cheol. Correlation Analysis between Shoulder Abduction Angles and Normalized Muscle Activity of Scapular Muscles during Y-Raise Exercise with Elastic Resistance. J Musculoskelet Sci Technol 2025;9(1):44-50, ¹⁰Su-yeon Bae, Tae-hyeong Kim, In-cheol Jeon. Effectiveness of different bases of support during Y-raise exercises on upper and lower trapezius electromyographic activity in healthy male subjects. Journal of Men’s Health. 2025. 21(3);112-118.

It looks simple and easy, but improve your upper body fitness efficiently.

The Lying Y Raise involves the following steps:

1. Lie on the floor with your face down and arms out in front of you.
2. Keep your arms slightly wider, so your body looks like a Y letter from behind.
3. Lift your arms off the floor as high as possible until you feel the full contraction in your back muscles.
4. Hold your arms at the top for a couple of seconds before you lower them back on the floor.

Pro Tips: Keep your thighs and glutes engaged, always look down, and breathe throughout the entire exercise.

Other Y Raise Variations:

• Palms down Y raises (slightly different but good for pairing with the above variant).
• Resistance Band Y Raises (provides better results than the bodyweight variant)

7. Incline Towel Row

A towel can be a great tool for doing row exercises and building muscle. The towel row is an underrated pulling exercise that strengthens your back and makes your grip stronger (it’s even a better exercise for grip strength than the standard row).

It also strengthens your forearms and increases pulling strength and prepares you to perform pull-ups and chin-ups (both on rings and the bar) efficiently.

A Towel row involves the following steps:

1. Set the towel at a height higher than yours. You can attach the towel to your door or wrap it around a firm object.
2. Standing with your feet together, lean your torso back until your arms are straight.
3. Now, pull yourself toward the door until your working muscles are entirely engaged.
4. Pause and return to the start.

Pro Tips: Focus on muscle contraction to get the best results.

Towel Row Variations:

1. Parallel Towel Row (setting the towel at chest height)
2. Negative Towel Row (slowly lowering the body to the standing position)
3. Towel Face Row (good for stimulating posterior deltoids)
4. Isometric Towel Row (Pause at the top for 10 seconds during every rep)

8. Door Frame Rows

The door frame row is one of the easiest bodyweight pull exercises. You only need a sturdy door frame to perform this, no dip stand, no suspension straps,

It works on multiple muscles simultaneously, including the forearms, trapezius, posterior delts, and abdominals. It makes the upper body strong and functional without equipment.

The door frame row involves the following steps:

1. Grab the door frames and lean back until your arms are straight.
2. Standing with your feet together, pull yourself forward until your elbows are bent.
3. Pause for a moment and return to the start.

Pro Tips: Keep your arms in line with your shoulders and pull yourself in a controlled manner.

9. L Pull-Up

If you want to make your pull-up challenging, try an L-sit Pull-up.

The L-sit pull-up involves performing a traditional pull-up with an L-sit hold. It simultaneously trains the upper body (back, biceps, and forearms), core (abs and lower back), and hip flexors.

It’s good for developing strength and improving stability and body control.

Follow these steps to perform an L-sit Pull-up:

1. Hang onto the bar with your palms above it and hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Lift your legs up until they are parallel to the floor. Keep your arms straight and brace your abdominal muscles.
3. Now pull yourself up until your face reaches the bar height.
4. Staying in an L shape, lower into the start and repeat for suggested reps and sets.

Pro Tips: Keep your core engaged and maintain an L shape throughout the movement.

10. Lying T Raises

The lying T raises or reverse fly is an upper body exercise that involves lying prone and lifting your arms off the floor. It works on the rear delts, rhomboids, and traps and make the upper body flexible.

The lying reverse fly also improve posture and improve shoulder mobility.

It requires no equipment, just lie on the floor with your face down amd follow these steps:

1. Straighen your arms out to your sides, like your body forms a T-shape.
2. Lift your arms and chest off the floor until you feel the work in your targeted muscles.
3. Hold for a couple of seconds, and then lower your arms back on the floor.

Pro Tips: Keep your neck in a neutral position and your lower body engaged throughout the movement.

How to Program Bodyweight Pull Workouts

You’ve got the best bodyweight pull exercises, and now it’s time to make a routine so you can use them to build muscle and fitness.

Below, I’ll show you how many sets and reps you should perform for each exercise and how to make it more challenging.

Perform 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Program A (Equipment Based)

Push Day	Pull Day	Leg Day
Standard Push-ups	Superman Row	Standard Squats
Diamond Push-ups	Inverted Row	Lunges
Bar Dips	Pull-ups	Nordic Curl
Pike Push-ups	Chin-ups	Single Leg Deadlift
Bench Dips	Towel Rows	Calf Raises

Program B (Zero Equipment)

Push Day	Pull Day	Leg Day
Standard Push-ups	Superman Row	Standard Squats
Diamond Push-ups	Regedage Row	Lunges
Pike Push-ups	Towel Rows	Sumo Squats
Shoulder Taps	Door Frame Rows	Single Leg Deadlift
Chair Dips	Lying T Raises	Calf Raises

If you have any question regarding these exercises, just let me know through any medium, including email, Instagram or Facebook.

References

• 1
  Snarr RL, Hallmark AV, Casey JC, Esco MR. Electromyographical Comparison of a Traditional, Suspension Device, and Towel Pull-Up. J Hum Kinet. 2017 Aug 1;58:5-13. doi: 10.1515/hukin-2017-0068. PMID: 28828073; PMCID: PMC5548150.
• 2
  Hewit, Jennifer. (2018). A Comparison of Muscle Activation during the Pull-up and Three Alternative Pulling Exercises. Journal of Physical Fitness, Medicine & Treatment in Sports. 5. 10.19080/JPFMTS.2018.05.555669.
• 3
  Ronai, Peter MS, RCEP, CSCSD, NSCA-CPTD; Scibek, Eric MS, ATC, CSCS. The Pull-up. Strength and Conditioning Journal 36(3):p 88-90, June 2014. | DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000052
• 4
  Effects of hand-grip during the inverted row with and without a suspension device: An electromyographical investigation – Department of Kinesiology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA & Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science, Auburn University at Montgomery, AL, USA
• 5
  Youdas JW, Keith JM, Nonn DE, Squires AC, Hollman JH. Activation of Spinal Stabilizers and Shoulder Complex Muscles During an Inverted Row Using a Portable Pull-up Device and Body Weight Resistance. J Strength Cond Res. 2016 Jul;30(7):1933-41. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001210. PMID: 26422610
• 6
  Snarr, Ronald & Esco, Michael. (2013). Exercise Highlight: Inverted Row. Journal of Australian Strength and Conditioning. 21
• 7
  Doma K, Deakin GB, Ness KF. Kinematic and electromyographic comparisons between chin-ups and lat-pull down exercises. Sports Biomech. 2013 Sep;12(3):302-13. doi: 10.1080/14763141.2012.760204. PMID: 24245055
• 8
  Löfquist, I. (2017). Differences in muscle activity during the chin-up versus lat pulldown exercise. An electromyographic study.
• 9
  Hwang Byeong-Hun, Jeon In-Cheol. Correlation Analysis between Shoulder Abduction Angles and Normalized Muscle Activity of Scapular Muscles during Y-Raise Exercise with Elastic Resistance. J Musculoskelet Sci Technol 2025;9(1):44-50
• 10
  Su-yeon Bae, Tae-hyeong Kim, In-cheol Jeon. Effectiveness of different bases of support during Y-raise exercises on upper and lower trapezius electromyographic activity in healthy male subjects. Journal of Men’s Health. 2025. 21(3);112-118.