What happens when you take one of the most difficult bodyweight movements and make it even harder? Enter the pin pull-up.

A variation on the traditional pull-up, pin pull-ups force your muscles to work harder by removing momentum and making every rep start from a dead stop. Add an isometric hold at the top and you’ve got a serious test of pulling strength.

‘This is potentially one of the greatest exercises to break through a plateau,’ strength coach Gavin McCoy said in a recent Instagram Reel. ‘You start each rep from a dead stop off safety pins (or blocks) rather than hanging freely. This removes the stretch reflex and forces true strength out of the bottom position.’

• Reach up and grasp the bar with an overhand grip. If you can’t reach comfortably from the floor, use a box, bench or stacked plates so you can start each rep from a supported dead stop rather than a free hang.
• Wrap your hands firmly around the bar and squeeze hard.
• Brace your abs and glutes to create full-body tension, then pull your shoulder blades down and back.
• Drive your elbows down and back as you pull your chest towards the bar. Don’t jump or use momentum – generate the force through your back and arms.
• Pause at the top for a couple of seconds, squeezing hard before lowering yourself under control back to the starting position.
• You can add external weight for an additional challenge, as demonstrated in McCoy’s Reel.

1. Build Explosive Pulling Strength

Starting from a dead stop removes momentum and reduces assistance from the stretch-shortening cycle, forcing your pulling muscles to generate force from scratch.

‘Because there’s no momentum, you build pure concentric strength — great for improving your first pull and overall pulling power,’ McCoy explains.

2. Train with More Intent

Instead of powering through long sets as your form deteriorates, briefly resetting between reps gives you the chance to brace properly and attack each pull with more intent.

‘Each rep starts fresh, helping you nail consistent form and reduce sloppy swinging or kipping,’ he says. ‘Since you reset every rep, you can train with more intent and less joint strain compared to doing long sets of kipping or momentum-driven pull-ups.’

3. Build Your Back and Grip

The main muscles worked are much the same as with a regular pull-up. The movement targets your lats, upper back and grip, while your core and glutes work to keep your body rigid throughout each rep.

4. Attack Your Weakest Range

‘If you usually struggle at the bottom of a pull-up, pin pull-ups target that exact range — helping you break sticking points,’ McCoy adds.

Because every rep starts from a dead stop, you can’t rely on momentum to carry you through the weakest portion of the movement. That makes pin pull-ups particularly useful for strengthening the initial pull. The pause at the top also adds another challenge, demanding control and strength at the opposite end of the rep.

5. Build Transferable Power

‘That ability to produce force from a dead stop translates to explosive power in sprinting, grappling, climbing, and even Olympic lifting pulls,’ he says.

Pin pull-ups are a good example of the dead-stop method, where the working muscles have to produce force without the help of momentum. For lifters looking to improve their pulling power, that makes them a useful variation to rotate into training when standard pull-ups have started to plateau.

If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.