Sternum Pull-Ups: Ultimate Back Strength Pull-Up Challenge

This is one of the most challenging pull-up variations along with the muscle-up progression that you’ll ever see in your pulling career! 

Come along for the ride as we explore the sternum pull-up. From a simple how-to guide with visuals to the muscles worked, we’ve got a full analysis of this tricky upper back move. 

Get to know the best tips and tricks for pull-ups in the sternum variation and see how this move can benefit numerous elements of your overall health and fitness.  

First, let’s begin with a definition. 

What Are Sternum Pull-Ups? 

Sternum pull-ups are not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure!

This advanced variation on the traditional pull-up targets your upper back, biceps, and core muscles more intensely. 

The main difference between sternum pull-ups and regular pull-ups is your range of motion and the body's position at the top of the movement. In a sternum pull-up, your head tilts back, and you’re coming into an arched back position. 

This variation requires not only insane strength but more back mobility than your typical pull-up. 

Take a look at how to perform sternum pull-ups. 

How to Do Sternum Pull-Ups:

• et-Up: Start by holding your pull-up bar with an overhand grip. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Body Position: Lift yourself off the ground, letting your body come to a dead hang position, so it hangs straight down with your arms fully extended and your shoulders engaged.
• Action: Engage your lats and begin the pull-up by starting to pull your chest towards the bar. As you pull up, arch your back slightly and drop your head back. Try to bring your sternum (the middle of your chest) to the bar rather than just your chin or upper chest. The goal is to have your sternum just brush the bar, or come as close as you can get. Your elbows should be driving down and back, and your chest should be pointing upwards.
• Reverse: Lower your body back down to your dead hang with control, fully extending your arms at the bottom.
• Reps: Even one clean rep is something to be proud of! This is a challenging variation so aim for 2 sets of 5-10 clean reps while you’re a novice and progress from there. 

What Muscles Do Sternum Pull-Ups Work? 

Let’s see which muscles are involved in this exercise:

1. Latissimus Dorsi (Lats)

The main muscles at work in any pull-up variation are your latissimus dorsi. These are also known as “lats.” They allow you to pull your arms down and back.

2. Biceps Brachii

Your biceps are mainly responsible for bending your elbows, driving the motion that pulls you up to the bar. 

3. Trapezius (Traps)

The upper and middle fibers of your trapezius muscles engage as you pull your shoulder blades together and down. With the backbend at the top of your sternum pull-up variation, this type of shoulder blade movement becomes even more crucial. 

In this case, your traps have a bit more work to do than in other pull-up variations. 

4. Rhomboids

These small muscles sit between your shoulder blades. The rhomboids help retract the scapulae (pull your shoulder blades back, down, and in towards each other) as you pull.

This move also works a few secondary muscles. These include: 

• Rear Deltoids
• Pectoralis Major (Pecs)
• Teres Major
• Brachialis
• Core Muscles
• Forearms
• Erector Spinae:

With all these muscles at work, you can see that sternum pull-ups provide a comprehensive upper-body workout with a lot of muscular coordination involved. 

You can bet that this would provide a lot of benefits for your body. And we’ll explore the advantages of sternum pull-ups shortly. 

But first, let’s see what simple tricks you can employ to make this challenging move slightly easier for yourself. 

Sternum Pull-Ups— Tips and Tricks

Whether you consider yourself a pull-up master or tend to have more difficulty with this total body exercise, here are a few handy tricks you can use for sternum pull-ups.  

1. Warm Up Properly

This exercise is pretty much a shoulder and back mobility test in and of itself! Make sure to warm up your shoulders, arms, and back before attempting sternum pull-ups so you don’t get injured. 

Try cross-body arm swings to activate and awaken your shoulders before this move. 

You can also do a dowel or resistance band pullover. In this move, simply grab a wooden dowel or resistance band, holding it in front of your thighs with your palms facing toward you. 

Lift it up and all the way over your head, then down towards your backside so your palms face away from you.

 Bring your grip wider for an easier stretch or closer to really challenge your shoulders!

2. Engage Your Core

Do pull-ups work the abs? Although they’re not considered an abdominal exercise, your core does a ton of work to keep your body stable in any pull-up variation. Make sure your core stays tight throughout this movement to maintain proper body alignment.

3. Start Slow

This is an advanced variation, only meant for those who feel comfortable doing full sets of regular pull-ups. 

If you're new to this exercise, start with a few repetitions and gradually increase as your strength improves. 

A good benchmark for when to progress to sternum pull-ups is once you’re comfortably able to do at least 3 sets of 10 clean reps of traditional pull-ups. 

4. Progress Gradually

You might need to work on your overall pull-up strength before attempting sternum pull-ups. Don’t be scared to start with other pull-up progression exercises to build up your strength. 

Chin-ups for biceps are a great introductory step to pull-ups. This pull day workout exercise puts more emphasis on arm strength than lat strength (your back), which makes them easier for most than full pull-ups. 

You can also use assisted pull-ups with resistance bands or a machine as a pull-up alternative. 

Whether you are able to perform sternum pull-ups for multiple reps of just beginning, this exercise has many health, strength, and mobility benefits. 

Take a look down below for the top advantages you can gain from sternum pull-ups.  

Benefits of Sternum Pull-Ups 

Now it’s time to check out the benefits of sternum pull-ups. Let’s see how this exercise works your body.

1. Upper Back Strength

This move targets the upper back muscles more effectively than standard pull-ups. Because you’re backbending slightly at the top, the muscles need to do more work to move your spine and head into a backward lean. 

Backbends for a healthy spine can help you build functional strength in your neck and upper back muscles. 

2. Core Stability

In this exercise, you need a solid core to maintain proper form. As a warm-up, you may want to consider including abdominal exercises in your workout routine along with shoulder mobility. 

3. Increased Range of Motion

Compared to a traditional pull-up, this move gives you greater mobility and flexibility around your shoulders and upper back.

FAQs

#1 Are Sternum Pull-ups or Muscle-Ups Harder? 

This depends on what your “sticking point” or area of most difficulty is in your pull-ups. Muscle-ups, which basically combine a pull-up and a dip require momentum to power you over the bar and recruit more tricep strength. 

On the other hand, sternum pull-ups employ a slight backbend. 

If you find back mobility is your main issue, this variation may be harder. If you lack strength in your triceps that’s needed for the dip portion of a muscle-up or find yourself failing on this move when it comes time to drive yourself up and over the bar, a muscle-up would be more of a challenge. 

For most athletes and gymgoers, the muscle-up is the harder move. Single-arm pull-ups and side-to-side archer pull-ups are also cited among the hardest pull-up variations! 

#2 Can Sternum Pull-Ups Cause Pain?

Pretty much any exercise can be painful if you’re not ready for the progression, improperly warmed up or performing the move with poor technique! 

If you follow the tips in this guide: start slow, and work through simpler pull-up progressions like dead hands, chin-ups and assisted pull-ups first, you should be able to work towards pain-free sternum pull-ups over time. 

Doing other moves like mid-back exercises and cable back workouts to strengthen your back in a less demanding way, as well as stretching your back will help you gain both the mobility and strength you need for sternum pull-ups.   

Big Picture

Sternum pull-ups are an excellent way to challenge your upper body strength and improve your overall pull-up performance. 

This is an advanced pull-up variation, mainly targeting the latissimus dorsi (“lats”). Sternum pull-ups can give you a more aesthetically pleasing upper body as well as better shoulder strength and mobility. 

Because of the slight back bend, they can help mobilize your spine for better posture and back health. They also increase your core stability and range of motion by working outside the confines of a traditional pull-up. 

Make sure you can comfortably complete several sets of traditional pull-ups before attempting sternum pull-ups. We recommend feeling at ease with at least 3 sets of 10 regular pull-up reps before trying this move. 

For beginner variations, try dead hangs, chin-ups or resistance band-assisted pull-ups. Any of these pull-up progressions are a great way to start building a stronger, pain-free and physically attractive back. 

References

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