How to One Arm Pull Up | Progressions and Tips for Building Singular Strength

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Doing a one arm pull up is hard. Really hard. Which is why it's one of the most impressive skills to achieve. For most people, it requires an Elite level of pulling strength that takes multiple years to develop. However, if you're willing to put in the work and train smart, you can definitely get there. Before we get into it, let's cover some background info and some common questions.

Relative Strength

Relative strength (how strong you are relative to your body weight) is what the one arm pull up is all about. So what you weigh determines just how hard the one arm pull up will be for you. What this means is you definitely want to keep your body fat percentage down at least in the Good range (12-16% for males, 24-28% for females), but ideally in the Excellent range (8-12% for males, 20-24% for females). Any lower you risk losing some strength, any higher is just extra weight not helping you lift yourself. While training for the one arm pull up, it's fine to be higher. However, those extra pounds make a big difference when actually attempting it. For more info on body fat percentage and body composition, check out our Body Fat % Calculator or find your Body Composition Rank.

This also means that taller and heavier people will have a harder time getting a one arm pull up. While absolute strength (strength regardless of body weight) generally increases with height and weight, relative strength generally decreases. What this means in practice is that some people will progress faster toward the one arm pull up while others will have to work a bit harder. Check out the Relative Strength Calculator page for more info.

How long will it take to learn the one arm pull up?

It really depends. There are so many factors like your current level of pulling strength, height, weight, diet, and gender that all play a part in how long it will take. However, as a rough estimate for reference, it will take 4+ years for the average adult to go from not being able to even do a normal pull up to learning the one arm pull up.

How impressive is a one arm pull up?

Very impressive. An incredibly small percentage of people in the world can do a one arm pull up. What can make it an even more impressive display of strength is if the trainee is tall, heavy, or female. All of these factors make the one arm pull up harder to achieve. To get an idea of where the one arm pull up is in difficulty for you, check out the Strength Standards page.

Can I do other exercises while working towards a one arm pull up?

Yes, definitely. It's even recommended as doing so helps avoid muscular imbalances, which lead to higher risk of injury. Working towards one arm pull ups as part of a balanced strength program is ideal. However, just doing some upper body pushing exercises, like push ups, in tandem with the one arm pull up progressions would help with joint balance, the most important type of muscular balance.

How do I start working towards a one arm pull up?

By using the progression exercises outlined below. Check out each section to see where you should start based on your current level of fitness.

Mastering the Standard Pull Up (Beginner/Novice)

If you can't do a set of at least 10 standard pull ups yet, this is where you want to start. For this portion of your training, you'll want to do 2-3 sessions a week of 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps. To progress, try to do more total reps than last session. You'll only be doing one of the below exercises each session. Start with the one you can do for at least 3 sets of 5 reps. Once you're able to do at least 3 sets of 10 reps with that exercise, move up to the next exercise in the progression.

Inverted Row : A great foundational back exercise. If the standard version is too difficult to do 5 reps with, bend your knees rather than keeping your legs straight.
Pull Up Negatives : Helps bridge the gap between full pull ups and rows. Doing just the eccentric portion has a similar training effect to doing a full pull up.
Pull Ups : Standard pull ups

Making it Harder (Intermediate/Advanced)

Once you've mastered the standard pull up (can do a few sets of 10 reps), there are several different ways to continue to build up to the one arm pull up. They each work, so pick the one that works best for you. Don't feel like you have to do just one though. It's a good idea to vary your training, especially as you become more advanced. In each case, we're building up the strength needed to move on to unassisted one arm exercises.

Some Notes on Programming

At some point in this part of the progression you'll likely need to switch to a more intermediate/advanced style of programming. What this means is rather than following the same rep scheme every session, you might have each session of the week have a different focus. For example, you might have one session where you use a less intense exercise, but do more reps and another session where you do a harder exercise for lower reps.

The recommended frequency, sets, and reps stays pretty much the same. Try for 2-3 sessions each week, doing 3-5 sets of 5-10 reps. Tying into the more intermediate progamming mentioned above, one session might be 3 sets of 6 reps with a more difficult progression while the next session might be 5 sets of 10 reps with an easier progression.

In terms of general progression and tracking your progress, try to add either more difficulty or reps each session. However, recovery is important. Not only for your progress, but for your health, especially your tendon health. Tendinitis is a common injury when training for the one arm pull up. To avoid it, train smart. Don't push yourself too hard and try to progress to fast without taking enough time to recover. Try to take at least a day off in between sessions. Listen to your body and feel free to take a longer break. An injury will most often set you back much more than taking a little extra time off to recover.

Option 1: Weighted Pull Ups

By far the simplest and most straightforward method. Using a dip belt and plates is recommended, but weight can be added with a weighted vest or by holding a dumbbell between the knees for a while. Once you can do a pull up with about 70% of your body weight added, start transitioning to doing more one arm specific work. If you'd rather not test your one rep max, use our Rep Max Calculator.

Option 2: Uneven Grip

Requires the least amount of additional equipment and is more similar to the one arm pull up than just doing weighted pull ups. The downside is that it's harder to track as precisely. This method can be done with no additional equipment with Archer Pull Ups or by holding onto the bar with one hand and your arm with the other. You can also hang a towel or resistance band over the bar, holding onto that with one hand and the bar with the other. In either case, your primary pulling arm will be the one on the bar and you'll use to other one to assist it. The goal is to use less and less assistance as you progress. To do so, simply grab lower on your arm or band/towel. This will limit how much the assisting arm can help.

With this method, be sure to alternate arms between sets and keep them equal. For example, if you did a set of 6 with your right arm as the primary pulling arm, be sure on your next set to do 6 reps with your left arm as the primary pulling arm.

Knowing when to transition to one arm negatives is a bit more by feel with this method. As your assisting arm gets lower and lower, you'll get a sense of how much of your weight your primary pulling arm is holding. Once you feel like you can support yourself without any assistance, try dropping the assistance arm at the top of a rep and see how it feels.

Option 3: Assisted

Requires a machine or special set up, but is the most similar to actually doing a one arm pull up. This one, while probably the best, is not necessarily convenient or even possible for everyone. You would need an assisted pull up machine, a pulley set up, or enough resistance bands of varying strengths.

With this method, there's technically no need to transition to the one arm section. However, once you're only assisting yourself by about 15% of your body weight, you could start working in some unassisted one arm exercises.

Hanging Out

During this part of the progression, working on your one arm hang is important for developing the grip strength and shoulder stability needed for later. Try to incorporate some one arm hangs into your training and work up to a 20-30 second hold with each arm.

One Arm (Advanced+)

Once you can do one arm negatives, you can start to shift your training from your previous progression to incorporating more one arm work. One arm work can taxing and intense. Try to keep the reps between 4 and 6 and only do 2 to 3 sets per side. That way, you're not going to intense for your tendons and not doing too much volume as to fatigue you too much.

One Arm Negatives : Pull yourself up with two arms, drop one, and then lower yourself under control.
One Arm Lock Offs : Pull yourself up with two arms, drop one, and then try to hold yourself at a certain point in the rep.
One Arm Chin Up : Pull yourself up with one arm so that your palm is facing you. Slightly easier than the one arm pull, the chin up allows you to use your bicep more and puts you in a more advantageous pulling position. Once you can do these, work towards rotating less as your pull yourself up.
One Arm Pull Up : Pull yourself up with one arm so that your palm is facing away from you. If you've gotten to this point, congratulations! You're now part of a very small percentage of people who have pulled this off.

Singular Strength

The one armed pull up is an undeniably impressive display of strength. Some of the progressions along the way are even quite impressive. I hope this article helps you on your way to getting this challenging skill. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about this article, let us know by following the contact link in the footer below.