Narrow Top Half Pull-up

The Narrow Top Half Pull-up targets your upper back and biceps while improving your pulling strength.

  1. Start by hanging from a pull-up bar with a narrow grip.
  2. Engage your core and pull your chin above the bar, focusing on the top half of the movement.
  3. Hold for a moment, then lower yourself back to the starting position.

How to perform the Narrow Top Half Pull-up

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Narrow Top Half Pull-up using your body weight.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your latissimus dorsi.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your latissimus dorsi rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

Build a free routine

Stage exercises here, then sign up to save them as a real Fitly routine — synced to web and mobile.

View staged routine (0)

Related exercises

0 exercises staged Save your routine — sign up free.