Typewriter pull-ups

Who it's for

Climbers who can already do several clean pull-ups and want lock-off strength at the top of the range, where most hard climbing actually happens. The sideways travel also loads each arm unevenly, which is closer to climbing than a symmetrical pull-up.

Common mistakes

• Sagging in the middle of the traverse. The chin stays high the whole way across. Dropping and re-pulling is two half reps, not one good one.
• Swinging through. Slow and controlled. If momentum is carrying you sideways the exercise is doing nothing.
• Hands too close. Roughly twice shoulder width. Narrow grip removes the range that makes this worth doing.
• Loose core. Legs together, ribs down. A dangling lower body turns this into a shoulder exercise.
• Chasing reps. Three clean reps beat six that get progressively shorter.

How to progress

Add range first: get all the way to each hand with a straight opposite arm. Then add reps to five, then sets. Once four sets of five are clean, add weight rather than more reps. A useful stepping stone if one-arm pull-ups are the long-term goal.