The standard bar pull-up is a great exercise but it can cause shoulder pain by locking the hands onto the bar in a pronated position.
This creates some degree of torque in the shoulder joints, which can potentially lead to issues in the long term, especially if you're doing a fairly high-volume or high-frequency program (or if your shoulders are rubbish already).
Using a setup that allows your hands and shoulders to shift a little bit (to find their optimal position) while using a neutral grip is a lot more friendly on the shoulder joints, especially if you want to do a lot of pull-ups.
This setup uses a pair of handle plates set on a bar high in the power rack.
Why Not Do Ring Pull-Ups or Neutral Handle Pull-Ups?
You absolutely can. Nobody is saying you can't!
Nothing precludes you from doing either of those excellent variations...other than not having rings or a neutral handle pull-up setup, of course!
That's where THIS setup comes into play.
It allows you to do neutral-grip pull-ups when you don't have rings or neutral handles.
This version gives you a degree of movement in the hands/shoulders, due to the rotation potential of the plates, to get you a bit of freedom of movement in the shoulder joints (similar to rings).
However, it's more stable than rings, allowing you to focus on just pulling up rather than trying to balance the rings.
This makes it more like a cross between rings and solid handles, giving you many of the benefits of both.
The Setup for Plate Handle Pull-Ups
It's very simple...just set the J hooks of the rack as high as you can and set an Olympic bar on them.
Put two handle plates on one end (with some separation and with a collar on the outside end), then a few plates on the other side to counterbalance those plates plus your bodyweight. I've got 3 plates on the other end and that was plenty.
(If you don't have handle plates, you can still do this exercise, but it'll turn into more of a forearm/grip workout as you'll have to pinch grip the plates. The lips of those plates should be facing outwards from the center (where your body is) so that your fingers can grip around them.)
Grab the handles, bend your knees and you're ready to go.
Then just perform a neutral-grip pull-up.
That's it! Just work it like you would a normal pull-up...the only difference is the setup.
If you happen to have a wall nearby, you can extend the set by putting your feet up on it and making it into an inverted row for a couple of reps, after you've done as many pull-ups as you can.
This is, of course, not something that will be available with every setup, but you have it, it's an idea for you to try.
Plate Handle Inverted Rows
Now, if you're not yet strong enough to do pull-ups or if you want to shift the focus of the exercise to a horizontal pull, you can just lower the bar and do these as Inverted Rows.
These can be done with your feet on the floor, feet on a bench, feet on a wall... whatever you like and at whatever height you like.
You get the same "freedom of movement" and neutral grip benefits as the pull-up.
Overall, this is a very simple and very effective setup for performing pull-ups while minimizing torque on the shoulder joints.
Share This Page...
Want More Exercises Like This?
You'll find them here...
Support