False Grip Pull Up – UPDATED 2022 – A Complete Guide

Pull-ups are a versatile exercise that can be done in many different ways in 2022 and can benefit different muscles depending on the variations you do. They can be a good measure of progress as they’re an equal test of endurance and strength.

There are so many updated variations of the pull-up that you probably haven’t heard of most of them, despite some of the more obscure ones having the most benefits.
One of these is the false grip pull-up. This is a gym ring or pull-up bar exercise that adds a new level of challenge to the basic pull-up.

Interested? Here is a complete guide to the false grip pull-up with how to do it, benefits, muscles worked and more!

 

False Grip Pull Up – A Complete Guide

The false grip pull-up is an exercise that uses gym rings but can also be done using a pull-up bar, and depending on the equipment you use it can provide a different challenge.

This pull-up gets its name from the way you hold onto the ring or bar. Instead of using your palm with your fingers curled around the instrument like a regular pull-up, you mostly hold onto it with the crease of your wrist.

This means that it’s an exercise requiring a lot of wrist strength, but at the same time can help to build this muscle. Since your wrist is fully supporting your weight while you pull up on the bar it requires preparation and caution to do properly.

Your wrist muscles, especially the tendons, can be sensitive to injury and you’ve probably heard of unfortunate and nasty ones like a tendon snapping. By mastering the false grip pull-up, you can reduce your likelihood of seriously injuring your wrist.

Here are the steps and a full guide to the false grip pull-up:

1. Stand in front of the bar or set of rings you’ll be using for the pull-up.
2. Place your hands either inside of the ring or over the top of the bar, with your wrists resting at the top and the rest of your fingers flopped over the other side.
3. Flex your forearm so that you have a grip on the bar and begin to pull up as usual while keeping this grip.
4. Repeat for as many reps as you want to do. Make sure to maintain the tension between your wrist and the bar/rings.

False Grip in Calisthenics – What You Should Know?

If you’re invested in calisthenics training, then you might have heard about the false grip before. The reason that the false grip in calisthenics is talked about so often is that for many, it’s considered the only way to do pull-ups and other bar or ring exercises that usually require grip strength.

False grips can give you the most leverage when it comes to pull-ups because your hand has less opportunity to shift, and you don’t need to twist it to pull yourself up. Twisting your hand with a traditional grip can also be more taxing, wearing you out before you even do that many pull-ups.

The false grip in calisthenics eliminated this problem by keeping a secure, steady grip on the bar. You might need to adjust a little bit at first but once you get to that sweet spot, your pull-ups will be more efficient and faster than with a regular grip.

 

False Grip Pull Up Progression

At first, the false grip might not feel natural to do – that’s expected because it’s quite an untraditional hold on the bar.

That’s why false grip pull-up progression is essential to ease yourself into this new way of doing pull-ups. Like with any new technique, there might be a small transition period which you can help to make smoother by using some exercises in between false grip pull-ups.

For example, before you do pull-ups you should try to just hang from the bar using the false grip. Try and find the position on the bar that’s the most comfortable for you and hold the hang for longer each time you try.

You can also try the false grip with just one hand while maintaining a traditional grip with the other. Again, you should just be doing hangs this way, but it can help to focus on perfecting the false grip while still having the support of your other hand in case you slip.

False Grip Dead Hang

Dead hang pull-ups are a new technique for pull-ups that are more beneficial than standard chest-level pull-ups…so what if we combine that with the false grip and create the false grip dead hang pullups?

These already exist and are praised by calisthenics pros and enthusiasts as the “ultimate” pull-up. To do the false grip dead hang, you just need to hold the bar using a false grip and then drop yourself down to a dead hang position.

From here, you should do regular dead hang pull-ups while maintaining that false grip, focusing on the friction between the bar and your wrist to maintain the optimal grip.

False Grip Pull Up Bar & Rings

When doing a false grip pull-up, you have a couple of different options depending on the equipment you have access to. There are two variations of the false grip pull-up: bar & rings.

If you have gym rings installed in your home gym already or have easy access to them elsewhere, then you should try the false grip pull-up on them. Because of the curvature of the rings, you’ll have an easier time with the false grip.

This is because the false grip follows the natural curvature of your wrist and the rest of your hand.
If you just have a pull-up bar, then the false grip is still very doable. It can be easier for beginners, as you don’t need to worry about rings being unstable and hard to get started with if you have no prior experience with them.

False Grip Pull Up – Closing Thoughts

If you hadn’t heard of the false grip pull-up before this guide, then we hope you have a better idea of the benefits and how you can try it out to improve your workouts.

If you’re looking for more techniques and alternatives to the false grip pull-ups, then we have plenty of complete guides, workouts, routines, and more all updated for 2022.