Bar Pullover

The bar pullover is the classic way to get onto a bar from a dead hang. You pull the bar toward your hips while rotating your body up and over it, finishing in a support position on top. It's a foundational bar skill: once you can pull over, the whole world of bar work above the bar opens up.

It's a good way to get into a position to train Muscle-Up Negative.

It looks intimidating, but it's mostly about coordination and committing to the rotation rather than raw strength. If you can hold a solid dead hang and you've started working pull-ups, you have enough to begin learning the pullover with a little leg drive to help you around.

How to do it

Start in a hang with an overhand grip, hands around shoulder width. Pull the bar down toward your waist and at the same time lift your hips and bring your knees up toward the bar, so your body starts to rotate around it. As your hips reach the bar, keep pulling and let your upper body rotate forward and over the top. Finish by pressing your arms straight so you end in a support position, arms locked, hips resting against the bar. Reverse the movement under control to come back down.

If you can't get over from a dead hang yet, build up to it in stages:

• Kicking pullover - drive one leg up hard to give yourself momentum around the bar while you learn the rotation.
• Lift-ups - from a hang, practice pulling your hips up to the bar without going all the way over, to build the pulling strength.
• Modified ice cream maker - lower slowly from the support position back to a hang to train the rotation in reverse.
• Dead hang pullover - the full version with no leg kick, pulling over from a still hang once you're strong enough.

More information here:

Video by Simonster Strength

Key tips

• Pull the bar toward your hips, not just down - it's the hips meeting the bar that lets you rotate over
• Keep the bar close to your body throughout. Letting it drift away kills the rotation
• Use a leg kick to learn the movement, then gradually remove it as you get stronger
• Lower slowly on the way back down to build the strength for the dead hang version
• Keep a firm grip and locked arms in the support position at the top