maratoolScapular Pull-Up
How to do the scapular pull-up
- Take a pronated grip on a pull-up bar.
- From a hanging position, raise yourself a few inches without using your arms. Do this by depressing your shoulder girdle in a reverse shrugging motion.
- Pause at the completion of the movement, and then slowly return to the starting position before performing more repetitions.
Muscles worked
The prime mover is the trapezius, which shrugs the shoulder blade up, rotates it, and pulls it back down.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the lats keep the upper arm drawn in toward the torso; the mid-back retracts the shoulder blades so the shoulder has something solid to work from.
Every exercise for:TrapsLatsMiddle back
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
These train the traps too, using equipment this one does not:
- Shoulder Shrugsdumbbell
- Smith Machine Behind the Back Shrugmachine
- Smith Machine Upright Rowsmith machine + machine
- Snatch Shrugbarbell
- Upright Cable Rowcable
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 18 traps exercises in this database, 12 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.