# Rack Pull: how to do it

- Main muscles: lower back, traps, glutes
- Also works: hamstrings, forearms
- Equipment: barbell
- Level: intermediate
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/rack_pull/43ef0c9baf/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Set the bar on the pins just below your knees and stand with feet hip-width apart.
2. Push your hips back and grip the bar just outside your legs.
3. Flatten your back, lift your chest and brace your stomach.
4. Drag the bar up your thighs and push your hips forward to stand tall.
5. Push your hips back and lower the bar to the pins gently.

## Cues

- Bar stays on your legs.
- Hips through to finish.
- Stand tall, no lean back.

## Common mistakes

- Rounding your back: brace before you pull and lighten the load.
- Jerking the bar off the pins: take the slack out first, then squeeze it up.
- Leaning back at the top: stop when you are standing straight.

## Starting position

Bar resting on power-rack safety pins (or plates on blocks) with the bar 5–8 cm below the bottom of the kneecaps: about 40–43 cm off the floor for a 1.75 m athlete. Conventional stance: feet under the hips (ankle centres about 26 cm apart), toes out slightly (about 10°), shins touching or within 2 cm of the bar, bar over the middle of the foot. Overhand grip (mixed allowed) just outside the legs, about 1.2–1.4 × shoulder width, arms straight.

## The movement

The bar drags straight up the thighs over the middle of the foot, within 2 cm of the legs. Hips and knees straighten together, the hips driving forward to finish. Lowering reverses it: hips back first, bar sliding down the thighs, set down on the pins gently without a bounce.

## End position

Standing tall, hips and knees straight (0°), shoulders back, bar against the top of the thighs at arm's length. No lean back and no shrug at the top. Hold 0.5 s.

## Tempo

Bar on the pins 0.5 s / lift 1.2 s / lockout 0.5 s / lower 1.8 s.

## Form in numbers

| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bar start height | 6 cm below the kneecap | 5–8 cm below (40–43 cm off the floor) |  |
| Bar over the foot | mid-foot | bar x-range under 3 cm over the rep |  |
| Bar to legs gap | 0–1 cm | 0–2 cm |  |
| Shin angle at the start | 3° | 0–5° |  |
| Hip and knee extension at lockout | 0° | −5 to 0° (no lean back) |  |
| Grip width | 1.3 × shoulder width | 1.2–1.4 × |  |

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/rack-pull