3 months

Do your first pull-up in 3 months

3 sessions a week, 20–30 minutes

This is the version for people who can't hang from a bar for ten seconds yet, or who have never pulled their own bodyweight anywhere. Twelve weeks is not a padded eight — the shape of the plan is different. You don't touch negatives until week eight, because a negative done with no base is just a controlled fall that beats up your elbows.

The first month is unglamorous and that's the point. Grip, shoulder blades, and horizontal rows. People fail this goal by skipping straight to the thing they want to do, feeling weak, and quitting inside a fortnight.

The protocol

  1. Weeks 1–2

    Build a hang

    • Three sessions: 5 hangs, each stopping 3 seconds before your grip gives out. Start with a step under the bar so you can bail easily.
    • 3 sets of 8 scapular pulls, one-second pause at the bottom of each shrug.
    • 3 sets of 10 inverted rows with your body at 45 degrees. Slow, two seconds down.
  2. Weeks 3–4

    Rows get horizontal

    • Rows: 4 sets of 8 with your feet on the floor and your body nearly flat under the bar. This is the single best predictor of a pull-up.
    • Hangs: 4 sets, aiming to reach 30 seconds by the end of week 4.
    • Add 3 sets of 8 band pull-aparts or face pulls to keep the back of your shoulders in the conversation.
  3. Weeks 5–6

    The band ladder starts

    • Band-assisted pull-ups with your thickest band: 4 sets of 6, one-second pause with your chin over the bar.
    • Keep rows at 3 sets of 8, feet elevated on a low box.
    • Hangs move to the end of the session, 3 sets to near-failure. Grip should no longer be what stops you.
  4. Week 7

    Deload on purpose

    • Halve every set count. Two sets of everything, nothing near failure.
    • This is where the last six weeks actually turn into strength. Skipping it is the most common mistake in the whole plan.
    • Use the spare time to check your bar height — you should be able to hang without tucking your legs awkwardly.
  5. Weeks 8–9

    Thinner band, first negatives

    • Band-assisted: 4 sets of 5 with a band one size thinner. If you can't get 5, the band is too thin.
    • Negatives enter: 3 sets of 3 with a 5-second lower, at the end of the session.
    • Rows: 3 sets of 8, feet elevated, two-second pause with the bar at your chest.
  6. Weeks 10–11

    Attempts and slow lowers

    • One full attempt from a dead hang at the start of every session, completely fresh.
    • Negatives: 4 sets of 2 with an 8-second lower. Stop the set the moment you lose control.
    • Thinnest band, 3 sets of 5. Drop rows to 2 sets — the pulling volume is coming from elsewhere now.
  7. Week 12

    Test it, then keep it

    • One light session on Monday: hangs and rows only. Rest Tuesday and Wednesday.
    • Test on Thursday. Warm up, then pull with your elbows driving down to your ribs.
    • Whether it lands or not, keep two pull-up sessions a week. First reps are lost faster than they're earned.

How you'll know it's working

  • You can hang for a minute and your hands are no longer the limiting factor.
  • A flat-body inverted row for 8 clean reps stops feeling like a challenge.
  • The thinnest band you own starts feeling like it's barely doing anything.

When you miss a day

Twelve weeks has slack designed into it, so a missed week shifts the calendar right rather than erasing anything. If life eats a fortnight, restart at the beginning of the last block you finished — a deload you didn't plan is still a deload.

How Mosey helps

You don't have to hold the plan in your head.

Reading a protocol is the easy part. Mosey turns this one into scheduled days, adjusts it when your week falls apart, and keeps the streak alive while it does.

Request Early Access
12 day streak 2 mosey-days left

Life happened on Wednesday. I trimmed Thursday down — the plan still lands on time.

Questions

Why no negatives until week 8?

Because lowering your full bodyweight is harder than lifting a submaximal one. Doing them before you have hang and row strength is how people get sore elbows and stall for a month.

I don't have a pull-up bar. What now?

A doorway bar costs less than a month of gym membership and covers every exercise here except band-assisted work, which needs headroom. Rows can be done under a heavy table with a towel.

Should I lose weight at the same time?

If you have weight to lose, it helps a lot and it makes the strength work feel like it's paying off faster. Don't cut so hard that your sessions fall apart, though — you need to recover from them.

What if I hit it at week 8?

Then take it. Move to two or three singles a session, keep the rows, and start building toward five reps.

Related protocols

8 weeks Do your first pull-up 3 sessions a week, 15–25 minutes 30 days Do 20 push-ups in a row 5 short sessions a week, 8–12 minutes 8 weeks Do 20 push-ups in a row 3 sessions a week, 15–20 minutes 30 days Hold a 2-minute plank 5 days a week, 6–10 minutes 30 days Touch your toes 10 minutes a day, most days 8 weeks Touch your toes 4–5 sessions a week, 12–15 minutes
See all protocols

Early access

Start this one with Mosey.

We're opening in small waves. Leave your email and we'll come and get you.