When you think of how to make the standard strict pull-up more challenging, most
people immediately think to just add weight. Pro tip: master the following bodyweight
only pull-up variations first. Not only will you reap some serious strength and size gains,
you will take your pull-up game to the next level too.
 

1) Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up:

Strength is gained in the range that it is trained. If you
only do chin-over-bar pull-ups you’re neglecting a considerable range of motion,
thus neglecting a considerable amount of muscle and strength development. If
you cannot perform a chest-bar-pull-up at bodyweight, no need to concern
yourself with weighted chin-over-bar pull-ups. Keep it simple and just pull
yourself higher each rep.
 

2) Wide Grip Pull-up:

Another simple way to make the strict pull-up harder, just
widen your grip. A proper wide grip strict pull-up is significantly more challenging
than a shoulder width grip pull-up. Want that V-taper look? Make these a staple
in your program and just watch your lats grow. Bonus: if you’re really strong, try
strict wide grip chest-to-bar pull-ups.
 

3) Strict Pull-Up w/straight legs:

Simply by changing from knees bent/feet behind
your body to legs straight/feet in front of your body you increase the difficulty of
the strict pull-up significantly.
 

4) Strict Pull-Up w/knees up:

If you’re up for a real challenge, perform full range of
motion strict pull-ups holding your knees up in front of your body. Try not to let
your knees drop at all when you first start the rep. Easier said than done. This
pull-up variation really isolates the lats and builds tremendous strength at the
very bottom of the rep.
 

5) L Pull-Ups:

Definitely one of the most challenging pull-up variations. The L pull-
up requires a lot of requisite strength in the abs, hip flexors, and quads. But if
you’ve mastered the aforementioned progressions, these are entirely possible.
Before you ever worry about doing weighted pull-ups, I encourage you to master your
bodyweight pull-ups first. Getting leaner helps tremendously, no sense in adding
external weight if you’re already hanging on to some extra lbs of body fat right?