26 Nov The McGill Pull-Up: One Rep, Maximum Intent.
Article Rundown
- The McGill Pull-Up builds explosive strength using perfect singles instead of high-rep fatigue.
- Every rep starts with the lobster claw grip to create full-body stiffness and irradiation.
- Precision matters more than volume—relax, reset, and explode with maximum intent each rep.
- This drill builds real capacity and three-dimensional back strength without unnecessary wear and tear.
One Rep, Maximum Intent
In this breakdown, I’m revisiting my early pull-up work with Dr. Stuart McGill and showing exactly what the “McGill Pull-Up” is, why we use it, and how it builds explosive upper-back strength without the unnecessary wear and tear of traditional high-rep pull-up training. This video was actually the first time McGill had ever watched me perform a pull-up, and I approached it like a complete beginner—full attention on the coaching cues and the technique that would eventually become a staple in my rebuild.
It All Starts With the Grip
The McGill Pull-Up begins with what Stu calls the lobster claw: the thumb and index finger clamping around the bar with intent. That grip matters because the harder you crush the bar, the more irradiation you create through the entire upper body. A crushing grip “centrates” the strength and gathers stiffness into the region you’re trying to use. If your grip is lazy, your entire lift becomes lazy, and in an exercise built on maximum effort singles, there’s no room for that. In this drill, full-body tension starts at the hands and works downward.
Why Singles Beat Sets of Ten
At the time this video was filmed, I weighed around 285 pounds. Sets of ten pull-ups weren’t just unnecessary—they came with a much higher risk and very little reward. For bigger athletes, special operators, linemen, fighters, and anyone who depends on performance without grinding their joints into dust, high-rep pull-ups can be a poor return on investment. Instead, we focus on singles or doubles executed with one hundred percent neural drive and full reset in between. Over time, this builds capacity through perfect, explosive reps rather than sloppy reps accumulated under fatigue. When I trained this method consistently, I worked up to thirty doubles performed within minutes, changing grips each rep and maintaining sharpness throughout. And any time I needed to test a traditional set of ten or twelve, the strength was always there—even at 290 pounds—not because I practiced big sets, but because I had built the capacity for them.
Relax, Reset, Explode
Between reps you’ll see me do what we jokingly call the fat tongue—just a relaxation technique to drop tension, reset the neurology, and focus before the next maximal rep. The rhythm of the McGill Pull-Up is simple: crush the bar, cross the legs to eliminate energy leaks, stiffen the pelvis from above and below, retract and center the scapula, become completely motionless, and then explode upward as fast as possible. You lower under control, relax, let the nervous system settle, and then repeat the whole sequence. If anything wiggles—legs uncross, pelvis shifts, spine leaks energy—the rep doesn’t count. The drill is about precision, not fatigue. Even during this session, one of McGill’s undergrads spotted a small moment where my feet unfurled. That kind of attention to detail is exactly why this drill works so well.
About My Spine (And Why Yours May Not Match Mine)
People always comment on the curve in my lower back or the way my glutes sit when I lift. What most don’t understand is that every athlete’s spine is different. Some people naturally have more lordotic curvature, some have lateral shifts, and others develop asymmetry from years of sport or injury. Trying to “fix” someone’s natural anatomy can create far more problems than it solves. McGill understood my history, my structure, and the demands of my sport. The takeaway here is simple: don’t force your spine to look like someone else’s. Build strength around the structure you actually have.
Dense Training for Busy Athletes
Very few people today have time for long training sessions like the five-hour squat workouts I used to run in my competitive prime. The McGill Pull-Up is one of the ways I learned to densify training, meaning you get the maximum benefit with the minimum dose. This drill hits grip strength, neural drive, scapular control, lat recruitment, explosiveness, and technical discipline all in one place. It also primes the nervous system—if you watch closely, you’ll see me bark or sharply exhale before a rep, the same way a lifter might slap themselves or stomp the floor before a max attempt. That little burst of intensity ties together the psychological and physiological sides of performance.
Building Real Pull-Up Capacity
I’ve programmed this drill for athletes who could barely do six pull-ups in their entire careers. After weeks of singles and doubles, their numbers didn’t just increase—they performed with cleaner mechanics and far less fatigue. This is how you build the thick, three-dimensional back musculature old-school bodybuilders used to joke looked like a backpack full of squirrels. Clustered singles build capacity with perfect mechanics, and big sloppy sets only tear you down.
Working With McGill During the Rebuild
This footage comes from my second session with McGill during the rebuild process documented in Gift of Injury. We were tuning my athleticism, sharpening the patterns that had eroded after years of compensating, and restoring the explosive power I needed to compete at the highest level. Every rep was feedback, every mistake was valuable information, and every improvement showed up immediately.
Executing the McGill Pull-Up the Right Way
To do the McGill Pull-Up correctly, you establish the lobster claw grip, lock in the pelvis and legs, retract and depress the shoulder blades, become motionless, and then explode upward before lowering in full control. You relax between reps, reset your focus, and stop the session the moment your speed drops. This drill is not appropriate for anyone currently experiencing back pain or for people who haven’t developed the stiffness and control needed to perform it safely. Many lifters will need to start with assisted pull-ups or simple regressions before ever touching this.
When done correctly, though, the McGill Pull-Up is one of the best tools I’ve used for building explosive upper-back strength and rock-solid control under maximum intent—one perfect rep at a time.
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