Scapular pull-up vs active hang: what is the difference?

The same movement: shoulders drawn down from a hang with straight arms. An active hang holds that position; a scapular pull-up repeats it as reps.

In an active hang you start in a relaxed hang, then pull your shoulders down away from your ears without bending your elbows. Your body rises a few centimetres, and you hold it there. It practises the very first part of a strict pull-up — setting the shoulder blades — without bending the elbows.

A scapular pull-up repeats the active hang as reps: shoulders down, a one-second pause, then slowly back to the relaxed hang. It trains the shoulder blades to move first, again and again, through the range a strict pull-up starts in.

The starting doses are 3 × 10–20 s for the active hang and 3 × 5–10 reps for scapular pull-ups. In the program the active hang comes first, and the phase ends with both: a 20-second active hang and 8 scapular pull-ups with straight arms.

In both, the elbows stay straight and the legs stay quiet. Bending the elbows to fake the lift, or kicking the legs, takes the work away from the shoulder blades. The camera checks both: it times the hold and counts the reps.

Warning signs: see a clinician first

Do not start, or stop, if any of these apply to you:

The pain started with a fall, a dislocation, or a sudden pop or tear, and you cannot lift the arm since.
Numbness, tingling or pins and needles running down the arm or into the hand.
Weakness that is getting worse, or the arm suddenly much weaker than the other.
Pain that wakes you at night and does not ease when you change position.
Swelling, redness, heat or a fever with the pain.
Pain in the chest, jaw or left arm with breathlessness or sweating — call emergency services.
A visible lump, change in shape, or the shoulder looking different from the other.

These are general reasons to have a shoulder examined. They are not a complete list.

Drills for this

Camera checks it

Active hang

From a relaxed hang, draw the shoulders down away from the ears and hold, arms still straight.

3 × 10–20 s

Camera checks it

Scapular pull-up

Repeat the active hang as reps: shoulders down, pause, back up to a relaxed hang.

3 × 5–10

What it works

In the program

Phase 1 — Set the shoulder blades — Shoulder: kipping works, strict pull-ups do not

Hang again without pain, and learn to draw the shoulder blades down from a hang with straight arms.

Film a set Read the program

The pain rule

0–3 out of 10 during the drill: fine, carry on.
4–5: do less — a smaller range, fewer reps, or the easier version.
6 or more: stop that drill for today.
Worse the next morning than before the session: that session was too much. Step back.
6 or more on waking, any morning: rest the shoulder that day.

Sharp or catching pain, or pins and needles, means stop regardless of the number.