How to do the rack pull
A deadlift from pins at about knee height. Good for training your lockout and upper back with heavy weights, or for pulling when the floor bothers your back.
The Helthy team · Updated · 6 min read
- Works
- Upper back, Glutes, Lower back
- Also works
- Traps, Hamstrings, Forearms
- Equipment
- Barbell
- Level
- Intermediate
A rack pull is the top half of a deadlift. The bar starts on the safety pins of a power rack at about knee height, and you pull it to lockout from there. Cutting out the bottom half means you can handle more weight than you deadlift, which makes it useful for three jobs: getting stronger at the finish of the pull, loading your upper back and traps heavily, and pulling when a sore back or tight hips make the floor position uncomfortable. It's a supplement, though. If you're newer than a year or so of steady training, we'd just deadlift.
How to do a rack pull
- Set the pins so the bar sits at about knee height. Just below the knee is the most common choice; right at the knee works too. Center the bar in the rack so both ends sit evenly on the pins.
- Stand close with the bar touching your legs. Feet hip width, the bar over your midfoot and in contact with the bottom of your thighs or the top of your shins.
- Grip just outside your legs and hinge into position. Push your hips back with a slight knee bend, shins close to vertical. Your torso ends up at roughly 45 degrees, with your back flat and your shoulders slightly in front of the bar.
- Pull the slack out and brace. Pull up until the bar loads against your hands and your whole back tightens, without lifting it off the pins. Take a big breath into your belly and hold it.
- Drive your hips forward to stand. The bar drags up your thighs the whole way. Finish standing straight with your glutes squeezed and knees locked, then breathe out.
- Lower the bar back onto the pins. Push your hips back and slide it down your thighs to set it down quietly. Let it settle for a second and rebrace before the next rep.
It should feel like very hard work in your glutes, upper back and grip. Your lower back works to hold position, but if it's the main thing you feel, look at your back angle and bar path.
Cues that help
"Hips to the bar." The lockout is a hip movement. Thinking about bringing your hips forward to the bar keeps you from leaning back or shrugging the weight up.
"Iron the bar up your thighs." If there's daylight between the bar and your legs, it's too far away. Keeping contact the whole way makes the weight feel lighter and keeps the load off your lower back.
"Chest proud, shoulders down." With this much weight in your hands, your upper back wants to round forward. Lifting your chest and pulling your shoulders away from your ears before you pull keeps it flat. If that doesn't click, try "bend the bar around your legs".
Common mistakes
Rounding your back. Rack pulls get heavy fast, and heavy weight pulls your shoulders forward and your back into a curve. A little upper-back rounding at the top end of your strength is something many experienced lifters accept, but a rounding lower back isn't. Our default is a flat back on every rep. If you can't hold it, the weight is too heavy for now.
Leaning back at the top. Lifters often lean back to show they've finished, pushing their hips forward and arching their lower back. It adds nothing to the lift and loads your spine at its least stable angle. Stand straight, squeeze your glutes, stop.
Jerking the bar off the pins. Yanking a heavy bar from slack is how backs round and grips slip. Worse, the bar bends and whips at these loads, so a jerk makes it even less stable. Pull the slack out, feel the bar load up, then drive.
Hitching. The bar stalls halfway up your thighs, and you bend your knees again to rest it on your legs and shuffle it up. It would be a failed deadlift in competition, and it's a sign the weight is too heavy. Take 10 to 20% off.
Setting the pins too high. A pull from mid-thigh lets you load huge weights, but it's barely a lift at that point, closer to a heavy shrug. If you're using it to help your deadlift, stay at or just below the knee.
Sets, reps and how much weight to use
For lockout strength, 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps. For upper back and traps, 3 sets of 6 to 8. Pick a weight you could do 2 or 3 more reps with. Most people can rack pull about 10 to 20% more than they deadlift from knee height, more from higher pins. Once a week is plenty, either as your heavy pull on a day you don't deadlift or after lighter deadlifts.
Ramp up to your working weight. If you're working with 315 lb (145 kg):
- 135 lb (60 kg) for 5
- 185 lb (85 kg) for 3
- 225 lb (100 kg) for 3
- 275 lb (125 kg) for 1
Use straps on your heaviest sets if your grip gives out before your back and hips do, which it will. We'd rather you train your grip elsewhere than cut every set short because your hands opened. Add 5 to 10 lb (2.5 to 5 kg) when every rep of your working sets looks the same as the first.
Here's roughly what people use for their working sets from about knee height:
| Bodyweight | beginner | intermediate | advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 130 lb (59 kg) | 80 lb (36 kg) | 155 lb (70 kg) | 235 lb (107 kg) |
| 160 lb (73 kg) | 95 lb (43 kg) | 190 lb (86 kg) | 290 lb (132 kg) |
| 190 lb (86 kg) | 115 lb (52 kg) | 230 lb (104 kg) | 340 lb (154 kg) |
| 220 lb (100 kg) | 130 lb (59 kg) | 265 lb (120 kg) | 395 lb (179 kg) |
| 250 lb (113 kg) | 150 lb (68 kg) | 300 lb (136 kg) | 450 lb (204 kg) |
These numbers depend heavily on where you set the pins. A few centimeters higher makes a big difference, so always set it at the same height and compare yourself with your own last session, not the table. Logging the pin height alongside your sets makes that easy.
Rack or blocks?
Pulling from the safety pins of a power rack is the usual option. The downside is the bar can grind against the pins and scrape the rack. Pulling from plates stacked on blocks or lifting platforms (often called a block pull) is quieter, kinder to the bar and closer to a real deadlift because the plates sit on something solid instead of the bar resting on steel. Either works. Use what your gym has.
Variations and alternatives
- Deadlift: the full lift from the floor. It trains everything the rack pull does, plus the start, so it should be your main pull.
- Romanian deadlift: better if you want hamstrings, since it trains them under a stretch that the rack pull skips.
- Shrug: if the rack pull is mainly there for your traps, heavy shrugs give you more of that with less fatigue.
- Barbell row: if your goal is a thicker upper back, rows train it through a bigger range.
- Hip thrust: trains a strong hip lockout with almost no load on your spine.
Rack pull questions
Do rack pulls help your deadlift?
Sometimes, but less than most people hope. The evidence that partial pulls carry over to a full deadlift is thin, and plenty of strong lifters never do them. They're most useful if you consistently miss deadlifts at the knee or above, or if you want heavy upper-back work. If you miss off the floor, deficit deadlifts or pauses just off the floor make more sense.
How high should I set the pins?
At or just below the knee for most goals. Higher pins mean heavier weights but a much shorter, less useful lift.
Are rack pulls safer than deadlifts?
They're easier to get into a good position for, which helps if the floor position bothers your back. But the heavier weights mean they're not automatically easier on your body. If a rack pull hurts your lower back with good form, stop, go lighter for a week and get it checked if it doesn't settle.