Pull-Up Faults and Fixes With OPEX Coaches Daniel Persson and Brandon Gallagher
A stubborn pull-up usually isn't a grit problem. Most people are fighting poor positions, missing range of motion, or trying to force strength through a shape their body can't hold well yet.
In this Behind the Design session, Daniel Persson and Brandon Gallagher move past simple pull-up progressions and into the faults that stall progress. Their bigger point is useful for any coach or athlete: better pull-ups come from better positions first, then better accessory work.
Coaching culture shows up before the first rep
Before the pull-up talk starts, the episode spends time on coaching culture, and that part matters more than it might seem. Persson shares that he's back on the floor at a new gym, even though much of his work is built around remote coaching. He handles program design, coach development, and team systems, and he still likes stepping into live classes because it keeps his coaching eye sharp.
He also makes a clear point about team standards. In his teams, coaches do not undermine one another in front of members or anyone outside the staff. If a coach disagrees with a cue, a standard, or a decision, that conversation happens inside the team. Out front, the staff stays united. Inside the team, the discussion stays open.
That standard leads into a workshop model he likes to use. Coaches talk through roles, expectations, delivery, and how they want the gym to run. Then they turn that into a shared coach agreement that everyone signs. The goal isn't blind agreement. The goal is trust, professionalism, and a learning mindset.
"With structure comes freedom."
That line sums up the whole section. Persson and Gallagher both push back on the idea that coaching is only an extension of being a good athlete. They are not the same role. Persson gives a simple example: if a coach finishes a workout one minute before class, throws on a shirt while still out of breath, and starts coaching, the message is obvious. That coach has put their own training ahead of the people paying for the class.
The standard in his team is clear, coaching comes first. Uniforms matter, shared expectations matter, and leading by example matters. If you want to keep up with their work, you can follow Brandon Gallagher on Instagram and Daniel Persson on Instagram. The episode also points viewers toward the OPEX Method Mentorship, which is the education path both coaches came through, formerly known as CCP.
The three pull-up faults that show up most often
This discussion picks up where the earlier pull-up episode left off. The first part focused on progression, skill development, and how to build enough volume to improve. This time, the focus shifts to the mistakes that show up once someone starts chasing real pull-up capacity.
Gallagher points to three common faults:
Poor elbow position, where the elbows flare out instead of staying in a stronger pulling path.
Rounded shoulders at the top, where the upper back loses position and the finish gets sloppy.
Missing full range of motion, where the athlete lives in the middle of the rep and never owns the bottom or top.
That last point gets extra attention. Persson agrees that a deep stretch at the bottom matters, and he ties it to overhead mobility. He says deep stretch pull-ups did more for his overhead position with a barbell than anything else he had tried. That is a strong reminder that full range of motion is not only about checking a box on a pull-up. It can carry over into other lifts too.
The coaches also make a useful distinction about accessory work. A good accessory does not need to look like a pull-up to help a pull-up. That matters because many athletes chase exercises that mimic the final movement too closely, even when they don't yet have the strength, control, or range to use them well.
The real job of accessory work is to build the positions and the tissue tolerance that let the main movement improve. Pull-ups still get better by doing pull-ups, but you need enough volume, enough quality reps, and enough range to make that work. If you can't get that from the movement itself yet, the right accessory gives you a path forward.
Fixing elbow position with lat pulldown variations
For elbow position, Gallagher keeps coming back to two tools, the bilateral cable lat pulldown and the single-arm cable lat pulldown. Both help for the same reason. They let you control load, tempo, and hand position while you learn what a strong pull should feel like.
Why the bilateral cable lat pulldown works
The bilateral version is the simpler option, so it fits early in a program. You can load it enough to create a training effect, but still keep the movement controlled. More importantly, you can coach the elbow path.
The cue is not to yank the elbows straight out to the sides. Instead, the athlete should think about bringing the elbows a bit more forward and down. That small shift changes the feel of the rep. It often makes the lats light up right away, especially near the bottom.
Grip choice can help too. A neutral grip, with palms facing each other, often puts people into a better pulling shape. It tends to improve elbow position without asking for as much shoulder mobility as a wide pronated grip.
Early on, Gallagher likes the bilateral pulldown because it has a lower skill demand. He can use it to build time under tension and let the athlete feel where the rep breaks down. If elbows start flaring halfway through a set, or range shortens as fatigue builds, that tells you what still needs work.
Why the single-arm version helps later
The single-arm cable lat pulldown comes in a bit later for many athletes. It is harder to fake, and it exposes side-to-side differences fast. It also helps people who struggle with overhead mobility, because one arm overhead is often easier to organize than two.
The coaching details matter here. Gallagher wants the palm facing in, the elbow tracking under the wrist, and the hand staying oriented toward the face as the arm reaches overhead. What he does not want is a loose hand and a torso reach that makes it look longer without keeping tension where it should be.
That matters because length is only useful if you can hold tension there. Reaching farther while losing the lat is not better range of motion. It is a compensation.
A slow tempo helps people find that difference. Gallagher suggests 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps per side with a 2 to 4 second tempo. He also likes short rest between sides for newer athletes so they can reset, think through the position again, and repeat it with more control.
A simple way to compare the two looks like this:
ExerciseSetsReps or TimeTempoMain focusBilateral cable lat pulldown2 to 4Longer tension setsSlow and controlledLoad, basic elbow pathSingle-arm cable lat pulldown3 per side6 to 102 to 4 secondsPosition, side-to-side control
The takeaway is simple. Start with the lower-skill tool when you need more basic strength and awareness. Then move to the single-arm version when the athlete can handle more detail.
When to split pull-ups and accessories, and when to pair them
One of the best parts of the episode is the programming discussion around where these accessories belong. There is no fixed answer, because the athlete in front of you changes the choice.
Gallagher says he will often split the work for newer athletes, especially if they train three days per week. If someone only has a few pull-ups, or still struggles to understand the movement, he would rather put pull-ups on one day and the more detailed accessory work on another. That way, the athlete is fresh for both tasks.
He makes a good point here. A new athlete might be mentally cooked after a hard set of pull-up work, and then the single-arm pulldown becomes messy. The movement still has value, but the quality drops.
Persson adds another layer. He has moved more toward full-body resistance training over the last few years, especially with CrossFit athletes. He tends to look at the full week instead of getting locked into rigid upper-lower splits. His bias is to hit a pattern at least twice per week, because weekly set volume matters and many athletes need repeated exposures rather than one giant dose.
That said, he also agrees that skill demand should guide exercise placement. A higher-skill accessory might need a fresh day. A lower-skill accessory can often live on the same day as the main movement.
Both coaches land in a practical middle ground:
Newer athletes may do better with split days, especially for higher-skill accessory work.
More experienced athletes can often pair pull-ups and accessories in the same session.
If a beginner cannot get enough training effect from pull-ups alone, doing pull-ups first and lat pulldowns after can still make sense.
That last point is easy to miss. If the pull-up itself doesn't create enough stimulus yet, the pulldown can fill the gap.
How to stop the shoulders from rounding at the top
The next fault is shoulder rounding at the top of the pull-up. You see this when the athlete reaches the finish, then collapses into the bar with the shoulders rolled forward. The body gets the rep done, but the upper back and scapula stop doing their job.
Gallagher's fix starts with upper-back strength and awareness. He brings up rhomboids, rear delts, and the muscles that help control scapular motion. Then he names three accessory options he likes most: dips, reverse shrugs, and heavy holds.
Dips and reverse shrugs
Dips help because they train scapular depression in a strong end range. At the top of a good dip, the athlete is pushing down, staying proud through the chest, and finishing with control. That shape overlaps well with what the top of a strict pull-up needs.
Assistance is fine here. If the athlete cannot own a bodyweight dip, an assisted dip machine or another support option still lets them train the position. Gallagher likes a rep range around 6 to 12.
Reverse shrugs are another smart tool. He describes them as a straight-arm scapular movement done from the top of a dip support. The body lowers slightly as the scapula elevates, then presses back up into depression. Because the arms stay straight, the athlete can focus on the shoulder blades instead of turning it into another pressing rep.
He likes reverse shrugs for 8 to 15 reps, and he often uses them in warm-ups or early accessory blocks.
Heavy holds for the upper-back engine
Heavy holds, such as a sandbag hold, train the upper back in a different way. Instead of asking for precise movement, they ask the athlete to support load and stay organized. Gallagher frames this as building the "engine" of the upper back.
He likes holds in the 30 to 60 second range. Grip can vary. The real goal is to make the upper back work hard enough to keep the shoulders from folding.
A pairing like dips followed by a sandbag hold makes sense. Movement first, then a loaded support. He also notes that reverse shrugs probably do not belong at the end of a shoulder-fatiguing circuit, because by that point the athlete may no longer own the position.
That whole section comes back to one idea: if gravity is pushing down on you and you can resist it with a strong scapular position, you are building something that carries over well to the top of a pull-up.
Full range of motion starts with the rib cage, not only the shoulder
This is where the episode gets strongest. Both coaches keep pulling the conversation back to overhead position, and Gallagher makes the point clearly: many people think they have a shoulder issue when they really have a rib cage and torso position issue.
If someone reaches overhead by flaring the ribs and tipping the pelvis, they have not earned clean overhead range. They have found a workaround. That may be enough to grab the bar, but it usually won't hold up under load.
Neutral-grip pull-ups can be a better starting point
One simple fix is to change the grip. Gallagher likes neutral-grip pull-ups for athletes who cannot yet organize a strong pronated grip overhead. With the palms facing each other, many people can access the lat better and keep the wrist stacked over the elbow in a cleaner path.
Grip width still matters. Too narrow and the pull gets cramped. Too wide and the shoulder loses a good line. Shoulder-width tends to be the sweet spot.
Pullovers teach the stacked overhead shape
Gallagher also likes pullovers, either with a cable or dumbbells, because they let athletes practice overhead motion while keeping the rib cage stacked over the hips. That shape matters.
He is careful on one point here. If the athlete turns a pullover into a big arch through the torso, they lose the whole reason the exercise is in the program. A heavier load is not the win if the stacked position disappears.
Persson agrees. He mentions that he often sees people record heavy pullovers and wonders if they are getting the range and position the exercise is supposed to train. The same applies to dumbbell flyes and other accessory lifts that ask for end-range control. If the goal is range and stability, don't trade that away for more weight.
Breathing and scapular movement change the pull-up
Gallagher also talks about breathing through these patterns and letting the scapula move around the rib cage instead of locking the torso into a bad shape. That point is easy to overlook, but it sits underneath many of the earlier faults.
If the rib cage stays stacked and the scapula can move well, the athlete has a better shot at full range, cleaner elbow position, and a more solid finish.
He also mentions a floor-based drill inspired by Jordan Shallow. In that setup, the feet are elevated, the hands are on the floor, and the athlete lets the hip dip to create a long stretch through the side of the body. The goal is to create space through the rib cage and lateral chain so overhead position improves.
The bigger message is clear. If your pull-up is stuck, start by looking at the rib cage. Then build the accessory work around that.
The bigger programming idea is stimulus, not only movement patterns
Late in the episode, the coaches step out of pull-ups for a moment and get into a programming point that applies well beyond this one movement. Gallagher says he has been thinking less in terms of exact movement patterns and more in terms of the stimulus he wants from a session.
He uses a Charlie Francis example to explain it. Francis, who coached Ben Johnson, would sometimes use heavy bench press work a couple of days before a sprint event. The point was not that bench press improves sprint mechanics. The point was that it could create a central nervous system stimulus without adding leg fatigue before the race.
That idea opens up options for coaches. Sometimes you want the athlete to feel a heavy training effect, but you do not want to beat up the exact pattern they need tomorrow. Gallagher compares that to using a heavy D-ball or sandbag hold instead of a heavy deadlift. The body still gets a strong stress, but the hinge pattern may take less risk or less fatigue.
This helps explain why Persson likes full-body resistance work for many CrossFit athletes, and why Gallagher uses mixed sessions for fighters. Readiness matters. If the athlete has to train hard again tomorrow, the best program is not always the one that destroys a single pattern today.
It also fits with their pull-up advice. Look at the week, not only the day. Think about total set volume, skill demand, and where the athlete will be freshest. Then review the full plan and move pieces around if they fit better somewhere else.
That same mindset shows up in their quick CoachRx discussion. They mention how useful it is to save accessory blocks you know work well, then bring them back when they fit the athlete in front of you. If you want to see that platform in action, OPEX linked a CoachRx free trial in the video description.
Final thoughts
Most pull-up problems don't need a more dramatic progression. They need a cleaner setup. If the elbows flare, the shoulders round, or the bottom range disappears, the fix is often a better position, not more willpower.
The strongest takeaway from this session is that overhead shape drives everything else. When the rib cage stacks well, the scapula moves well, and the athlete can own the full range, the pull-up starts to look and feel different. That kind of change lasts longer than grinding through bad reps.
Connect with the coaches
Brandon Gallagher:Brandon’s Instagram (@bgperform_)
Daniel Persson:Daniel’s Instagram (@danielcapersson)
Join us live on Tuesdays mornings 11:30am EST on the OPEX YouTube Channel
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