The Barbell Rack Pull is a beginner-friendly barbell strength exercise that targets the traps and abdominals. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesTraps, Abs
Secondary muscles—
EquipmentBarbell
LevelBeginner
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Barbell Rack Pull
Set the safety pins in a rack at about knee height and load the bar to your working weight.
Stand with feet hip-width apart, bar over mid-foot, and grip just outside the knees.
Pull the slack out of the bar, brace the core, and pull the chest up tall with a flat back.
Drive the floor away with your legs while keeping the bar dragging close to your thighs.
Stand fully tall by squeezing the glutes and locking out the hips and knees together.
Lower the bar back to the pins under control, reset your breath, and repeat for clean reps.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
Builds upper-back and trap thickness with heavier loads than full deadlifts.
Strengthens the deadlift lockout for stronger pulls overall.
Teaches the hinge pattern through a shorter, easier range.
03 Don't do this
Common mistakes
Setting the pins too low or too high, which removes the partial-lift benefit and risks form breakdown.
Rounding the upper back hard to grind the rep, which strains the spine under heavy load.
Hyperextending at the top instead of finishing with a tight glute squeeze and stacked rib cage.
Bouncing the bar off the pins and using momentum instead of resetting between reps.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Barbell Rack Pull, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
