Band pull-apart
A simple pulling exercise where you stretch a resistance band across your chest to work the upper back.
Overview
The band pull-apart is a light pulling exercise for the upper back and rear shoulders. Holding a resistance band out in front with both hands, you pull it apart by squeezing your shoulder blades together until the band touches your chest, then return with control.
It is gentle, portable and easy to learn, which makes it a popular part of warm-ups and general upper-back routines. The resistance is easily adjusted by choosing a lighter or heavier band or changing your hand spacing.
The movement
- 1Hold a resistance band in front of you at shoulder height with straight arms.
- 2Keep your arms straight and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
- 3Pull the band apart until it touches your chest.
- 4Return to the start with control.
Beginner notes
- A lighter band or wider grip makes it easier to start.
- The movement is driven by squeezing the shoulder blades together.
- A common, portable choice for warm-ups.
A note on training information
Where it’s used
Sports this relates to:
Fitness
Strength and general fitness training — the foundation that supports every other sport.
Functional Fitness
Varied, whole-body training built around everyday movement patterns like squatting, lifting and carrying.
Weightlifting
A technical strength sport built around lifting a loaded barbell overhead with speed and control.
Related exercises
Squat
A foundational lower-body movement where you bend at the hips and knees to lower down and stand back up.
Goblet squat
A squat variation where you hold a single weight close to your chest for balance and control.
Jump squat
An explosive squat variation where you spring off the floor at the top of the movement.
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Movement patterns
- PullDrawing a load or your own body toward the torso — horizontal rows and vertical pull-ups — building the lats, mid-back and biceps and balancing the push.
- PushPressing a load or the body away from the torso — horizontally or overhead — by extending the shoulders and elbows, developing the chest, shoulders and triceps.
- GlideGlide is continuous, low-resistance locomotion in which the body holds a streamlined shape so that momentum generated by a preceding propulsive action carries it smoothly across a surface or through a medium.
- HingeA hip-dominant pattern: bend forward at the hips with a flat back, minimal knee bend, then drive the hips tall — powers pulling from the floor and jumping.
Movement comparisons
Training plans
- Beginner Full-Body WeekA general example of a simple full-body week that spreads a push, a pull, a lower-body movement and some core evenly across three unhurried sessions.
- Three-Day Split ExampleA general example of a simple three-day training split that divides the week into a few focused sessions with rest built in between.
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How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Exercise
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
- 0
- Content updated
- 2026-07-06
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