The chest-to-bar pull-up raises the pull-up's finish line: instead of chin over bar, your chest must physically touch it. Those extra centimeters demand disproportionately more pulling power and a sharper kip, which is why the Open uses C2B as the dividing line between intermediate and advanced athletes. Efficient C2B looks like a controlled collision - a horizontal drive of the chest into the bar at the top of the kip - and owning big unbroken sets transforms workouts like 24.3 and Fran-style couplets.
| Level (Reps) | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| beginner | 1-3 | 0-1 |
| novice | 5-8 | 3-5 |
| intermediate | 12-15 | 8-12 |
| advanced | 25-30 | 18-22 |
| elite | 40+ | 30+ |
Max unbroken reps (kipping/butterfly allowed).
Think 'bar to sternum', pulling with the elbows driving down and back - the contact should be heard, not negotiated. A slightly wider grip shortens the pull distance for most. In workouts, break well before failure: C2B misses (chest grazing without contact) cost a full rep and real energy. Butterfly C2B is the efficiency ceiling but demands mastery of butterfly chin-over first. Shoulder warm-up matters more here than for any pull-up variant - the top position is aggressive.
Progression: kipping pull-ups with rising chest height, banded C2B, then singles focusing on the horizontal finish. In WODs, substitute regular pull-ups 1:1.
Log every result, see your progress over time, and know exactly where you stand.