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Ice Cream Maker

The ice cream maker links two skills in one rep: from the top of a pull-up you lean back and push the bar away from your chest as the legs rise, until the arms are straight and the body is level under the bar in a front lever, then you pull back to the bar and let the legs drop again. The circular path, like turning the crank of an old ice cream churn, gives it its name. The lats, rear shoulders and core work through both the bent-arm and the straight-arm range, and it is an advanced skill that assumes strong pull-ups and a solid front lever base.

Equipment
Pull-Up Bar
Body part
Abs, Lats
Type
Strength
Browse by muscle
Latissimus Dorsi
Browse by movement
Vertical Pull
Muscles worked
Target
Latissimus Dorsi
Secondary
Lower Rectus Abdominals, Upper Rectus Abdominals, Abdominal External Oblique
Tertiary
Trapezius Lower, Biceps Brachii Long Head, Erector Spinae

How to do it

  1. 1

    Hang from the bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip and pull up until your chest reaches the bar.

  2. 2

    Lean back and push the bar away from your chest while the legs rise in front of you, keeping the body tight.

  3. 3

    Keep pressing the bar down with the lats until the arms are straight and the body is level under the bar in a front lever, or a tuck front lever while you build up.

  4. 4

    Hold the line for a moment, then pull the bar back to your chest as the legs lower, returning to the top of the pull-up.

  5. 5

    Move smoothly and keep the core braced so the hips do not pike or sag through the arc.

Tips

  • Lock the arms fully straight at the front-lever end; arms still half bent there turn the hold into a row and skip the straight-arm strength the move is built on.
  • Control the eccentric into the front-lever line rather than free-falling into it.
  • Start with the knees tucked so the lever is short, and open toward a straddle or full line only once the tuck version is smooth both ways.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • The return gets rescued with a kip, the legs swinging down to throw the chest back up to the bar, which replaces the pull that is the entire point of the exercise; if the way back needs a swing, tuck tighter.
  • The hips sag below the shoulders as the arms straighten, so the far end of the rep becomes a drooping hang instead of a level front lever; stop the push where the body is level and build from there.
  • Grip fails before the lats do, because the wrists turn over the bar as the body travels between the pull-up and the lever, and slipping off from the level position lands you flat on your back. Chalk up, wrap the thumbs, keep sets short.
  • The elbows flare out wide at the top of the pull-up, so the push out into the lever starts from a weak shoulder position and the bar wanders off its line; keep the elbows close to the ribs as you press away.
  • The top of the pull-up becomes a rest stop with the shoulders slack, and the next rep then starts from a dead position with no tension in the lats.
  • Rep counts come from regular pull-up sets, when two or three smooth reps is a good set here; the rep after the first sloppy one is the one that turns into a swing.

Frequently asked

How many ice cream makers should I do, and what should I own first?
Five or six sets of 2 to 3 reps, resting two to three minutes, twice a week at most, at the start of a pulling session. You should hold a tuck or advanced tuck front lever for 10 seconds or more, own 10 or more strict pull-ups, and be able to pull from a tuck front lever up to the bar before you try the full cycle. Progress by opening the tuck toward a straddle or full lever, then by adding a rep; a longer lever is worth far more than a fourth repetition.
What can I do instead of the ice cream maker without a high bar?
Rings take the place of a bar and let the hands rotate through the arc, which most people find easier on the wrists. With nothing overhead the movement splits in two: straight-arm pulldowns with a band or cable for the lat action, and hollow holds and tuck-ups for the core shape. Neither reproduces the rotation, so the drill really does need something to hang from. A low bar with the feet able to touch gives a scaled version where the legs help through the hardest part of the arc.
What is the ice cream maker good for, and who should skip it?
It links bent-arm and straight-arm pulling in one rep, which builds the front lever and the pull-to-lever transitions that ring and bar skills ask for, and it is a genuinely hard test of core bracing. Skip it without a solid front lever base, since the far end of every rep is a front lever you have to hold, and skip it if your elbows or the front of your shoulders are sore, because straight arms concentrate load on both. It is a skill exercise: for back size, pull-ups and rows are far more productive.

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