Chin Pull | Exercise and Fitness

003.30.11 Chin Pull

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Chin Pull

Improving Chin Up Performance

Improving Chin Up Performance

Begin the chin up with your arms in the correct condition

Moments before you actually start to pull on the bar, your arms and shoulders should in a state of full relaxation. It is only just before you begin to pull yourself up that muscular pressure should be exerted on the shoulders to bring them in solidly against the body. Never start the exercise unless you have gathered enough force in the region of the shoulder. For instance, starting out by pulling on the bar with your shoulders relaxed can give you trouble in the shoulder joints.

Prevalently place your hands in the neutral grip zone

The position of the hands during a chin up normally corresponds with the ends of the shoulder. This is how you should be conducting most of your exercises. Doing the exercise in this manner gives the muscles their natural share of work and allows them to develop in a balanced way. It is only when you feel that the latissimus dorsi needs more working out that you should go into a wide grip position. On the other hand, placing the hands in a narrow grip position tends to work the upper arm muscles more. In all cases, it is more strenuous to perform chin ups with a grip other than the normal or neutral. Doing so also distributes the work unevenly among synergistic muscles.

Working with wide grips develops your latissimus muscles

After your initial sessions, when all of the muscles involved in a chin up have been developed synergistically and adequately, you can work on gaining more power by building up strength in your latissimus muscles. It is then that you may start using wide grips, not before. Otherwise you may end up with strong ‘lats' which does not have adequate backing from its associated muscles.

Narrow grips should come at the very last

Since narrow-grip chin ups develop the muscles of the upper arm and these muscles are only secondary in importance to the ‘lats' during chin ups, focusing on packing them with more power comes last. Then you will be following the natural sequence of development for the chin up muscles. You will be able to achieve better than satisfactory results from your chin ups. The objective is, of course, to make doing chin ups almost effortless on your part.

Keeping the legs crossed gives tone and strength to muscles

Muscles that are in contact with others are exerting strenuously, they also improve the tone and performance of the other muscles. That is the reason why trainers may often recommend for their students to cross their legs while doing chin ups. Doing so improves their strength and performance.

Pulling your arms slightly inwards augments your force

Pull your arms slightly inwards (or use a curved bar). This motion results in your body mass getting more compressed which, in turn, gives your muscles more force. This naturally results in your being able to do the exercise more easily and at a faster rate.

Use the variations of the basic chin up routine

To correct imbalances in your muscular development make use of variants of the basic chin up exercise. These variations work on muscles that get less work during standard exercises.

For additional variations and information on chin ups, please visit http://www.perfectchinups.net PerfectChinUps.net is a site dedicated to helping everyone become a BEAST at performing chin ups.

About the Author

Joel is a fitness enthusiast and blogger.

How the hell can I do a pull/chin ups when I can't even do a proper negative?

It's really frustrating.... I could do 3 sets of 10 biceps curl (30 pounds)

Why am I so weak?
Actually, I can't do a pull-up/chin-ups. The first part of my question was like: how am I supposed to do a pull-up/chin-up when I can't even do a negative?

I even suck at asking questions.

Just keep working on your biceps and back, and try to stay positive you won't see results overnight.

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