Get better at the chin up for big and defined muscles
The chin up is a test of upper-body strength, but most people lack the strength and technique to manage even one rep. If you're looking to join the ranks of the fitness elite and master a classic bodyweight exercise, Joe Warner, fitness director for New Body Plan, has the perfect guide for you. Not only will this guide help you build bigger, stronger back and biceps muscles, but you'll also see greater definition in those muscles.
The chin-up is a great way to measure your upper-body strength. The pull-up is an exercise that requires only an overhead bar, a lot of back and biceps strength, and determination. It is a good way to see who is strong and who is not. And it's no surprise that this classic bodyweight exercise still forms a key physical challenge that all potential Royal Marine recruits must pass before entering basic training.
There are many guys that would love being able to do a lot of chin-ups. Most men are not able to lift the weight for a full range of motion. There are only a few members at most gyms who know how to do the exercises correctly. If you want to join the elite training group and build incredible back and biceps size, strength, and definition, here is what you need to do!
What is a chin up?
The chin up is a bodyweight exercise that is a great indicator of upper-body strength and stamina. To do a chin-up, you grip a bar with your hands close together and facing you, then pull yourself up until your chin is higher than the bar. To complete one repetition, lower yourself back down to the starting position.
How to do the perfect chin up
Find our chin up video on the New Body Plan YouTube channel!
Chin up form guide
• Hang from a bar with an underhand grip with straight arms with your hands shoulder-width apart. • Keep your chin and chest up, back straight and engage your core and your glutes. • Using your upper back and biceps, pull your torso upwards in a smooth and controlled fashion until your chin is about your hands. • Pause in this top position, squeezing your back and biceps muscles hard. • Slowly lower back down under complete control to the start position with your arms are fully straight.
Why are chin ups so difficult?
Bodyweight moves such as the press-up or the bodyweight squat are generally easier than moves that use dumbbells or barbells, such as the dumbbell bench press or barbell squat. Chin-ups are universally known to be one of the most difficult exercises. The lat pulldown is a machine-based move that is much easier than the other moves that they are trying to do.
Why? Chin-ups are very difficult to do because they require immense upper body strength, a very strong grip, and incredible abs strength.
How to Do the Chin-Up
Step 1 — Find Your Perfect Grip
When you feel ready, raise your body upward until your chin is higher than the bar Stand beneath a pull-up bar, with your arms at your sides and your thumbs pointing forwards. Raise your body until your chin is higher than the bar. Raise your arms straight overhead as naturally as possible. Keep your hands in line with the bar and turn them palms-up. Grip the bar. This is the width that will be most comfortable and allow for the greatest range of motion for your specific arm length and shoulder mobility.
Keeping your shoulder blades back, lift your feet off the ground. Your abs will engage and your legs will be prevented from swaying if you cross one foot over the other. Hang from a bar with your arms straight and your body relaxed. Keep your head between your biceps and your elbows fully extended.
A good way to set your grip is to raise your arms overhead and turn your hands so that your palms are facing out. You may need to adjust your grip width slightly if you're uncomfortable keeping your arms overhead.
Step 2 — Pull Your Chin to the Bar
Take a short breath while keeping your chest tall. Make sure your shoulder blades are pulled back by externally rotating your shoulders. In order to pull your body towards the bar, you will need to squeeze your grip and drive your elbows back and down.
Think about your biceps and back muscles contracting as you lift yourself up. This has been shown to help improve technique for exercises that involve muscles, and to help those muscles grow. Exhale as you pull yourself up until your chin is at the top of the bar, then stop. Your arms should be fully contracted and your elbows should be near your ribs.
At the top of each repetition, hold yourself in an isometric contraction for one to two seconds. While looking in a mirror, check to see if your elbows are pointing straight down or angled in towards your body. If your shoulders are down and not up, it means they are externally rotated, which is good for your joints and muscles. If your shoulders are angled in, it puts more strain on your joints.
Step 3 — Lower Under Control
Keep your core strong to stop yourself from swaying. As you descend, imagine your muscles lengthening until your biceps and back are stretched as much as possible. Do not allow your body to swing freely while hanging from the bar. To maintain control, tightly grip the bar and flex your abs.
The goal with exercises like the chin-up is to focus on quality over quantity. If you need a break, take a few seconds to reset before starting the next rep so that you can do them with a high rate of work. It is better to aim for five perfect repetitions than 10 sloppy ones.
Chin-Up Mistakes to Avoid
There are a few technical errors that can be made when performing a chin-up that can affect how effective the exercise is.
Excessive Swinging
Much like the pull-up, the chin-up requires the individual to use their entire body to stabilize the movement and ease stress on the shoulder joint. Although the result of swinging excessively while doing a chin-up is similar, there is a small difference.
CrossFit has made kipping pull-ups popular. Kipping pull-ups use total-body swinging to complete very high-rep sets. While swinging during chin-ups might be tempting, it actually puts strain on the shoulder and elbow joints, and takes away from the tension placed on the back muscles.
You will not reach your goals if you allow any swinging while working out.
Make sure to take a pause at the top of each rep, and keep your shoulders externally rotated. You should also make sure your chest is up and your shoulder blades are back.
Not Using a Full Range of Motion
Some gym-goers might perform a minimal range of motion with chin-ups, only going halfway down and back up again.
This rushed approach is extremely ineffective. By having a short range of motion, you will reduce the amount of time the working muscles are under tension. This means that each repetition provides less training stimulus, and you are preventing yourself from getting stronger or building muscle.
Make sure that the things you are producing are of good quality rather than just producing a lot of things. Do not lift egoistically and be worried about how many repetitions another person is lifting.
Benefits of the Chin-Up
The chin-up is a great exercise for your upper body and only requires minimal equipment.
Regular use of a stability ball can improve your strength and muscle development in your back, chest, and shoulders. The stability ball can also help improve your posture and shoulder mobility.
More Muscle for Your Biceps and Forearms
Using a supinated grip changes muscle activation and emphasis. This grip is great for working the biceps and also recruiting the forearm muscles. While Chin-ups may not be the heaviest lifting exercise for the biceps, they are able to use relatively heavy loads compared to many other biceps exercises. The back muscles act as secondary muscles to assist the movement. This exercise is good for developing the forearms and biceps, and for building grip strength.
Functional Hypertrophy and Strength
The chin-up is a functional exercise, which means that improving your performance on the chin-up will also improve your general physical performance. This means that contact sports like football, rugby, combat sports, rock climbing, or even swimming can easily cause concussion. Functional training can also help in your day-to-day lifestyle. A well-built back, shoulders, and arms will make everyday tasks such as carrying groceries and children much easier.
Easy to Progressively Overload
If you want to get stronger and build muscle, you need to do more than you're currently doing—challenging yourself with more weight or more reps. You only need your body weight for the chin-up. Not a stack of plates, just you. You are considered to have mastered the bodyweight chin-up when you can complete 12 reps for three or four sets.
Lifters who have a well-thought-out training plan can take many months or years to achieve their desired level of success. After your first set of 12 reps with the dumbbell, you can continue to work your way up by doing sets of 12 reps with a heavier weight. To see gains, you must increase the weight you're lifting each time you workout while maintaining good form.
Muscles Worked by the Chin-Up
Biceps
The biceps are two muscles located on the upper arm. The long head is located on the outside of the arm and the short head is located on the inner portion. The muscle has two parts that originate from the shoulder blades and near the elbow. The long head also crosses the shoulder joint. The underhand grip in chin-ups recruits the biceps more than other grips because the arm is at a mechanical disadvantage.
Forearms
The muscles in your forearms help to support your body weight when you do chin-ups. The muscles on the palm side of your forearm are called flexors, and the muscles on the top side of your forearm are called extensors. The muscles that allow you to bend your joints are activated more when pulling towards the top of each repetition.
Latissimus Dorsi
The lats are the largest muscles on the back. They are connected to the upper arm and the lower back near the spine. They work to bring the arm closer to the body’s centerline from both above the head and out to the side. The arm motion during a chin-up effectively activates the lats.
Upper Back
There are several muscles in the upper back that have similar functions, such as the trapezius, rhomboids, and rear deltoids. The muscles located in the upper back area work to control various movements of the shoulder blades and to support the shoulder joints under muscular stress, particularly during the chin-up exercise.
Who Should Do the Chin-Up
Lifters who want to develop a strong and muscular back tend to over-focus on the pull-up. Although pull-ups may be a more basic exercise, they can be more effective in terms of gaining muscle size and strength.
The chin-up is a versatile exercise that can help improve your performance in many activities, both in sports and in daily life.
Training for Bodyweight Strength
If you want to get stronger, especially with bodyweight exercises, you need to think of strength as a skill. You need to improve at performing the chin-up exercise to improve your chin-ups. The key to reinforcing perfect technique is to perform repetitions while stressing quality over quantity.
Training for Functional Hypertrophy
Functional hypertrophy is an approach to muscle growth that also improves physical performance. This approach is strategic and balanced, and it can help you build the muscles you need to improve your physical abilities. This movement is highly effective due to the long range of motion and the recruitment of multiple muscles. Building shoulder joint health can also be done by working the scapular muscles through a strong contraction and deep stretched position.
How to Program the Chin-Up
The chin-up can be done with different sets and repetitions. Doing the exercise at the beginning of your workout, while you have a lot of energy, can help build strength and make sure your technique is good.
If you are looking to implement chin-ups into your workout routine, here are some effective ways to do so, depending on your training goal and current abilities.
Added Weight, Low Repetition
To build upper body strength with the chin-up, complete four to six sets in the three to six organ range. You should never reach the point of muscular failure during your workout, as it can cause your technique to suffer. Always leave at least two reps in the tank so you can maintain good form. Only add weight when you feel confident that you can do multiple sets of moderate to high-repetitions with your bodyweight.
Bodyweight-Only, Moderate Repetition
In order to see growth in the muscles you're working, do three to four sets in the six to 12 rep range. If you do this, you will be working out more often, which will help you build muscle. If you can't do the number of repetitions without assistance, use resistance bands or a pull-up machine to help you.
Modified Cluster Sets
Cluster sets involve performing a set of repetitions and then taking a short rest before repeating the set. This type of set can help you build strength by allowing you to perform more total repetitions without reaching muscular failure. The 5×5 method is typically used for weight training exercises that involve lifted heavy loads and low reps. However, it can also be used for more challenging bodyweight movements, such as chin-ups.
You would perform sets of one rep, or “mini-sets,” if you can only do two repetitions. Do one repetition, then rest for 15 to 30 seconds. Do another repetition, rest, and then do a final repetition. That entire series is one set. Give yourself a two-minute break before doing two additional sets.
If you do three repetitions in a set, it is the same as if you did one set of three cluster repetitions. This way, you can lift more weight and increase the total amount you are working with, which can lead to more muscle growth. The method you use should be based on the number of repetitions you can do. If you can do five reps of chin-ups, you should do three clusters of three reps (nine total reps per set) for three sets.
