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Chin-Ups

Chin-Ups trains 6 of the 18 muscle groups Full Coverage tracks: Lats 90%, Biceps 75%, Forearms 45%, Rear delts 25%, Mid-back / traps 20%, Abs 15%.

Backbone movement Level: Professional Pull-up bar Pull Easy on the lower backEasy on the kneesNo load on the spineEasy on the shoulders

Chin-Ups - Start position
Start position
Chin-Ups - Finish position
Finish position

How to do it

  1. Hang from a bar with an underhand grip, hands about shoulder-width, arms straight.
  2. Pull your shoulder blades down first, then drive your elbows down toward your ribs.
  3. Pull until your chin clears the bar, chest up, without swinging.
  4. Lower all the way to straight arms under control.
  5. The underhand grip puts more of the work on your biceps than a pull-up does - that is the point of the variant.

Muscles it trains

Percent of one session's target for that muscle. Anything at 100% finishes that muscle on its own.

Light Main

How it compares

Compared with the Lat Pulldown, it loads Biceps 20 points higher, Abs 15 points higher, Lats 10 points lower. It needs Pull-up bar where the other uses Cable machine. Compared with the Inverted Row, it loads Mid-back / traps 65 points lower, Lats 55 points higher, Rear delts 25 points lower.

Other ways to train this

Other exercises for the Lats

Related guides

Exercise illustrations and data by RepDB (repdb.co), used under licence.

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