Chin/pullup [Forum Archive]

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Chin/pullup

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Posted by: Josh

I understand that one of the best back exercise is chin up / pull up, and this has various grip variations. But for one who cannot do 1-2 full movement, which grip variation is recommended to start with? Close grip with palms facing in, or palms facing out, or palms facing each other, or medium grip, or what?

Also, I've seen some people lift their bodies until the bar is just under the chin, but others lift until the bar is about the upper chest. Which one is more effective for back muscles?

- Josh

Posted by: Skyliner

For ppl with weaker ability to do them, I will advise them to start with Chin Ups (palms facing you) at shoulder width, or palms facing each other. Better still, get someone to assist you so you can squeeze in more reps, or maybe do the first few sets by yourself and a last one with assistance from machine.

Obviously, letting the bar touch your upper chest is more effective as the contraction is greater, but it is also alot harder. Sometimes you tend to see ppl swing like mad hoing that their chin will clear the bar, but IMO it will be much better if they focus on quality instead.

Posted by: Josh

Quote:

Originally posted by Skyliner
For ppl with weaker ability to do them, I will advise them to start with Chin Ups (palms facing you) at shoulder width, or palms facing each other. Better still, get someone to assist you so you can squeeze in more reps, or maybe do the first few sets by yourself and a last one with assistance from machine.

Obviously, letting the bar touch your upper chest is more effective as the contraction is greater, but it is also alot harder. Sometimes you tend to see ppl swing like mad hoing that their chin will clear the bar, but IMO it will be much better if they focus on quality instead.

Thanks for the advise. Now the form, how should my body be when I lift myself up so that this exercise can be effective for back? I've seen some people just lift up and down with body kept vertical. I've tried this before but it seems that it doesn't affect my lats/back at all. I've also seen some descriptions where at the top the upper body is tilted (back is arched) so that the elbows are not right at the sides anymore. I have never tried this before, but would this be more effective?

- Josh

Posted by: Scotty the Body

Yup, like sky said, close grip palms in is going to be the easiest because it puts your bi's at there strongest point to assist the movement.

As far as how high to go, it depends on your natural ROM, for me, I can only go to where the bar is right at my mouth.
To test your ROM, preform one on the ground and see where your hands stop at the top of the movement.

Posted by: Prince

Quote:

Originally posted by Josh
I understand that one of the best back exercise is chin up / pull up...
- Josh

not sure I agree with that.

Posted by: Josh

Quote:

Originally posted by Prince
not sure I agree with that.

So which is the best or more effective for you?

- Josh

Posted by: Prince

I just never got much out of pull-ups, I prefer cable pull-downs.

Posted by: Scotty the Body

For me it would be Deadlifts and Tbar rows.

Posted by: NickB

wider the grip, the more emphasis on your back... close grip palms toward you is mainly biceps.

im just a noobie, but, rows and pull downs are better , in my opinion.

Posted by: freeman1504

Quote:

Originally posted by NickB
wider the grip, the more emphasis on your back... close grip palms toward you is mainly biceps.

im just a noobie, but, rows and pull downs are better , in my opinion.

Rows and pull-downs ARE great, however I don't think we can discount the importance of the simple exercies i.e. pullups/chinups, pushups, dips..etc. It is a good idea to go back to the basics every once in a while to keep your muscles guessing. I've never been good at chinups, but I decided to make it my mission to improve every week on them. Before, I could barely do 2-3 a set...now I'm upwards of 8...I do 4-5 sets..although I switch between pulldowns and chinups weekly, I find that with both, I totally feel it in my back.

Posted by: Vale Tudo

I am not sure about anyone else, but at my gym they have a machine that has a pad that folds out and you kneel on it. You can choose to do dips or pull/chins, but the pad you are kneeling on can vary by taking some of your body weight off on the positive movement, this way people who can not normally do a pull up are able to be assisted. i use the machine for burnouts when I have really killed myself with weighted pulls.

Posted by: freeman1504

I have a similar machine at my gym. And using that assist bar for burnouts may be ok, at best. I used to use it for chins, butnever saw any progress...then one day, a gym buddy told me that thing was for girls

But no really, I just forced myself to do as many as I could. I told myself, "ok, today you're going to do 20 chinups, no matter how long it takes." and I would do like 10 sets of 2 at first!

But now, I can do 8 at a time. I hate that assist bar!

Posted by: Vale Tudo

I can get 3 sets of 10 with 70lbs hanging off my waist (that was my last back day) and I still use that thing for a set afterwards just to rreally kill the muscle. Man now I bet everyone in the gym is saying, "what in the hell is trhat guy doing on that thing?!?"

Posted by: freeman1504

Quote:

Originally posted by Vale Tudo
I can get 3 sets of 10 with 70lbs hanging off my waist (that was my last back day) and I still use that thing for a set afterwards just to rreally kill the muscle. Man now I bet everyone in the gym is saying, "what in the hell is trhat guy doing on that thing?!?"

Yeah, I'm not that good yet! But I'm working on it!

Posted by: Preacher

lol .. I here ya!
Did a 4-set dropset on the machine press yesterday, and ended up with 80lbs on my last set.
A guy who was half my size took over with a triumphant smile on his face .. I hate people like that!

Posted by: freeman1504

Yeah, those people suck! Oh well, as long as we know we're so much cooler than they are

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