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Having the goal of being able to do chin ups is something that many of our clients have – especially females. Women tend to have smaller frames than males as well as hold most of their fat in their lower body. This makes the chin up a lot more challenging. However this does not mean you will never be able to do a chin up.
What you need to know:
1. There are different ways you can build up strength to do a chin up.
2. There are 3 different grips and each grip activates different muscles.
-Palms up (chin ups)
-Palms Parallel (neutral grip pull up)
-Palms down (pull up)
3. If you’re a beginner just getting started or simply just want to be able to pull yourself up, you want to master the chin up (palms up) first as it is the easiest. This is because the biceps are able to assist you in the lift.
4. If you cant do a body weight chin up, here are some tips.
– Eccentric chin ups
– Band assisted chin ups
– Machine assisted chin ups
– Lat pulldowns
If you’re a beginner, the hardest part is usually the bottom part. Most people have a hard time lfting themselves up after they have completed one rep and are at the bottom of the movement. So you can try eccentric chin ups. You will lift yourself up and with control, slowly lower yourself to the bottom of the lift until you have fully extended your arms.
Lat pulldowns will also help to build that strength up for the bottom portion of the chin up.
Alright so lets say you cant lift yourself up to perform the eccentric chin up, try grabbing a band. This is a very beneficial way to build strength in your lats and upper back.
Machine chin ups
The machine chin up provides you with assistance throughout the entire range of motion. The reason we believe the chin up machine is great is because it will help to build strength in your lats which will require you to rely less on the machine. The great thing about the machine is that you can change the level of difficulty based on your strength. Soon enough, you will lighten the weight and eventually make your way towards using your own body weight to perform a chin up.
Lat pulldown – The lat pulldown is a functional movement pattern can be used by anyone. Although this move wont exactly assist you in being able to do a chin up, this will help to build up strength in your lats which is needed in a chin up.
Chin ups require your core muscles to be active so planks are a great ab exercise to add into your routine.
Just like anything in life, if you want to get better at something, you need to do it often. Practice, practice, practice!