Today we’re going to talk about chin-ups and pull-ups. They’re usually one of the most frustrating exercises for new lifters.
Everyone would love to be able to hop up to a chin-up bar and bang out 15 reps right?
But can you do it? Are you actively working towards doing it?
They are a great barometer of overall fitness (though no single movement is proof of anything).
The average person can only do one or two bodyweight chin-ups (grip with your palms towards you).
Even most lifters can only do 3 or 4 reps.
And there are sadly many people who can’t even do a single rep.
Stats are generally worse for pull-ups (grip with palm facing away from you).
Because they are difficult, most people resort to the pull-down machine. While the pull-down machine isn’t bad per se, it gives people an excuse to never get strong enough to do 10 or 15 reps of bodyweight chins.
But for you, since you are reading this, that’s all going to change!
Effective Techniques For Doing More Pull-ups and Chin-ups
Here’s what I recommend, in sequence. Once you can do what is prescribed, move to the next one. Don’t try to do all these in one workout – you’ve burn out and not see progress.
- Simple Hangs
- Hang for at least 60 seconds. Do 4 sets per workout.
- Half Hangs
- Again just hang, but this time your arms are bent at 90 degrees.
- Hold for as long as you can. Repeat.
- When you can do 4 sets, each holding for at least 10 seconds, without breaking the 90 degree angle, then you can go on to the next item.
- Finish Hangs
- Jump up to the finishing position of a chin-up, with your chin well over the bar.
- Hold that position for as long as you can.
- You’ll feel this in your core as well as your biceps, lats, and shoulders.
- Once you can do 4 sets of 15 second holds, you are ready to move to the next item.
- Negatives
- Now that you can hang, let’s work in movement.
- Jump up to the finishing position.
- Now slowly lower your body to what would normally be the starting hang position.
- It should take you at least 10 seconds to do this decline. This is a negative.
- Then jump up and do it again!
- When you can do 4 sets of 10 negatives, you are ready for the next item…
- Set/Pause/Resume
- See my previous post on the set-pause-resume technique
- Shed Your Fat
- Ok, not exactly a “technique” but shedding fat will absolutely help your chins and pull-ups. Since these are bodyweight exercises, the lower your bodyweight, the easier, right? Just note that I say shed fat, not “lose weight” (which often means losing muscle as well as fat).
Not As Effective
Here are some things some people do, thinking that it is improving their ability to do bodyweight chip-ups or pull-ups. But they are likely deceiving themselves (or at least making slower progress than they would if they adopted my recommendations above).
a) Using pull-down machine
– The movement isn’t the same (no core strength required). Too habit forming – too0 many people get used to the pull-down and never really challenge themselves with high weight.
b) Putting a “block” or something under your feet to allow you to use your legs to help
– This is awkward and is too hard to regulate so that you aren’t overcheating.
c) Using assisted pull-up machine
– The movement isn’t the same (no core strength required).
d) Using different exercises, based on an argument that doing exercise B helps you improve at exercise A.
– This is often true, but not significant enough to make it a conscious strategy unless you are at a competition level.
e) Wiggling, jerking, and twisting to get extra reps.
– Using bad form to crank out an extra rep is a bad idea. It reinforces the bad form and rarely makes you stronger.
Can you already do several high-rep sets of pull-ups or chin-ups? If so, what advice can you add to this list that others can benefit from?
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