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Chinups are remarkably effective exercise for building upper body strength. As a strength trainer I make them a staple of my workouts at the gym.

My dead lifting series illustrates the importance the role chin ups play in developing core strength. As a matter of fact, chin ups are crucial to functional strength. This is because functional strength derived from chin ups:

• enables our muscles, bones, joints and tendons to become stronger and more resilient;
• gives us more energy for activities such as rowing, pulling, etc.; 
• provides a huge confidence boost from knowing you're doing something healthy.

Now that you know why chin ups are so important, the next thing you need to know is how to do them.

Doing A Chin Up

Use a supine grip (palms facing you). Suspend yourself from the bar, keep your arms straight. If you're tall, bend your knees. Take a look at how I'm performing the exercise (go to my youtube video "Compound Exercise: How To Do Chin Ups"). My legs are locked at the ankles to prevent swing. I make a slow upward motion, hold for a second then slowly lower myself back down again giving the muscles more resistance, making them work harder and thus become stronger.

Chin ups can be done using narrow grip, shoulder width apart and wide grip. Hand positioning affects the type of muscles worked, for example close grip chin ups force your biceps to work harder, whereas wider grip chin ups place more emphasis on your back.

It will be hard to do chin ups if you don't have a lot of upper body strength, but that's okay. We all have to start somewhere. Aim for one chin up. Once you've done that, take a short break then do it again. It doesn't matter if you can't do it the first time or even the twentieth time, just so long as you stick with it. Keep training because with practice, you will become stronger.

Are Chin Ups The Same As Pull Ups?

Chin ups are related to pull ups, but they two are distinct exercises. Pull ups require a pronated grip (palms facing away from you) which makes it a much more challenging exercise to perform. You might find pull ups harder than chin ups because of their emphasis on using back muscles. That's okay, Vary your exercises between pullups and chin ups. I do this to keep the exercise interesting.

Chin ups are a great compound exercise that can be incorporated into the bench press, inclined bench press, or overhead press routines. And when you are doing ab day, chin ups are great for strengthening the abdominal muscles.You never want to over train your muscles because it takes them much longer to repair and they really won't get any bigger that way.

Always allow at least 24 hours between exercises to allow for repair and growth. That is why it is important to have a varied exercise routine consisting of legs, chest, biceps, triceps, abs, etc. What happens is that stress on the muscles cause tears within the muscle fibers. This is a good thing. When the muscles repair themselves they build up greater connections within the muscle fibers making the muscles grow larger and stronger. That's where rest and protein (from meats, fish, eggs, nuts, and legumes) comes in.


Remember, anything worth having takes time and effort. If you want that lean, ripped physique you'll have to be patient. If you stick with it and have a healthy nutrition program then you'll see results.

I'm living fit, healthy and happy. Are you?

"The Power of Chin Ups" copyright 2008, 2011 Living Fit, Healthy and Happy. All Rights Reserved.

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