The Chin up exercise is a tactical workout movement that has probably been performed by men since the dawn of time.
It's a great exercise for building up the biceps, whilst also working the back and chest muscles, particularly the lats.
The exercise is performed with your palms facing you whilst gripping an overhead bar, whereas for pull-ups your palms are facing away from you.
Chin ups are slightly easier to do than pull ups and work slightly different muscles.
Muscle groups used: Chin ups work the latissimus dorsi, posterior deltoid, teres major, the rhomboid muscles, the middle and lower portions of the trapezius, the elbow flexors and the pectoral major muscles.
The following are reasons why, in my opinion, the chin up is much better than the standard barbell or dummbell curls that most athletes perform: It develops functional strength that will translate to everyday activities, sports etc.
It is a whole upper body workout that seriously shocks your system, causing an anabolic hormone response - this just doesn't happen with bicep curls! The chin up exercise can be classed alongside excellent compound exercises like the squats, bench press and deadlift.
Clearly curls don't work nearly as many muscles as the chin up exercise does.
Builds your chest and back.
The chin up exercise will not only cause your biceps to grow quickly, but this exercise will build your chest and back.
this exercise will build your whole upper body as you have to tense all muscles whilst doing them to help keep you stable.
Teaches you to handle your own body weight.
If you can't handle your own body weight then your never going to excel at sports and can never call yourself truly fit.
Whereas fat people can often lift a lot on the bench press, I'm yet to meet a fat guy that can do twelve chin ups.
It will improve your sporting performance.
Dumbbell curls are joked about in changing rooms for building beach muscles that look good but have no strength.
By getting good at the chin up exercise you can greatly improve your upper body strength and this will clearly help you to perform better at a whole load of sports.
Lets you lift a heavy weight.
When you perform the chin up exercise your always lifting a heavy weight (your body) as opposed to the minor dumbbell weights you would be lifting.
It's no secret that lifting a heavy weight forces your muscles to grow much more quickly than doing many reps of a lighter weight.
The chin up prevents injury from doing heavy pressing exercises.
It is important to perform pulling movements like the chin up exercise if you regularly perform heavy pressing movements like the bench press or incline bench press...
otherwise you will create muscular imbalances that can lead to injury.
It's easy to increase the difficulty level.
You can add weight buy wearing a weight belt or a rucksack containing weights.
Alternatively you could get your training partner to lightly hold down your legs to provide increased resistance.
Granted its pretty easy to move up weights when doing barbell or dumbbell curls as well.
Can be performed outside of the gym.
All you need to do chin ups is some kind of bar or rafter to grip onto.
You may well find you already have access to something suitable in your house, garden or local park.
If the ledge you have is more suited to pull ups, do these on that and be happy to know that strength increases from pull ups translate well to chin up strength gains.
Works the biceps in the full range of motion.
Chin ups require you to fully extend your arm at the bottom of a rep and then fully contract the biceps at the top to get your chin above the bar - this works the bicep muscles completely.
Many people incorrectly perform barbell and dumbbell curls so that they don't fully straighten their arms at the bottom of a rep - this is why you see guys with strange lumps in the middle of otherwise thin arms.
It's Cheaper.
Even if you don't have a bar or rafter to use already in your house, garden etc.
, it's a lot cheaper to buy a chin bar than to buy a whole set of dumbbells.
These bars are pretty easy to install too.
Improves grip strength.
Better grip strength will help you in real life, sports like rock climbing and will help you to perform other serious exercises like the dead lift where the limiting factor to how much you can lift is often how powerful your grip is.
By the way, I'm not saying you need to stop doing curls.
Consider doing your curls after the chin ups.
They will obviously be harder when your already tired, but this is a good thing and will increase muscle growth.
Thanks for Reading Jay Farrant Personal Trainer Dublin Member of the Dublin Personal Trainer Grou
It's a great exercise for building up the biceps, whilst also working the back and chest muscles, particularly the lats.
The exercise is performed with your palms facing you whilst gripping an overhead bar, whereas for pull-ups your palms are facing away from you.
Chin ups are slightly easier to do than pull ups and work slightly different muscles.
Muscle groups used: Chin ups work the latissimus dorsi, posterior deltoid, teres major, the rhomboid muscles, the middle and lower portions of the trapezius, the elbow flexors and the pectoral major muscles.
The following are reasons why, in my opinion, the chin up is much better than the standard barbell or dummbell curls that most athletes perform: It develops functional strength that will translate to everyday activities, sports etc.
It is a whole upper body workout that seriously shocks your system, causing an anabolic hormone response - this just doesn't happen with bicep curls! The chin up exercise can be classed alongside excellent compound exercises like the squats, bench press and deadlift.
Clearly curls don't work nearly as many muscles as the chin up exercise does.
Builds your chest and back.
The chin up exercise will not only cause your biceps to grow quickly, but this exercise will build your chest and back.
this exercise will build your whole upper body as you have to tense all muscles whilst doing them to help keep you stable.
Teaches you to handle your own body weight.
If you can't handle your own body weight then your never going to excel at sports and can never call yourself truly fit.
Whereas fat people can often lift a lot on the bench press, I'm yet to meet a fat guy that can do twelve chin ups.
It will improve your sporting performance.
Dumbbell curls are joked about in changing rooms for building beach muscles that look good but have no strength.
By getting good at the chin up exercise you can greatly improve your upper body strength and this will clearly help you to perform better at a whole load of sports.
Lets you lift a heavy weight.
When you perform the chin up exercise your always lifting a heavy weight (your body) as opposed to the minor dumbbell weights you would be lifting.
It's no secret that lifting a heavy weight forces your muscles to grow much more quickly than doing many reps of a lighter weight.
The chin up prevents injury from doing heavy pressing exercises.
It is important to perform pulling movements like the chin up exercise if you regularly perform heavy pressing movements like the bench press or incline bench press...
otherwise you will create muscular imbalances that can lead to injury.
It's easy to increase the difficulty level.
You can add weight buy wearing a weight belt or a rucksack containing weights.
Alternatively you could get your training partner to lightly hold down your legs to provide increased resistance.
Granted its pretty easy to move up weights when doing barbell or dumbbell curls as well.
Can be performed outside of the gym.
All you need to do chin ups is some kind of bar or rafter to grip onto.
You may well find you already have access to something suitable in your house, garden or local park.
If the ledge you have is more suited to pull ups, do these on that and be happy to know that strength increases from pull ups translate well to chin up strength gains.
Works the biceps in the full range of motion.
Chin ups require you to fully extend your arm at the bottom of a rep and then fully contract the biceps at the top to get your chin above the bar - this works the bicep muscles completely.
Many people incorrectly perform barbell and dumbbell curls so that they don't fully straighten their arms at the bottom of a rep - this is why you see guys with strange lumps in the middle of otherwise thin arms.
It's Cheaper.
Even if you don't have a bar or rafter to use already in your house, garden etc.
, it's a lot cheaper to buy a chin bar than to buy a whole set of dumbbells.
These bars are pretty easy to install too.
Improves grip strength.
Better grip strength will help you in real life, sports like rock climbing and will help you to perform other serious exercises like the dead lift where the limiting factor to how much you can lift is often how powerful your grip is.
By the way, I'm not saying you need to stop doing curls.
Consider doing your curls after the chin ups.
They will obviously be harder when your already tired, but this is a good thing and will increase muscle growth.
Thanks for Reading Jay Farrant Personal Trainer Dublin Member of the Dublin Personal Trainer Grou