Comments on: How to Improve on Chin Ups

By: K.Gopal Rao

K.Gopal Rao — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:28:01 +0000

Thanks for the clarification, Till. Will pursue yr suggestion. Gopal

By: Till

Till — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:41:15 +0000

Gopal, the difference between a chinup and a pullup is the grip. Chinup = Palms facing you (more stress on biceps), Pullup = palms facing away (lats). Mark Sisson from Marksdailyapple.com wrote a pretty good progression for pullups starting from zero, check out his primal blueprint fitness ebook (it’s for free).

By: K.Gopal Rao

K.Gopal Rao — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:31:15 +0000

Jason, or anyone else,
Can u point me in the right direction for improving (going from 0 to1!), but without a support band as described since I just workout at home. I’m 72 and some 15-20 kgs overweight. Tried a chin-up as part of an effort to strengthen the muscles (back, biceps?) and increase exercise intensity to lose weight. Found I just cant lift myself at all. Strikes me I may HAVE to lose weight AND strengthen the biceps before I’ll be able to do it, but am I right in putting these as primary objectives before trying chinups again?
And, what exactly is the diff between a chinup and a pullup? I had thought the former was the yank term and the latter brit.

By: tyciol

tyciol — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:42:29 +0000

I don’t understand why to use a band if a pulldown machine is available. Probably much safer, especially for obese clients.

By: pax

pax — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:57:38 +0000

jay how can i improve my chin ups, or how can i train to do one handed chin ups, i can do already between 40 and 60 in a row depending on how i feel during the day.

thks man!

By: jasonferruggia

jasonferruggia — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:29:09 +0000

Craig,
Of course, those are great methods but if you can’ t do any reps on your own the band is a great way to start.

Jerry,
A close supinated (palms facing you) grip will work best for building biceps.

Darren,
The inverted row is a horizontal pull, not vertical so that wouldn’t replace a chin up. I would stick with the pulldown machine for now while cutting bodyfat. Really push the weights up and try to get strong as hell on pulldowns. As your weight comes down you should be able to eventually get off the pulldowns and on to the chin up bar. Start with close parallel grip chins if possible, as these are the easiest.

Darren,
You should start with the green bands and then progress to the purple.

Howard,
It is Public Enemy. We play at least one PE song per workout.

Elise,
You can get the bands at EliteFTS.com

If you guys can do more than 12 reps you should work on getting stronger with lower reps and heavy weight.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:18:17 +0000

Why don’t you like the Gravitron Machine’s? I’ve recently started working out again after taking several years off. Because I can’t do the chinups yet I’ve been doing 3 sets of 15 with the Gravitron and 3 sets of 15 with seated pull downs to build strength. Am I going down the wrong road or should I just purchase the bands and change my routine.

By: Nickola

Nickola — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:52:35 +0000

Great advice. As a personal trainer I require my female clients to lift weights. The band chin-ups work wonderfully for my scared cats clients. The rep range is something new I learned from your info it is solid advise. Thank you for sharing.

By: MAX

MAX — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:51:59 +0000

I recommend slapping on as much weight as possible. I do 10-15 sets of weighted chins in a work out, my average amount of reps is 2. then i do 2 sets of bodyweight chins.

if you do high reps your training endurance, It will take you a long time to get strong. I have done a chin with 110lbs on a belt at BW of 145lbs

I cant do 20 chin ups straight.

Moral of the story, you train high reps- you get good at high reps, you train low reps you get good at low reps. 1 type of fast twitch muscle turns into fast or slow twitch depending on training.

so know your goals.

By: Darren

Darren — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:41:19 +0000

Jason, as embarassing as this is to admit – even with the green bands i cannot do a chin up with proper form so where do I go from here? I know you don’t like those gravitron machines but if it is between a gravitron, lat pulldown or inverted row which would be peferable to build my strength?