Chin-Up

Chin-Up is a compound strength exercise using body only that trains the lats.

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StrengthBody OnlyBeginnerCompoundPull

Primary muscles: Lats

Secondary muscles: Biceps, Forearms, Middle Back

How to do it

  1. Grab the pull-up bar with the palms facing your torso and a grip closer than the shoulder width.
  2. As you have both arms extended in front of you holding the bar at the chosen grip width, keep your torso as straight as possible while creating a curvature on your lower back and sticking your chest out. This is your starting position. Tip: Keeping the torso as straight as possible maximizes biceps stimulation while minimizing back involvement.
  3. As you breathe out, pull your torso up until your head is around the level of the pull-up bar. Concentrate on using the biceps muscles in order to perform the movement. Keep the elbows close to your body. Tip: The upper torso should remain stationary as it moves through space and only the arms should move. The forearms should do no other work other than hold the bar.
  4. After a second of squeezing the biceps in the contracted position, slowly lower your torso back to the starting position; when your arms are fully extended. Breathe in as you perform this portion of the movement.
  5. Repeat this motion for the prescribed amount of repetitions.

Track it with MyoAmigo

MyoAmigo pre-fills every set of the Chin-Up from last time, charts your estimated 1RM trend so you can see strength move without testing a true max, and flags a stall with a concrete fix. It also credits this work toward your weekly Lats volume on the MyoMap heatmap. New to the movement? Start with picking a working weight and progressive overload.

Related Lats exercises

Other

Band Assisted Pull-Up

Barbell

Bent-Arm Barbell Pullover

Cable

Cable Incline Pushdown

Medicine Ball

Catch and Overhead Throw

Stretching

Chair Lower Back Stretch

Cable

Close-Grip Front Lat Pulldown

Stretching

Dynamic Back Stretch

Cable

Elevated Cable Rows

Cable

Full Range-Of-Motion Lat Pulldown

← All exercises · Browse by muscle

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