I have a question about Chin’s…
Whenever an author writes about doing Chin’s in articles, I never know which they are refering to because Pullups are a type of Chinup, right? I read in a CW article that Chins are a great arm building exercise(Yeah I know…duh). But he is talking about Chinups, and not pullups right?
The easy way to remember is that pullups are pronated, that’s why the pro’s do them.
Pronated - Palms facing away from you - pullups
Supinated - Palms facing towards you - chinups
Yes I think he is talking about Chinups, and you should do both. For me I find that pull-ups works my back more, and chin-ups work my bi’s more. I also noticed that most people who do chins or the palms facing each other chin-ups tend to have bigger biceps then the ones that do pull-ups.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Yes I think he is talking about Chinups, and you should do both. For me I find that pull-ups works my back more, and chin-ups work my bi’s more. I also noticed that most people who do chins or the palms facing each other chin-ups tend to have bigger biceps then the ones that do pull-ups.[/quote]
So, in essence they become big intramusculars? At least where biceps are concerned. Ha, good post pull ups more back focus chins more biceps.
D
Moral of the story:
Do both.
Chin-ups should hit your arms and lats more.
Pull-ups should hit your mid-back and delts more.
Chin-ups and Pull-ups will work your mid-back, delts, arms, and lats.
It does not matter what kind of Bodyweight Vertical Pulling you do be it Chin-ups or Pull-ups. You should just do whatever style you are strongest at. The variety between shoulder-width Pull-ups and shoulder-width Chin-ups is nonexistant. There is no reason to do both. Just do your favorite.
For balanced development, however, you need to work with different widths - close, medium, and wide. This is more important for symmetry than where you put your hands.
For me I’m strongest with a wide-grip if I do pull-ups. I assume most people are like this. For medium grip I’m strongest with a neutral grip or a chin-up grip. For close grip (the DD attachment on the rowing machine) I can only use the neutral grip so that’s what I use. As long as you vary the width you’re doing pull-ups with and you just pull from where you’re strongest you will never need to worry about symmetry.
In fact, if you can probably get away with just using a medium grip all of the time if you don’t plan on competing in bodybuilding shows and just want to be strong.
For me the pull-up,cnin-up and its variations are the ultimate upper body exercise.
Some of my favorite exercises. There’s so many variations too. I always try to stick my chest out and keep my shoulders back.
Never felt like they worked my biceps good.
[quote]Hagar wrote:
Some of my favorite exercises. There’s so many variations too. I always try to stick my chest out and keep my shoulders back.
[/quote]
And definitely one of the most challenging, especially when you get into the harder variations. Lever pull-ups are basically like a bodyweight row, 1 arms are freaking incredibly hard, muscle-ups are probably one of the most efficient upper body exercises out there (basically a pull-up and dip combined into one move).
[quote]
Never felt like they worked my biceps good. [/quote]
Me either, even the close grip supinated version I feel primarily in my back. Heck, even 1 arms I feel (well I should say felt, as I haven’t done any in a while) in my back.
I know people who feel them in their arms, and who have gotten decent arm size out of them, but those people also often times have a really hard time building their back.
Personally I’d suggest using them as primarily a back builder, and if you wish you could use them as a secondary biceps builder. Curls are still IMO the best biceps building exercise out there, so if you want big biceps, curl.
For me personally, the pronated work my lats really well. And the Supinated work my biceps. Do the Supinated’s work the middle back? Or just Bi’s
[quote]tw0scoops2 wrote:
For me personally, the pronated work my lats really well. And the Supinated work my biceps. Do the Supinated’s work the middle back? Or just Bi’s[/quote]
That depends on what you mean by “middle back”. They work the lats, just like any other pull-up/chin-up grip variation. If by middle back you meant the lats, then yes, they work the middle back.
Different hand spacings/orientations will hit different portions of the lats. Wide pronated grip tends to really work the upper outer lats, while narrow supinated grip tends to hit the lower portion of the lats.
Remember that while the latissimus dorsi is one muscle, it has many fibers and some will be stressed more depending on the angle of pull than others.