Get Your First Chin Up/Pull Up
"I want to do a chin up/pull up" might be one of the most popular goals we hear in the gym!
Welcome to the club! Let's talk about a few ways we can make that happen..
- Hanging on the bar! Legit... just hang. Shoot for 30 seconds every day and choose 1 or 2 days to hang as long as you can! We have to build confidence on the bar and strength to hang from the bar, so start there!
- Shrug pull: 15 reps of these will help build to the skill to PULL the bar to you and engage the lats. I placed an arrow to show where your lats are. Pulling from the bottom of the pull up/chin up is going to be the hardest part so learning how to turn the lats on and teaching them how to pull is crucial to pull ups success.
- Eccentric lowering from bar or TRX: We worked on the hang, we worked on the pull, now let's work from the top down! Use assistance to help you get up and over the bar and fight like crazy to lower yourself to the fully extended position. When you get to the bottom give yourself another shrug pull and then reset.
Band assisted chins are great for training the pattern and building strength and confidence, HOWEVER, if you have a goal to get a full chin up or pull up then you have to do the work outside of the band too!
The major difference between the pull up and chin up is your hand positioning. Pull ups hands are facing away and chin ups palms are facing toward you. Neither are wrong! It is more likely that you will get a chin up "easier" than a pull up. If you are just hanging then go palms away, if you are doing an eccentric then start palms facing you.