Chin Up

How to Perform the Chin Up

1. Grasp a pull-up bar with an underhand (supinated) grip, hands approximately shoulder-width apart. Hang with your arms fully extended and feet off the floor.
2. Engage your lats by depressing your shoulder blades down and back. Cross your ankles behind you or keep your legs straight.
3. Pull your body upward by driving your elbows down toward your hips, focusing on squeezing your lats and biceps.
4. Continue pulling until your chin clears the bar or your upper chest reaches bar level.
5. Pause briefly at the top with your chin over the bar, then slowly lower yourself back to a full dead hang under control.
6. Maintain a slight backward lean throughout the movement to optimize lat engagement. Avoid kipping or swinging.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Muscles Worked

Benefits

• ✓One of the best exercises for simultaneously developing the lats, biceps, and overall back thickness.
• ✓The supinated grip places the biceps in a stronger pulling position, allowing most people to perform more reps than pull-ups.
• ✓Builds real-world functional pulling strength and improves grip endurance.

Pro Tips

• ●If you cannot perform full chin-ups, use a resistance band for assistance or do negative-only reps to build strength.
• ●Avoid wrapping your thumbs fully around the bar. A thumbless grip can help shift focus from the forearms to the lats.
• ●Add weight with a dip belt or dumbbell between your feet once you can comfortably perform 10-12 bodyweight reps.

Variations

Recommended Sets & Reps