How to build Chin up strength
By: Shane Suisted

Hey what’s up?

In the past month I have had a lot of ladies at the gym I work at ask me “I want to do chin ups, How can I improve my chin up or Pull up Strength”?

Chin ups or Pull ups are one of the best overall muscle and strength building exercises around. The chin up or pull up measures your strength to weight ratio better than most other exercises.

So today I am going to share with everyone that wants to listen what I have shown and told these Ladies at my gym.

1) Like any strength training exercise you have to train consistently and specifically to improve you strength or muscle shape.

2) I usually start my clients on an assisted chin up machine if they cannot complete one pull up. An assisted chin up machine can be adjusted to add to or decrease your bodyweight. If your gym doesn’t have an assisted chin machine you can use a large resistance band and loop it around the bar to assist you.

3) It’s hard to explain but you should pull with your lat muscles not your arms or biceps. If you hang from a chin up bar with both arms straight and only try to pull yourself up with straight arms you will get a better understanding and feel of how to engage your lats first when completing a chin up.

4) Don’t train to failure if your speed slows down the set is over and have a rest. If the next rep doesn’t look or feel the same as the last rep and you can’t get your chin up to the bar or as high as the last rep, the set is finished.

5) Use a variety of grips to improve your grip strength palms in or out, also adjust your grip width as well there are many, many ways to adjust your grip. It will also help you avoid any overuse injuries and keep your training varied.

6) If you are using an assisted chin up machine vary the weight each workout to challenge your muscles. Or if you wanted to use a standard progression you can only adjust the weight if you can complete two extra reps per set with correct form in two consecutive training sessions. You can work through this progression until you can complete a full chin up with no assistance.

Check out the video below which takes you through a basic chin up progression.

YouTube Video

Talk to you again soon.

If you have any questions contact me today!