Chin Ups and Pull Ups Workout

A lot of people are scared away from doing chin ups and pull ups because in the beginning, they are difficult when you have not developed the upper body strength...yet. The key word is yet. I never thought I could do a pull up or a chin up, but after using my foot on a chair in the beginning (this helps make it easier) I was finally able to do a couple without the chair after a couple of weeks.

That's a pretty big success!

So if you cannot do 10-20 in a row, that's not a big deal. If you stick with it, I guarantee your strength will improve and 1 or 2 will turn into 10 or 20. If you are looking for some great body weight exercise for your chest, check out the Push Up Workout Section.

BodyWeight Exercises For Your Back

Basic Pull up/Chin up

You will want to grab the bar with you hands about shoulder width apart and your palms facing you for a chin up and away from you for a pull up. Pull-ups are harder and work more of your back and less of your bicep. So as a beginner, you may want to start with your palms facing in. Below I have pictures a chin up.

BEGINNER TIP:
If you find these still too hard, you can always start by using resistance bands to mimic the motions. What you should do is get a resistance band and attached it or hook it to your pull up bar. Just make sure whatever you hook it to is solid so it does not come off and wack you in the face. I find sitting down with legs straight works bests. When pulling, make sure to squeeze you back muscles. After a week or two, try getting on the bar itself.

Narrow/Wide Grip

You can use both wide an narrow grips on your bar. A narrow grip is about the length of your two thumbs touching together. A wide grip is wider than your shoulders. Below, I have pictures the narrow grip parrallel bars at the gym.

Gironda Sternums

Using an underhand grip with arm shoulder width apart, do a normal chin up, and then lean backwards as if you are trying to arch your back towards a 45 degree angle at the top of the movement. You want your collarbone to come above the bar and you should be able to touch your sternum (the flat bones of your chest) to the bar. Then lower yourself down.

Climbers

A little bit more of a challenging move. Your grip should be a little wider than shoulder width. When lifting your body weight, move towards one side of the bar. Return to the starting position and than switch to the other side.

Another variation on this exercise is the Corn Cobs. Instead of coming back down to the starting position, you keep your body lifted and just shift your weight from side to side.

Towel Pull-Up

Using a towel, wrap it around one end of the pull up bar so that you can grab the end with one hand. With hand grabbing the towel and one hand on the bar, this creates an unlevel surface to perform your exercise on. Try doing a few, then switching hands.

And there you have it, some great exercises that you can do at home or at the gym. A great workout would be to pick 3-4 different moves mixing between pull ups and chin ups. Try doing as many as you can in a certain amount of time say 30 seconds or 1 minute. This will push you to try and do as many as possible.

Pictures Provided by EverKinetic!