Introducing: pull ups and chins

This is the first article in a 5-part series about pull ups and chins. This article is a general FAQ and then I’m going to explore this king of vertical pulling movements in more detail over the next 5 weeks as follows:

• Starting out – how to work up to one pull up if you can’t already do one
• Staying injury free – what to do if your shoulder hurts
• Pull up variants – pronated grip, supinated grip, neutral grip, wide grip, narrow grip, elbow flexor, isometrics and lock-offs
• Volume progressions – how to do more than one pull up
• Strength progressions – how to build a big weighted pull up

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What does a pull up look like?

This is what a pull up looks like.

The 3 pictures show the bottom, middle and top positions (yes, I did have to hold the middle position for ages while we got the camera to work, which is why I am bright red in the face).  Anyway, the key points are:

• You start from a dead hang
• You start with straight arms
• You don’t flail around or use momentum to throw yourself skywards
• You finish with your chin over the bar

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How do I do a pull up?

You reach up, grab the bar and pull your chin over it.  Anything more sophisticated than that is probably overblown.  If you can’t do a pull up yet, watch out for my tutorial in the next couple of weeks on how to do your first pull up and be prepared for the journey of a lifetime… or something like that.

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Why bother with pull ups and chins?

I must confess, I wrote this paragraph about 4 times before it made sense.  You see, I was somewhat perplexed about where to start.  To be honest, I have got to the point where I do pull ups and chins just to get better at pull ups and chins.  Like a powerlifter, I am only really interested in whether doing a routine will add to my 1RM.

However, I understand that most people don’t think like this!  There are, fortunately for me, lots of benefits:

• Pull ups hit the lats hard and your lats can never be strong enough (as Adam confirms)
• Close-grip chins hit the biceps hard and if you want bigger arms, this is the way forward
• Pull ups are a big, compound movement and therefore cause more testosterone to be released
• Pull ups will help stabilise your shoulders and prevent injury
• Pull ups will help you get a bigger bench
• Pull ups will get you out of trouble if you’re hanging on a cliff edge for dear life… Uh, no I don’t have a link for that one, but you can trust me…

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How do I integrate pull ups into my workouts?

As always, it depends on what you’re already doing and what your goals are.  If you already have a number of specific exercises that you are training for specific goals (like the powerlifts or the Olympic lifts) then you are probably already incorporating pull ups and chins as assistance exercises to help strengthen the lats and biceps.

If you are training for physique goals, then you could consider replacing one of your back or biceps exercises with a chin.  If you’re doing lat pull downs, for example, this would be the obvious exercise to replace as the movement is very similar.

Personally, I have found that pull ups and chins make a great choice for the max effort exercise in an upper body workout as part of a 4-day split routine.  Joe DeFranco has written a great 4-day split workout routine with max effort and repetitive or dynamic effort days called Westside for Skinny Bastards.

I actually tend to do 2 max effort exercises for a 3RM, a pull (always a pull up or a chin) and a push (usually a dip or bench).  This is different from Joe’s programme.  Initially, I was worried that I might overtrain doing this but so far (about 6 months), I have been fine.

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How do I progress pull ups?

You can either add weight or add reps.  You can add weight in various ways:

• Adding weight plates to a dipping belt
• Adding weight plates to a climbing harness using a sling and carabiner
• Holding a dumbbell on your feet (only for the brave)

I have found that a climbing harness works well as you can distribute the load around the belt and this prevents the weight from changing your centre of gravity too much.  I have found that anything over 2/3 bodyweight in one place starts to tip me forwards or backwards.  Once I get above this weight, I start to add plates to the back of the harness to balance myself out.

Well, that’s my introduction to pull-ups.  Stay tuned for parts 2 to 5…

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