Chin Up Bar Review

There are certain established exercises that we have all tried and will continue to use for years and years. These classic exercises include The Push-Up, The Crunch and The Chin-Up. A few of us may trade in these exercises for a new faddy piece of gym equipment which offers lots of empty promises, but I guarantee that almost all of us return to performing these old favorites when clarity returns. They do not entail any fancy apparatus and instead rely on gravity and your own body weight.

This article will explore The Chin-Up, looking at how to perform this exercise correctly and the benefits of Chin-Ups especially if you are looking to build muscle fast.

A chin-up is where you cleanly pull your body weight up off the ground by using your hands on an elevated bar. A great place to set up a bar is in between a door frame. If you grip the bar with your palms facing away from your body you will perform a pull-up. Pull-ups focus less on the arms and more on the back and shoulders. If however you turn your grip facing towards your body you will be performing a chin-up. Chin-ups focus on the arms, especially the biceps.

They are simple to execute and the benefits are first-rate. Chiefly, chin-ups and pull-ups build muscle by forcing you to lift you entire bodyweight, putting strain on the body notably the back, shoulder and arm muscles. They also boost your grappling strength by holding on to the bar. This strength can be transferred to many sports including rock climbing and rowing which can promote weight loss.

You will also begin to notice other weight training exercises become easier such as the over head press and bench press. This is payable to the supplementary strength the arm muscles have gained due to chin-ups. Ultimately, chin-ups and pull-ups will wholly advance your shoulder health as the ‘pull’ will counterbalance any ‘push’ exercises you perform hence keeping the muscles feeling equal.

The trouble with chin-ups is that they are hard to do. Many of us can only manage two at a time if that! This can be somewhat disheartening and regrettably many give up at the first hurdle which is injurious to any weight loss, strength and fitness goals. Instead of giving up take on this challenge and enjoy the feeling when you have mastered the chin-up!

Start by learning how to support a little of your weight until you can perform chin-ups on your own. A few tips include placing a chair underneath your tippy toes that you can push yourself up on slightly or ask a trusted friend to help you up by holding on to your body. Alternatively, you can use momentum by swinging yourself up. Once you have mastered chin-ups with a little help your muscles should be a bit stronger to support your weight alone.

So once you have the vigor to perform chin-ups I guess you would like to know how to achieve the perfect chin-up? No problem. Start with straight arms in a dead hang from the bar and hold the bar firmly with your fingers wrapped around the bar. Take a deep breath in from the belly and then pull yourself up. To ensure you keep the accurate posture do not raise your shoulders as you come up, raise your chest towards the bar and look up. Point your elbows towards the floor; bend your knees into your chest and cross your ankles. This will not only build up the biceps but work the abs, the glutes and help you to get stronger.

As you have read there are quite a few things to think about when performing chin-ups and many mistakes can be made. Remember to keep your arms completely straight to make it more of a dead lift and keep your shoulders down and raise your chest. Try to keep as still and controlled as possible to get the most out of your chin-ups as flapping around on the bar will help you up using momentum but not give your muscles such an intense workout.

The most imperative tip to consider is to make certain your chin comes up and completely clears the bar. If not then you are not achieving a chin-up.

So there you have it, a classic exercise that gives classic results. Start off slowly and build up in time remembering to not make mistakes and to listen to your body. When you have built up muscle mass and are finding chin-ups easier then add weights to your ankles to add resistance.

If you are focusing your work out on building muscle strength and muscle mass, then you really should consider integrating a chin up bar into your workout routine if you don’t already. Doing chin ups build strength in a pair of muscles called the “latissimus dorsi.” These are located on the middle back of your torso, below your shoulders, and are often called the “lats” for short.

Working your lats is a good way to not only build muscle strength (and thus acquire all of the other benefits of increased muscle tone in your overall health), but to break up your work out routine by adding a different motion. The more different things you do, the greater your overall fitness will be. Say you focus on sit-ups, bench presses, and push-ups. Adding chin ups will strengthen new muscles and help improve your work out in these other areas, too.

So you know you want to add chin ups to your routine, but you’re not sure how to do them. Here’s a basic primer or chin up technique, with some pointers to help you get started. (As with any workout advice, there are always risks that you might hurt yourself or pull something if you don’t do it quite right, so it’s best to work with a personal trainer to make sure you do it safely if you have any questions.)

Here is the basic form of doing a chin-up.

1. Step up to the chin up bar and extend your arms above your head.
2. Grip the bar with your fingers/palms facing you.
3. Pull yourself up to the chin up bar until you are high enough that your chest touches (or nearly touches) the bar.
4. Relax and lower your body back down until your arms are straight.
5. Repeat.

There are a few different ways of doing a chin up, or things you can do to enhance your workout. It’s easy to try and do all the work with your arms (specifically your biceps), so using a kip can help remind you to use your lats instead of just your arms. This helps the chin up bar do its job and build muscle strength in your work out routine.