Chin Up Bar Review

If you do a variety of muscle building exercises but need to diversify your work out, a chin up bar is a great way to do it. Chin ups are a simple but important exercise, with a simple motion but a lot of strengthening to be achieved if you do it correctly.

The chin up bar helps you work your latissimus dorsi (lats), which are on the back of your torso below your shoulder blades. But since muscles always work together with other muscles, you get added benefits to the following muscles, as well:

• biceps brachii
• bracialis
• posterior deltoid
• teres major & teres minor
• lower trapezius
• lower pectoralis

That is a lot of different muscles for a very simple motion. Here is how the chin up works:

1. Approach the bar and stand directly below it.
2. Extend your arms upward and grip the bar firmly, with your palms facing your torso.
3. Focusing on the use of your lats as you pull yourself up to the bar, until your chest reaches the bar and your chin is above it (hence the name “chin up”).
4. Lower yourself back down until your arms are straight.
5. Repeat as desired, preferably in sets between other exercises.

However, there’s more to a chin up than that. There are a number of variations on that simple motion that help you get the most out of your chin up bar. If you want more challenge, you may try a one-handed chin up, where you grip the bar with one hand and use the other to hold the forearm of your gripping hand.

You may also try wearing a weighted belt, creating what is known as a weighted chin up. This adds extra weight to your body and challenges your muscles to work harder to get you up to the bar.

If you reverse your grip on the chin up bar, so that your palms are facing away from your body, then the work you are doing is now classified as a pull up workout, which works a different combination of muscles but is also a great motion for increasing strength.