If you’re working on getting five chin-ups, I’ve got some tips for you that will help reach your goal.
First of all, most people think that getting up to the bar is what builds strength. It’s actually the lowering down from the bar, the eccentric contraction that helps you build strength. What you want to do is work on the eccentric contraction and not just the concentric contraction. The concentric contraction is when you lift yourself up to the bar or the shortening of the muscles.
The chin up is an underhand grip with the palms facing you. The beauty of the chin up is that you can use your biceps to help as well as your back. You really want to be engaging the back when you’re doing the chin up since that’s a larger muscle. You need to have a narrow grip, about shoulder width apart compared to a pull up where the grip is wider then shoulder width.
Whether you’re in a gym, in a park or in your garage, your first step is to find a way that you can assist yourself with the chin up. In a gym you can use an assisted chin up machine. If there isn’t one available you can use a step up, a bench, or a chair. You want to get your chin over the bar by assisting yourself up, it doesn’t matter how you get up there but you want to work on the lowering phase of the chin up.
You’re going to get your chin over the bar anyway you can and then just slowly lower your body down to a full hang position and then repeat. Jump up or step up and then slowly lower down till you get that full hang and big stretch through your lats. This is the first thing that I want you to do in order to achieve that goal of five chin-ups.
The second thing you can do to help with your chin up is a Bent over row. The way you’re going to do this bent over row is with the same hand positioning. You’re going to have palms forward so you can engage your biceps more. It’s very important to have a flat back, palms forward, keep your eyes in front and don’t let the chin drop down, drive the elbows up to the ceiling, then lower the dumbbells down slowly in a straight line that gravity. Maintain that flat back position for the whole time.
These two tips will help you reach your goal of five chin-ups. Remember to work the eccentric contraction by doing the assisted chin-ups and also don’t forget about those bent over dumbbell rows.