I met Nick Nilsson at Joel Marion’s Super Bowl party. He’s such a quiet and pensive dude, I can see why he’s been given the name ‘The Mad Scientist of Exercise’ because while everyone else is chatting it up, I’ll bet Nick is secretly dreaming up new movements on a variety of apparatus, whether it’s gym equipment or not 😉
Here’s another cool one from Nick:
Hand Over Hand Chin Ups
By Nick Nilsson
If regular chin-ups are just getting WAY too easy for you, THIS exercise is going to challenge you in a way that NO regular chin-up can…
The Chin-Up is, quite honestly, one of THE best exercises you can do not only for your back but for your entire body. It’s a classic bodyweight exercise that never gets old.
Now, if you’re a fan of the chin-up, THIS version of it is one you’ll LOVE. It’ll blow your lats and your biceps up like crazy!
To perform it, you should be able to do at least 8 to 10 regular chin-ups. It’s a tough exercise and requires some base chinning strength to perform.
For this one, you’ll just need a chin-up bar. I’m using the one that goes across the frame of my power rack and that works just fine.
So first, go to one end of the bar and stand perpendicular under it (NOT like you normally would directly under the bar).
Take a staggered grip on the bar (like a baseball bat grip).
Now pull yourself up to one side of the bar – the side you’ll want to pull to is the same as the hand that is FURTHEST from you. Basically, if your left hand is furthest away, pull up on the left side of the bar.
Now lower yourself down PART WAY…NOT the whole way. You should have some bend in your elbows. At this point, move your furthest hand over behind your nearest hand (hence the hand-over-hand name!).
The key here is to be sure you’ve got a bend in the elbows and tension on the lats. Because when you take one hand off, you’re basically putting your entire bodyweight (just for a moment) on the one lat. VERY big time tension here.
Once you’ve placed the hand, pull yourself up to the OTHER side.
Lower yourself down, step your hand backward on the bar again.
Now pull up to the other side again.
This picture shows when the one arm is the only one supporting the body.
Continue along the bar until you run out of bar then go back the way you came, moving your hands forward this time.
Keep going forward and backward along the bar until you can’t do any more reps.
It’s a BRUTAL back exercise that makes regular chins look like nothing. By the time you’re done, your entire back and your biceps will be so swollen full of blood, you won’t believe it. The continuous tension and bodyweight combination really makes for a potent back attack!
If you’d like to see 145 amazing back exercises to strengthen your back and improve your pull ups, check out this out HERE.
