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Chins

CHIN — WIDE-GRIP

Taken from Dave Draper's book, Brother Iron, Sister Steel

Starting from a fully extended hanging position, pull your body up to the bar so the underside of the chin is near contact, deliberately arching and leaning thereby contracting the lats throughout. Lower yourself slowly, extend and continue. Form is everything, pure and controlled. Lat contraction is your purpose, not going up and down roughly any way you can. Here we have the lats totally engaged, outer and lower. Pulldowns work well, but chins are merciless; there’s no possibility of cheating without silly body contortions. After a warm-up set, hang an appropriate weight from your waist using a strap or belt to give you a 12, 10, 8, 6 rep sequence. Not everyone is remarkable in chinning. Give it your committed best and you may develop remarkable lats. Added attractions are biceps peak, grip strength, linear abs and minor pec action.

CHIN — BEHIND THE NECK

This modification shifts the resistance from the lats primarily to the inter-muscular activity of the upper back and deltoids. Not my preferred target, but a mean, full back muscle intensifier. Don’t project your head forward and endanger the cervical complex.

CHIN — OTHER VARIATIONS

Chins come in all shapes and sizes. There are the wide-grips already discussed with their prevalent over-grip or “supinated grip.” And there are the close-grips with both the supinated grip and its counterpart, the pronated grip. I advocate the fully extended starting position once the body is in condition to chin at all; for some, it’s the challenge of a lifetime. Pull with all your might from the bottom to the top, a tight contraction to the chin or further, should structure allow, and down slowly to extension. Arch the back in either grip to emphasize the back’s exertion. Pronated grip maximizes the biceps engagement while working the lats (adds to the long lat sweep that stretches low), serratus and back. Overgrip does more for the upper back and spinatus region. All chins build grip, wrist and forearm strength.

Full extension too soon, before insertions are thickened and readied, can cause a lot of pain if not separation or a tear in the complex of shoulder, pectoral, latisimus and biceps.