How to Perform a Chin Up: A Beginner’s Guide

Chin ups are one of the best upper body strength exercises and are excellent for promoting fat loss because they tax the muscular system and burn a large amount of calories.

The problem occurs when chin ups become a daunting exercise because they are so difficult for many people, especially women. In this three part post I will examine the exercise and give tips on how to build up your strength and fitness so you can begin to perform them on a regular basis.

A lot of people resort to exercises like lat pull downs because chin ups are just way too hard. While lat pull downs are a great exercise (insert sarcastic laugh here)…Yeah let’s be honest; they are not a great exercise! You are sitting down, and pulling a bar down toward you, most of the time with horrific form like pushing your neck forward and driving the bar into your upper shoulders just to the weight (that is way too heavy) into what you think is the correct position. Ouch! Painful and ineffective.

Another substitute is a dumbbell or barbell row. These are great exercises. Seriously. They promote strength through the upper back, lower back, and biceps. You do them standing up, which you all know that I love because it promotes good posture and stresses your body much more than sitting or lying down. I use these exercises all the time, but they are no match for the mighty chin up. Once you conquer it, you will see gains in strength and lean muscle like you would not believe, and you will finally develop that fit and lean looking upper body because your entire muscular system is at work.
Okay, let’s get down to business…
You will not be jumping up on the bar and hanging there for dear life. There is a method to the madness, you will not look silly, and you WILL see progress.
The best way to begin a chin up program is to seek the help of a qualified and nationally certified personal trainer. A trainer can help you to develop a proper scheme of repetitions and monitor your progress so that you know when you are ready to take the next step or modify your technique if necessary.
If you do not have access or resources for a fitness trainer, then here is the first step toward developing a solid chin up program.

Inverted Rows or Body Rows:
Inverted rows are also called body rows and these are a great starting point for people who cannot yet perform a chin up. In order to perform an inverted row, set up a barbell in the squat rack at slight above waist height.
• Lie on your back under the bar with your knees bent
• Grasp the bar with a shoulder width grip, arms straight
• Lift your hips off the ground
• Pull your shoulder blades down and back to activate your upper back muscles
• Using your back as the primary mover, pull your body up with your chest coming toward the bar
• Slowly lower your body toward the floor without relaxing your back muscles at the end of the movement
• Repeat for as many repetitions as you can, 3 sets

Once you can perform 3 sets of 8 repetitions, lower the bar one notch and continue the same progression.  Having a personal trainer to watch your technique is important because you want to maintain a tight and straight back without using momentum.

After you master that piece of the puzzle; you need to decrease the knee bend to make a longer lever (your body) and make this task a bit more difficult. Begin with a slight bend in the knees, and then progress to straight legs using a 45 pound plate to make sure your feet don’t slide.

As you progress in this fitness program and your strength increases, you can elevate your feet on a bench and set the bar at waist height.

You should be able to perform 3 sets of anywhere from 6-12 repetitions.
Use this progressive model to elevate your upper body strength and fitness levels. Stay tuned for the second part of this post to learn more about chin up progressions and what to do when you actually get on the bar.

You are now well on your way to building up great strength, developing a toned and fit looking upper body, and elevating your metabolism to burn a ton of body fat.

In this video you will see various training exercises. About 1/2 way through you will see a body row with the rings. This is basically what you will do but start with the bar at waist height and knees bent. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for part 2 in your chin up progressions.