here's three reasons why chin ups are valuable for calisthenics now
according to the fitness faqs community chin-ups aren't a popular choice here's why i disagree
i told you if the goal is bicep development chin ups are the superior vertical pull the
2010 paper compared emg activity in the biceps using chin up and pull up grips
emg uses electrodes on muscles to infer their motor unit activation research
shows the biceps have greater activation on chin-ups with a mean difference of plus 18
the reason for this higher bicep recruitment is because chin ups use a supinated grip peak torque
production or rotational force is higher when the palms face our body if you're someone who has weak
or small bicep muscles chin ups are a must this compound exercise prioritizes bicep recruitment
what makes the chin up shine is the potential for progressive overload long term bodyweight
reps can be used in a variety of ways to increase bicep size you can definitely pump out high reps
to expose the biceps to a large volume of work you can manipulate tempo with slow negatives
to raise time under tension short rest periods are another way of increasing work density this is a
great hypertrophy protocol when you're limited for time bodyweight chins offer a high stimulus
low fatigue environment for hypertrophy if you're a beginner don't discount the importance
of improving your basic body weight reps if you're advanced sprinkle these in at the end of a session
to refine your physique as you become proficient at chins weighted calisthenics is limitless with
weighted chin-ups you're able to continue lifting heavier and heavier this simple form of overload
is guaranteed to make the biceps grow bigger and stronger because of the compound multi-joint
nature of chin-ups growth is guaranteed as your numbers improve pick your poison with regard to
rep ranges based on your objective for those of you with small biceps weighted chins above six
reps is ideal for muscle gain a moderate rep range is perfect for mass because more of the
work is stimulating growth if stronger biceps is the objective use sets of one to five reps
to improve the neural software of your body chin ups offer a host of strength gaining advantages
the one arm chin up demonstrates world-class ability well-developed back and bicep muscles
are needed to pull this off for those of you who are on the journey towards the one arm chin
understand this we need to follow the said principle to unlock advanced calisthenics sed
stands for specific adaptations to impose demands in plain english strength gains are specific to
the exercise we train the absolute strength gained using weighted calisthenics translates nicely to
one arm chinning the unique benefit of supinated pulling happens at lockout chin above bar thanks
to the chin up grip we're able to effectively pause at n range dominating the lockout phase
by ending each rep with a consistent technique progress is reliable and repeatable the details
of exercise 4 may seem trivial but in reality they really matter if you're serious about
improving we want our progress to be happening through a full range of motion
no compromises no cheating getting a pause at the top provides two benefits for our chin-ups first
we're solidifying strength above the bar which is a sticking point for higher intensity chinning
second we're taking the biceps through full elbow flexion to optimize the hypertrophy response
the biomechanics involved with supinated chins make them the optimal variation for training the
lockout phase the underrated advantage of chin-ups is what i call grind ability when training close
to failure different grips have different results our final reps on chin ups can be grinded out
with strict form the rep speed slows down but we can finish the rep without cheating that's high
grindability this makes progressive overload with higher intensity training a possibility
being able to improve on compound exercises is essential that's what makes chin ups the goat
a disadvantage of pull-ups is that they have a low grind ability success relies on explosive
power from the bottom to complete the reps as with fatigue or near failure range of motion suffers or
momentum is used to finish pull-ups there's a temptation to cheat when using higher intensity
pronated pulls this isn't ideal it's hard to tell if we're progressing based on strength
or simply getting better at kipping be mindful of the biomechanical limitations of pronated pulling
and the impact on sustainable strength development what's your favorite variation pull up chin up or
both comment below exercise variation is key for everyone training calisthenics switching grips
in a methodical way is the smartest approach incorporating a variety of pulling techniques
provides the best of all worlds subtle changes in grip emphasizes different aspects of the
arm shoulder and back muscles minor tweaks with technique changes the biomechanics and resulting
strength gain the main argument for variation is to force progress the human body is highly
adaptable this is a blessing and a curse if we're disciplined and consistent with training one pull
pattern it will get better however if we only use one grip year after year stagnation is inevitable
regardless of the technique our body adapts to the stimulus making it hard to improve this is
where exercise variety is a valuable solution for everyone watching the most important part is
knowing when and how to switch things up a common calisthenics mistake is using a different grip
every workout this muscle confusion philosophy constant variety is outdated bro science always
changing grips doesn't provide the body time to adapt improve and understand the stimulus the
smarter approach is using variation in the mid to long term consider changing your main pulling grip
after a six to eight week block of training this is sufficient time to improve the specific skill
and extract gains before changing variation allows you to grow with less yes more gains
less effort when switching to a different grip one that you don't regularly train there's more growth
potential being weaker at a movement shouldn't be seen as a bad thing the good news there's
plenty of room to progressively overload and also grow gradual increases in volume and intensity
session to session are going to be possible once again consider variety like making beginner gains
except for those with experience this means you'll increase muscle size and strength when pulling in
a novel manner the final advantage of variation is longevity and injury prevention training is
a tricky balance of work to recovery managing our tissue loading the human body is robust and
can handle plenty of training this concept is supported by variety thanks to the distribution
of stress cycling the grip used throughout the course of your calisthenics career is sensible
and safe experiencing acute or overused injuries is less likely when we make subtle grip changes
over time those of you who experience pain would benefit from periodic variety to mitigate tissue
loading issues the psychological advantage of variety is huge and should be respected undergoing
another period of improvement is deeply satisfying igniting the spark to train with passion planned
variety is productive random variety is senseless i think we can all agree that there's value
in cycling through a combination of pulling grips the key is choosing a technique which suits your
body type your training objectives and of course your preference see you guys soon on fitness faqs