are you looking to get your first chin-up I'll show you all the exercises you'll need to do
to get there as well as one exercise you might not have even considered
I'll also share some great starter programs so you can take your first steps let's get right to it
what's up my fellow Rebel Coach Jim here and I want to help you get your first chin-up
I've coached beginners from their first chin up all the way up to
10 plus chin-ups and there is no greater feeling than when someone realizes they are
so much more capable than they first thought I mean there is no better
way to feel like a superhero than to get your first chin-up let's get right into it
the first thing is to make sure we're on the same page with definitions so a chin up is
where you are grabbing the bar with palms facing toward you and your hands are going to be about
shoulder-width apart a pull-up is where your palms are going to be facing away from you
and your hands are probably going to be a little bit wider than shoulder width
and then halfway between those is the neutral grip you'll usually see this on rings and this is where
your palms are actually facing each other in terms of difficulty I see the chin up being the easiest
and the pull of being a lot harder with the neutral grip chin up somewhere in the middle
what this means is that while you might be doing exercises with both the chin up and
the pull-up grip the chin-up grip exercises are probably going to feel a little stronger
all right let's talk about one of the first exercises to consider on your road to chin up
mastery the one arm dumbbell row now i'd love this exercise because no matter what level you're at
you can work on this and get stronger it's also great because you don't even need a chin up bar
to do it heck you don't even need a dumbbell to do it you can grab anything heavy around the house
whether that's a backpack filled with books or a suitcase or a gallon of milk whatever you can
grab to pull on up in a row is great you'll want to make sure to lean forward at the hips
keep the back in a good solid position and drive that elbow past the body now if the
one arm dumbbell row is the only exercise that you're able to do for your chin up training
then it should really come as no surprise that you're gonna have to work up to about half your
body weight with each arm in order to have a good shot at your first chin up and that's totally fine
that's going to give you plenty of work to do as you build up the weight in that exercise speaking
about not having a chin up bar if you are watching this video and you just don't have one available
check out our article the five best pull-up alternatives where i've got a great video
where I show how to create a chin-up bar set up with just a pair of towels alright the next
exercise on the list is bodyweight rose now this is another one you might have seen and
there's a lot of different ways to do them you can perform them on a set of rings or trx
or set a bar up in a rack and pull up that way or if you don't have either of those pieces of
equipment you can also actually set yourself up right underneath the table just be careful
make sure it's secure and make sure the table is not going to flip over top you now if you're doing
the rows with the rings or a bar in a rack you can adjust your angle to make things easier or harder
you can also bend at the knees to make the exercise a little bit easier for you
when you're able to row up for about six to eight reps with your body at about 45-degree
angle that's a pretty good place to be and you're ready to move on to the next exercises
alright so before we start getting into exercises that actually look like chin-ups
let me go back and talk about that one exercise
that you might not have even considered for your chin up training it is drum roll please
the front plank yes the front plank all right let me explain so the tension that we create in our
midsection and glutes for the front plank is actually the same sort of tension that we want
for our chin up or pull up in addition that tension actually helps the back muscles
engage stronger through a concept called muscle irradiation now muscle irradiation essentially
means that when a muscle is working hard it actually recruits the neighboring muscles
so again that tight midsection is going to allow the back muscles to really engage
strong if you're still confused about the concept of muscle or radiation think about what happens
every time you go to flex your bicep everyone squeezes their hand nice and tight because that
allows the arm to contract even stronger anyways back to the front plank if you're not able to
hold it for at least 60 seconds this would be a great exercise to add to the end of your workouts
now if you're not sure what your workout is going to look like yet no worries i'm going to tie it
all together at the end all right let's move on to one of the most helpful exercises for your first
chin upper pull-up assisted chin-ups and pull-ups now there's a lot of different ways to do this and
each have their pros and cons you can use a band put your foot into it and use that for
your assisted chin ups or pull-ups now this is really easy to gauge progress as you start using
thinner and thinner bands the one downside though is that it doesn't give consistent assistance so
at the very bottom when the band is stretched out you get a lot more assistance than at the very top
when the band isn't stretched out as much you can also use your feet on a box or a bench now this is
great in the fact that you don't need any extra equipment and you get nice consistent assistance
throughout the entire movement the downside though is that it's a little bit harder to gauge progress
you're not quite sure if you are assisting as much as you did maybe last time or even last rep
you might also use a machine for your assisted chin-ups as well too this is great in that it
does give you consistent assistance but it's not really of course available to a lot of people
and then finally if you've got a workout buddy you can actually have them assist you in your
chin-ups or pull-ups for this it's a simple matter of crossing your ankles behind your body
and then your body can grab onto your feet and help lift a bit of your body weight as you're
doing your assisted chin-ups and pull-ups however you do it these are going to be
your bread and butter movements and you can do them with the chin-up grip or the pull-up grip
alright I just gave you a ton of different options for the assisted chin up
band feet machine and even your workout buddy which one do you like the best
comment below with your favorite assisted chin up variation whatever variation you do choose
you can look to start off with about three sets of eight reps or four sets of six reps
alright so we're working assisted chin ups and they feel great but a real chin up still might
feel miles away let's take a look at some of the exercises that are going to help bridge that gap
enter top holds and bar hangs both of these will get you used to holding onto the bar without any
assistance but of course you will use assistance when you first start off for the top hold you want
to get to the top of the movement and then hold that position for the desired time again as I
mentioned you're going to use assistance to first start off but over time you should be putting more
and more weight in your arms for the bar hang you're going to be hanging at the bottom of the
movement and just like before you're going to be using your feet to assist when you first start off
over time you'll use less and less assistance from your feet until you're hanging off the
ground with no assistance when that bar hang is feeling great you can then level it up further
by actually retracting your shoulders and shoulder blades down away from your ears this is going to
be a tougher variation but it's really going to get you ready for the beginning of the chin
up when you can hold unassisted at the top of the movement for 5-10 seconds and hang from the bottom
of the movement for a good strong 30 seconds then you're ready to go on to the next exercises
alright the next exercise to look at is the chin up and pull up negatives now the negatives are the
controlled lower down of the chin up and the pull up now notice I said controlled we want to be able
to lower ourselves down to a three to five second count if you're dropping too fast take a step back
and work on your top holes a little bit more to do the exercise though you're going to get to
the top of the movement pick up your feet slowly and then lower down under control the entire time
make sure you fight it for the entire range of motion even at the very bottom
if you're working negatives you are so close to your first chin up when you can lower yourself
down controlled for several reps you're ready to try your first chin up all right it all comes
together now grab the bar tight and engage the shoulders with the strength you got from bar hangs
pull down hard with the muscles worked during assisted and negative chin-ups and get yourself
up and over the bar just like the top hold success alright now time to do a victory dance or primal
scream is also acceptable congrats on your first chin up it's the start of many more chin-ups to
come as well as plenty of other crazy strength exercises to challenge you sky's the limit
all right let's recap and tie it all together so after a nice easy warm up
you're going to want to work one of three exercises depending on your strength you
can either work bar hangs assisted or unassisted for 30 seconds of total time and by that I mean
if you have to take a break in the middle of that 30 seconds it's totally okay
just make sure you amass 30 seconds total or you could work top holds assisted or unassisted
for three sets of five to ten seconds or if you're working chin up negatives you'll want to work four
sets of one to two repetitions making sure to stop if the form starts to get a little sloppy
after one of those exercises you'll then go into your main pulling work
this might consist of one arm dumbbell rows or body weight rows or assisted chin ups or pull-ups
whichever one you choose three sets of eight repetitions or four sets of six repetitions is
a pretty good place to start after all that it's still really good to get some bar hang time in
so look to do that either assisted or unassisted for anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds total time
and then finally after that if you need it work the front plank again looking for 60 seconds
total time for that exercise if you need more programming ideas we've got a ton in our article
on getting your first pull-up or chin-up check it out in the links below and if you want even
more guidance we have a seven-week chin-up challenge in our app nerd fitness journey
it's helped tons of nerds go from zero chin-ups to multiple chin-ups check that out as well
in the description below and if you want more expert advice check out nerd fitness coaching
where you can team up with a coach like me to help you reach your goals no matter what they are
hey thanks for watching I hope you liked the video and found it helpful these are always a ton of fun
to make if you did like the video please feel free to give it a big old thumbs up and if you want
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immediately alerted when we put out a new video all the best with your first chin up take care
now if you're not sure what your look what you look like is going to look like
for the top hold you want to get to the top of the vumu I can taste it
we've got this workout space to ourselves right now but it does get busy and a little noisy
so I'm actually going to transport to my office all right let's get started