There is a better way...

How do I train if I can’ even do 1 chinup?!

Firstly don’t be a fatty! In my gym, any guy who can’t see some of his abs (and I don’t mean 1 ab) is fat. And should get leaner to improve performance. That will be the first thing that helps you improve. Next, follow the advice below…

Since you can’t do a chinup you need another goal. Here it is… you need to be able to lower yourself from the top position of a chinup, under control, for 30 seconds, with a 10kg backpack hanging on you. I have found that if a person can do this, he or she is able to do their first chinup.

So when you train, you jump, climb or do whatever it takes to get your chin above the bar, then you lower yourself S—L—-O—-W—L—-Y. And see how long you can last. As you improve, increase that all the way to 30 sec. Keep moving and don’t stop. at 15 sec your arms should be about parallel to the ground. At 30 sec you should have your arms fully extended.

Once you can do 30 sec, start adding additional weight and try again. As you go from session to session, up the weight till its about 10kg. By that time you will be able to do 1 chin up.

And yes… you are welcome.

Which grip to use?

In training use multiple grips but in the test use the one that suits you most. Most fit people do better with a palms away grip, wider than shoulder width because this allows for maximal use of the back muscles and shortest distance to move the body. However beginners (under 8 reps) usually do better with a shoulder width palms towards you underhand grip because their arms tend to be stronger than their back.

What if I get stuck at the bottom but can easily finish the chinup once I get half way up?

The bottom of the chinup is more dependent on your arms. This means that your arms are the weak link. More bicep curls and grip training is in order.

What if I can start the chinup but cannot finish at the top?

Your upper back muscles are weak. More rowing exercises will help you.

General Training Philosophy

Train the chin-up Often, with multiple variations, weights and rep ranges, but do not train to failure and let your body get “good” at the movement and efficient at it (because you train so often). This is also known as “greasing the groove” in this case it’s not a physical groove but rather a movement pattern in our nervous system.

There are 2 factors at work here. First we want to train as often as possible so the groove gets greased. But if we keep doing the same thing over and over we get over trained, nervous system fatigue, injured, muscle imbalances, and stagnate quickly.

The key is not to go out and do all other kinds of crazy exercises, rather the important thing to do is to do things “the same, but different”. That means instead of doing chin-ups, we will do pull-ups sometimes, which are the same movement but with a slightly different emphasis.

Sometimes we will do chin-ups with partner assistance, sometimes with added weights, sometimes we pull at different angles. All these are the “same” but “different”. It leads to progress with far smaller chance of stagnation or injury. This is the best of both worlds.

Personally I use a similar method through my own year round training program. I can do a 1 handed chin-up and a 2 handed chin-up with an additional 75kg hanging from my body.

This method also works for my clients who may be new to strength training. I had one client who was overweight at 90kg, and has never done a chin-up since his BMT days 8 years ago. But, in just 8 weeks, he can do 4. Training less than 3 hours per week TOTAL, but doing several sets of chin-ups several times per week (perhaps 10% of his training time spent on chin-ups).

Let’s talk about training more in detail.

You will need to do some specific training for weak body parts because they can hold you back from poor performance. You might have the strongest arm and back muscles in the world but weak hands and forearms can keep you from a good performance.

For your hands and forearms, I strongly recommend grippers and forearm rollers. Since you need a lot of static strength in them to “crush” the bar and hang on, train them the correct way. I would get a challenging gripper and do a few sets of 30-45 seconds each time after your chin-up workouts. I would also make my own roller and do a 3-4 sets at home while watching TV. In addition we will use a towel to build up chin-up grip strength. Hook a towel around the chinup bar and grip that instead of the bar to perform your chinups.

Another common area of weakness is the upper back. To do chin-ups and their variations correctly. The main problem many people have is the inability to get their shoulder blades pinched together and down. You will know if this is a weakness for you when you find that you can start a chinup but can’t finish it. We are weak here because many people have slouching and hunched over posture where your upper back is in a constant state of tension. This makes the muscles weak and excessively long. (Despite what the yoga people say, getting your muscles to be “longer” is not always a good thing!). Now when you want them to contract forcefully to get your chin over the bar, oops, they are so weak and long that it becomes impossible.

In Training

When training, be super strict. Arms fully extended. No swinging. Chin as far over the bar as possible. Lower yourself slowly. Pause at the bottom.

Remember that this is training, and you should make it as hard as possible. There are people who encourage kipping i.e. looking like you are having a seizure or being electrocuted on the bar. This may boost your chin up numbers in training, but it does not make you stronger as fast as strict repetitions. In addition, they don’t count in the test!

During the test

Because you have been so strict during training, a bit of swing during the test will make each chinup feel really easy. During the test, do not lower too slowly and do not wait at the bottom. This allows your body to rebound at the bottom and get the next rep more easily. Stop when your rep is counted and your chin has just cleared the bar. These distance and energy saving tips are worth a few reps in themselves.

The IPPT website says that the chin-up test is a test of “muscular strength and endurance of the upper limbs”. True. But it’s also more than that as you will find out.

The chin-up actually tests the entire upper body. (And even the lower body because it has to be kept stable for maximum performance).

Ok, some definitions before we start. We are going to call palms facing towards us grip chin-ups and palms facing away from us, pull-ups. If you have one of those chin-up bars with palms facing toward each other, that’s called a neutral grip.

A chin-up bar is essential for chin-up training. I know this sounds obvious, but like other IPPT stations, the chin-up is not only an exercise, it is also a test. And we do need to train in a manner specific to the test itself, especially as we get closer to the test date.

The chin-up (and all its grip variations) is of course an awesome exercise in itself. It trains just about every muscle in the upper body. Conversely, all the muscles in the upper body need to be strong in order to do well at chin-ups.

Here is the list of upper body strengths needed to perform chin-ups well. Just like the proverbial chain, any weakness in these muscles will impede your performance of the chin-up.

Starting from the hands…

Hands: Static crushing grip strength (there are several types of hand grip strength) and strength endurance.

Forearms: Static (no movement) and Dynamic (with movement) strength and strength endurance.

Upper Arms (Primarily the bicepss and the brachialis, the arm flexing muscles but also the brachio-radialis and pronator teres): Dynamic strength and strength endurance.

Back Muscles (Latissimus, Trapezius, Rhomboids): Dynamic Strength and strength endurance, and for the rhomboids and traps, static strength and strength endurance as well.

Core Muscles: Static strength endurance

That’s just about all the muscles in the upper body save the pectorals and the shoulders (which actually do have a stabilizing effect as well).

Oh yeah, in case it’s not obvious, being overweight will be a big disadvantage when it comes to performing chin-ups so get your nutrition in check if you want to progress.