If supinated-grip chin-ups with a straight bar give you elbow or wrist pain, try doing them semi-supinated. Just drape an EZ curl bar over a power cage and go for it! Discover more grip options for chin-ups and pull-ups in My Homemade Poliquin Rack.
Training to do a one-arm chin-up involves a two-step process: a) Start with a mixed grip with your hands placed shoulder-width apart as I’m demonstrating in the video below. Each session increase the distance between your hands by one inch on each side. b) After six sessions, grab the bar with your right hand only…
First workout of the year and I had the pleasure to do horizontal ring chin-ups (also known as inverted rows). This is a great exercise if it’s done right! Three key points: brace the core and set the shoulder blades to start, and pause in the top (contracted) position. It’s natural for your range to…
The lean-away chin-up is a great exercise not only for your lats and biceps but also for the subscapularis, serratus anterior, triceps and believe it or not, the abdominals. Yes, a strong contribution from the abdominals is required to stabilize the core during lean-away chin-ups, especially when additional loading is used. It’s not uncommon to…
A mixed-grip chin-up, also known as an alternate-grip or opposite-grip chin-up, is performed with one hand pronated and the other hand supinated. Start with your body weight only and position your hands shoulder-width apart. Do as many reps as you can with one grip orientation (e.g., left hand supinated and right hand pronated), rest 10…
The article Why Women Can’t Do Pull-Ups that appeared in The New York Times Magazine raised many questions. In particular, what were the researchers from the University of Dayton thinking? If you want to do pull-ups, practice pull-ups! It’s called the Law of Specificity. A modified pull-up on an incline apparatus will not transfer well…