For years we’ve been told to avoid behind-the-neck pulldowns and pull-ups. They place a tremendous amount of stress on the shoulders when lifting a heavy load with the humeri abducted and in a position of maximum external rotation. It’s a problem waiting to happen. Furthermore, it’s not a natural movement. We’re not really meant to…
The act of grabbing an overhead bar and pulling yourself up until your chin clears that bar is pretty difficult for most people. In fact, some would consider it impossible, but like anything where there’s a will, there’s a way and chin-ups are no different. With the proper training and a few key elements in…
You’ll recall from a recent post that my benchmark for complete recovery from distal biceps surgery was the ability to do chin-ups. The first workout I did 1 set of 5 reps. I performed chin-ups twice a week and each workout I added 1 set. I stuck with just body weight throughout and kept plenty…
Before you read on, watch this video: Now, you may be asking yourself what the big deal is? A few chin-ups, so what? Well, those few chin-ups were a big deal to me. That was the first set of supinated-grip chins that I performed after my distal biceps surgery. Trust me, it’s been all I…
You know you’re supposed to vary the grip with chin-ups to avoid stagnation, promote balanced strength and size development, and possibly avoid recurring injuries. The problem is that you only have a straight chin-up bar. Supinated, pronated, and even mixed-grip chin-ups are not an issue, but what about neutral-grip chin-ups? Here are 3 options: a)…