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Before I even discuss whether chin ups or pull ups is better, let us first distinguish the important difference between the two. With chin ups, your palms are facing toward you and your hands are in general closer together. Pull ups are done with your palms facing away from you and typically your hands are spread further apart.
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Chin Ups Vs Pull Ups- And The Winner is…
To be honest there is no winner as it depends on what your goal is. Both are great compound exercises which target many muscles of the upper back, biceps and also other muscles such as the chest and shoulders which you may of not even thought it did. To make the most out of a compound movement, you will want to work the largest muscles groups and also have a wide range of motion. Pull ups win hands down when it comes down to working the larger muscle groups such as the lats. Chin ups are better than pull ups when it comes to range of motion and also works your bicep muscles more. As you can see they both have their benefits and in my opinion if you want to really get a bigger and stronger back and biceps you should really be doing both.
Some Tips For Getting Better At Chin Ups And Pull Ups
When it comes to getting better at an exercise, your first course of action is to make sure you are using proper form. For both of them you want to make sure you are gripping the bar tight, and also “packing” your shoulders into your body. Make sure that you use your lat muscles when pulling yourself up. A lot of people make the mistake of using their arms, your arms should just be hooks with your armpit muscles pulling you up clearing your chin of the bar. You can also cross your legs and squeeze your butt to use an irradiation technique which borrows strength from neighbouring muscles.
The next tip I am going to offer you to get better at chin ups and pull ups is to practice often. You should aim to practice chin ups and pull ups at least 3 times a week, but I would suggest even more. You should mix it up between a high volume of training from 20-25 reps for endurance and some low volume training to increase your strength. For strength training, do not go to failure and use a weight you can do about 5 reps on and do 3.
