Fitness Volt
  • Bodybuilding
  • Powerlifting
  • Strongman
  • Workouts
    • Training
    • Exercise Guides
    • Workout Plans
    • Celebrity Workouts
    • Training Programs
  • Nutrition
    • Supplements
    • Diet
    • Diet Plans
    • Nutrition Tips
    • Food Facts
  • Reviews
  • More
    • CrossFit
    • News
      • Mr. Olympia
      • Arnold Classic
      • Results
      • 2022 WSM
    • Fitness Calculator
    • Profiles
    • Motivation
    • Videos
    • MMA
No Result
View All Result
Fitness Volt
  • Bodybuilding
  • Powerlifting
  • Strongman
  • Workouts
    • Training
    • Exercise Guides
    • Workout Plans
    • Celebrity Workouts
    • Training Programs
  • Nutrition
    • Supplements
    • Diet
    • Diet Plans
    • Nutrition Tips
    • Food Facts
  • Reviews
  • More
    • CrossFit
    • News
      • Mr. Olympia
      • Arnold Classic
      • Results
      • 2022 WSM
    • Fitness Calculator
    • Profiles
    • Motivation
    • Videos
    • MMA
No Result
View All Result
Fitness Volt
No Result
View All Result
Training Exercises

Pull-Ups Vs. Chin-Ups – Which One is Right for You?

Pull-ups and chin-ups are two of the best back building exercises around. But, is one better than the other, and which one should you do? In this article, we explore the differences between these two moves so you can choose the right one for your needs.
Patrick Dale, PT, ex-Marine

Written by Patrick Dale, PT, ex-Marine

Last Updated onSeptember 22, 2020

Pull-Ups Vs. Chin-Ups

Pull-Ups Vs. Chin-Ups

Pull-ups and chin-ups are compound exercises. That means they involve multiple joints and muscles working together. To a lot of people, these two bodyweight exercises seem like they’re interchangeable. After all, they look quite similar. But, in reality, they’re different enough that they should be considered separately.

But is one better than the other, and if so, which one should you choose? Let’s investigate!

Pull-Ups Vs. Chin-Ups Hide
  • 1. How to do pull-ups and chin-ups
    • 1.1. How to do it:
  • 2. Grip Differences
  • 3. Movement differences
  • 4. Muscle activation differences
  • 5. Comfort and safety
  • 6. Wrapping up: Pull-ups vs. chin-ups – which one is best?
  • 7. References:

How to do pull-ups and chin-ups

Before we deep dive into the differences between these exercises, let’s make sure you know how to do them properly. That way, you’ll be able to enjoy all their benefits while keeping your risk of injury to a minimum.

How to do it:

  1. Grip the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width, overhand grip (pull-ups), or a shoulder-width, underhand grip (chin-ups).
  2. Pull your shoulders down and back and hang from the bar with your arms straight. Lift your chest up toward the bar. Brace your abs, bend your legs, and cross your feet behind you.
  3. Without kicking or swinging, pull your chin up and over the bar. Drive your elbows down and back and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Aim to touch the bar with your upper chest.
  4. Don’t just drop down. Instead, lower yourself under control. Don’t relax your shoulders at the bottom of your rep. Keep your shoulders down and stable.

You can make both pull-ups and chin-ups harder by wearing a weighted vest or using a pull up/dip belt.

Make these exercises easier by looping a resistance band over the bar and under your legs, using it to provide some extra thrust. 

Resistance Band Pull Ups
Resistance Band Pull Ups

Avoid doing pull-ups behind the neck. This puts a lot of extra stress on your shoulders and could lead to injury while offering no advantages over the safer, regular version.

Pull Ups Behind The Neck
Pull Ups Behind The Neck
Read also Try 6 Pull-Up variations for killer lats

Grip Differences

The most obvious difference between pull-ups and chin-ups is the position of your hands. In fact, it’s your hand position that determines if you are doing pull-ups or chin-ups.

Pull-ups use an overhand or pronated grip. That means your hands face away from you. Typically, pull-ups are done with the hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. However, some bodybuilders do them with a very wide grip, which makes this already demanding exercise even harder.

Chin-ups are done with an underhand or supinated grip. The hands are normally about shoulder-width apart, although some people prefer to put their hands a little closer together.

Pull Up Vs. Chin Up Grip
Pull Up Vs. Chin Up Grip

There are other grip variations you can use, including a mixed grip, but the only one really worth mentioning is a neutral grip. With this hand position, your hands face inward in what is also known as a semi-supinated or parallel grip.

Is this a pull-up or chin-up? That’s up for debate, but, as the arm action is most similar to chin-ups, this variation is probably best called a neutral grip chin-up.

Movement differences

Pull-ups and chin-ups are both vertical pulling exercises. Lat pulldowns fall into the same category. But, because of the difference in hand position, these exercises involve different joint movements.

With pull-ups, the main joint action is shoulder adduction. This means your humerus (upper arm) is drawn into the side of your body. This makes pull-ups a frontal plane exercise.

In contrast, chin-ups involve shoulder extension. This is where the humerus is pulled down and back. Shoulder extension is a sagittal plane movement. Neutral grip chin-ups involve the same joint action.

Shoulder adduction and extension both involve the latissimus dorsi muscle. Known as the lats for short, this is the muscle on the side of your upper back. When well-developed, the lats look like wings and give your upper back its width. Good lats give you a V-shaped torso that can also make your waist look narrower.

Old School Back Exercises
Old School Back Exercises

Pull-ups and chin-ups also involve elbow flexion. This means, as well as your lats, they work your biceps too. Because chin-ups involve a supinated grip, your biceps are in a better position to pull than in the pronated pull-up. This means that, for biceps growth, chin-ups are arguably the better exercise.

Muscle activation differences 

A lot of people believe that pull up and chin-ups affect the lats differently. This is understandable given the different joint actions – adduction for pull-ups and extension for chin-ups. Some exercisers also think that pull-ups are better for lat width, while chin-ups are better for building thickness.

While these opinions do make a certain amount of sense, the truth is that pull-ups and chin-ups work the lats to a very similar degree. In fact, according to studies, there really isn’t much difference between pull-ups and chin-ups for lat activation (1). Despite involving different movements, both of these exercises can help strengthen and build your lats, and there isn’t much difference between them.  

Bodyweight Wide Grip Pull Ups
Bodyweight Wide Grip Pull Ups

However, those same studies revealed that there is more biceps activation in chin-ups than in pull-ups. This may help explain why some people feel that pull-ups are a more effective lat exercise; they simply feel their lats working more because their biceps aren’t contracting as hard.

That biceps data is important and helps explain why most people find chin-ups a little harder than pull-ups. During chin-ups, using a supinated grip, the biceps are in a stronger position. Overhand pull-ups place the biceps in a mechanically disadvantageous position.

This makes sense when you think about these two arm actions during isolation exercises. The elbow movement during chin-ups is a lot like barbell biceps curls. In contrast, pull-ups are more like reverse barbell curls. Anyone who has ever done these exercises knows that they can lift more weight or do more reps with underhand biceps curls than overhand reverse curls.

Comfort and safety

Pull-ups and chin-ups, when done correctly, are both very safe exercises. Providing you warm up properly before doing them, they are no riskier than lat pulldowns or any other back exercise. In fact, because they don’t lock you into a fixed pattern of movement like machines can, pull-ups and chin-ups might even be safer than many other back exercises.

That said, because of the different hand positions, there may be differences in comfort and safety that means one exercise is better for you than the other.

Chin Ups

Pull-ups, especially when done with very wide hand placement, can be hard on your shoulders. To do pull-ups, you must put your shoulders into an internally rotated position, and that can be a cause of shoulder pain. Also, the wider you place your hands, the more stress there is on your shoulder joint. Because of this, very wide grip pull-ups are not recommended.

Overhand pull-ups can also be hard on the elbows, especially the lateral or outside part. Pain in this area is often called tennis elbow.

In contrast, chin-ups put less stress on the shoulder joint, and people with pre-existing shoulder problems often find chin-ups more comfortable than pull-ups. However, a narrow, supinated grip can also be hard on your wrists and requires decent biceps flexibility. If you have tight biceps, you may find chin-ups less comfortable than pull-ups.

For a lot of exercisers, neutral grip chin-ups are the most comfortable version of these exercises. The semi-supinated grip puts your biceps in a decent position for pulling but won’t stress your elbows or shoulders as much as the other two variations can. For a lot of people, neutral grip chin-ups are the best option.

Read also: 10 Best Pull-Up Bars on the market

Wrapping up: Pull-ups vs. chin-ups – which one is best?

Ultimately, both pull-ups and chin-ups can help you build the back of your dreams. They both work your lats equally well and also involve your biceps too, although chin-ups are a little more biceps-centric.

Pull-ups and chin-ups both have benefits and drawbacks, most of which depend on your personal mobility and flexibility, and your injury history. Some people find pull-ups more comfortable, while others prefer chin-ups.

And that’s really how to determine which one is best – it’s the one you can do the best with the least discomfort. If you find that one causes a new or aggravates an old injury, you should do the other one.

But, if you can do both, then you should include both in your workouts. This will give you more of the variety you need to avoid training ruts and keep making progress. You could do pull-ups followed by chin-ups in the same workout, alternate between them both week by week, or do each one for a month at a time.

In the battle between pull-ups and chin-ups, there is no clear winner, so do the one you like the best or, better still, do them both to enjoy all of the benefits these superb exercises can offer. 

References:

  1. PubMed: Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or perfect-pullup™ rotational exercise https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21068680/
Add Fitness Volt to your Google News feed. Follow us on Google News
For the latest news and updates please follow us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook Twitter Reddit Flipboard LinkedIn
Categories: Training Training Exercises
Previous Post

How To Do The Cable Overhead Triceps Extension w/ Rope

Next Post

Sergio Oliva – Complete Profile: Height, Weight, Biography

Patrick Dale, PT, ex-Marine

Patrick Dale, PT, ex-Marine

Patrick Dale is an ex-British Royal Marine, gym owner, and fitness qualifications tutor and assessor. In addition, Patrick is a freelance writer who has authored three fitness and exercise books, dozens of e-books, thousands of articles, and several fitness videos. He’s not just an armchair fitness expert; Patrick practices what he preaches! He has competed at a high level in numerous sports, including rugby, triathlon, rock climbing, trampolining, powerlifting, and, most recently, stand up paddleboarding. When not lecturing, training, researching, or writing, Patrick is busy enjoying the sunny climate of Cyprus, where he has lived for the last 20-years.

Related

Navy SEAL Workouts

Navy SEAL Workouts – Are YOU Tough Enough?

The Navy SEALs are one of the world’s most respected special forces. Just getting into SEAL basic training is a...

Reverse Grip Row Guide

Reverse Grip Row: Muscles Worked, How-To, Benefits, and Alternatives

A thick, muscular back is truly a sight to behold. It doesn’t matter how pumped your pecs or how capped...

Dlb Pull Ups

Dana Linn Bailey Shows How To Achieve Your First Pull-up With Five Progressions

Being able to do pull-ups is every beginner’s dream whether they accept it or not. Pull-ups are considered as an...

Jumping Pull-Up Guide

Jumping Pull-Ups Guide: Muscles Worked, Benefits, and Alternatives

It’s hard to believe that CrossFit has been around for over 20 years. In the last two decades, CrossFit has...

Pull Ups Calculator

One Rep Max Weighted Pull Ups Calculator

Pull-ups, and their close relative chin-ups, are great for building a bigger back and stronger arms. But, after a few...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest

Zack Khan Alleges 2022 Mr. Olympia Judges Mistreated Big Ramy Due to Social Media

60-yo Dorian Yates Reveals ‘Excellent’ Health Results, with a Biological Age of 30-39

The Complete Guide to Building Muscle for Women

Charles Atlas Workout and Diet Program

2023 Britain’s Strongest Man Results — Adam Bishop Victorious

Rich Gaspari Takes Aim at Open Bodybuilders: They Are ‘Depending on Drugs More Than Training’

Reviews

Best Bone Broth Supplements

10 Best Bone Broth Supplements of 2023 (Reviewed & Ranked)

Body Fortress Whey Protein Review

Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey Protein Review

Best Coffee Creamer

10 Best Coffee Creamer For Intermittent Fasting of 2023 (Review & Ranked)

Fitness Volt

At FitnessVolt.com Our mission is to help our readers to achieve their fitness goals, regardless of where you’re at on your journey, we are on a mission to educate You with the latest from strength and fitness space. Read more.

Email: sm(at)fitnessvolt.com

Disclosure: FitnessVolt.com has an affiliate relationship with different brands and is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. However, our reviews are based on well research backed analysis.

Follow Us

Trending Topics

  • Mr. Olympia
  • Bodybuilding
  • Strongman
  • Powerlifting
  • CrossFit
  • At Home Workouts
  • Bodyweight Exercises
  • Best Pre-workout
  • Best Fat Burners
  • Bodybuilding Diet
  • Bicep Workouts
  • Triceps Workouts
  • Chest Exercises
  • Back Workouts
  • Leg Workouts
  • Front Squat Guide
  • Calf Workouts & Exercises
  • Forgotten Exercises
  • Jefferson Deadlift

Calculators

  • Calorie Burning Calculators
  • IF Calculator
  • TDEE Calculator
  • Calorie Calculator
  • Keto Calculator
  • RMR Calculator
  • Macronutrient Calculator
  • Creatine Calculator
  • Wilks Calculator
  • EER Calculator
  • FFMI Calculator
  • IBW Calculator
  • LBM Calculator
  • Fat Intake Calculator
  • Calories Burned Swimming
  • Calories Per Meal Calculator

  • Food Nutrition Analysis
  • Carb Cycling Calculator
  • Weight Gain Calculator
  • Weight Loss Calculator
  • Calories Burned Calculator
  • Strength Standards
  • One Rep Max Calculator
  • Body Fat Calculator
  • EER Calculator
  • Weight Loss Percentage
  • Treadmill Calorie Calculator
  • Body Surface Area Calculator
  • Running Pace Calculator
  • Bench Press Calculator
  • Protein Calculator
  • Water Intake Calculator
  • Body Type Quiz
  • Steps to Miles Calculator
  • Calorie Deficit Calculator
  • Home
  • About
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Syndication
  • Sitemap
  • DMCA
  • Copyrights
  • Terms
  • Privacy

© Copyright 2010 - 2022 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Bodybuilding
  • Powerlifting
  • Strongman
  • CrossFit
  • Workouts
  • Exercise Guides
    • Arms
    • Back
    • Chest
    • Core
    • Legs and Glutes
    • Shoulders
  • Training
  • Nutrition
  • Reviews
  • More
    • News
    • Mr. Olympia
    • 2022 WSM
    • Diet
    • Arnold Classic
    • Motivation
    • Videos
    • Food Facts
    • Fitness Calculator

© Copyright 2010 - 2022 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.