A Trainer’s Guide to Achieving Your First Chin-up
Chin-ups: in my opinion (and in the opinion of many other trainers/strength coaches) , the king of the upper body exercises. Amazing return on investment, many different muscle groups being used, great for posture….the list of chin-up benefits go on-and-on. Only one problem: they’re really hard, and not many people can do them!
While they are certainly a challenge, they are not unattainable for most avid gym-goers. It may take a while for some to be able to accomplish their first chin-up, which is why a proper progression is vitally important. At Strength For Today, I use what can be boiled down to a three-step process.
Ring assisted chin-ups. At SFT, I have sets of rings hanging down from each rack - they act the same as TRX bands that you’ll see at most commercial gyms. When introducing a client who wants to try for their first ever chin-up, this is where we start. First, I set the rings (or TRX straps) at chin height. From there, the client will grab onto the rings and drop directly down, with his/her shoulders right below the hands and hips right below the shoulders (as if mimicking hanging from a chin-up bar). This will allow the client to keep his/her feet on the ground. By allowing their feet to stay on the ground, the client will be able to give any assistance needed with their lower body. That being said, the goal is to use upper body as much as possible in order to pull him or herself to the rings, and then control on the way down.
Chin-up negatives. After getting strong on the ring assisted chin-ups for a couple of weeks/months, the next step is to start chin-up negatives. This is the first time the client will actually be hanging freely from the bar. Starting by standing on a box, the client will jump up so that the chin starts above the bar, and the only goal is to lower down as slooooowwwww as possible until the arms are fully straight. Then the client will put feet back onto the box, jump back up and repeat. This control of the lowering portion will not only continue to build the muscles required for chin-ups, but it will also get the him/her used to hanging from the bar
Band assisted chin-ups. After getting really strong at chin-up negatives for a couple weeks/months, I’ll then have the client start using bands to assist full chin-ups: all the way down and all the way up. They’ll start with a heavy band, and as they get more and more reps with the heavier band, I’ll then give him/her a lighter band. This is a process the client will repeat many times: use a lighter band, get as many reps as possible for a couple weeks/months, use a lighter band, get as many…….and so on and so forth until they no longer have to use a band!
Now I will admit, there is some nuance here: I will mix-and-match with some of these variations, but there general guidelines hold true. I know chin-ups can certainly be an intimidating exercise, but I hope that reading this will help you gain the confidence to give it a try!!!
