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Are you tired of the same old chin up routine? Give these variations a try

We bring you seven variations to keep you from getting bored of the ‘classic’ chin up movement.

CHIN UPS REQUIRE a considerable amount of upper body strength and to execute even a set of eight without prior training is quite a feat.

But you would be surprised how quickly you can improve with some consistent training and the right advice. There are a number of ways a chin up can be performed. Here, we bring you seven variations to keep you from getting bored of the ‘classic’ movement.

1. Classic chin up

Begin with your hands just wider than your shoulder-width. Now, hang down until your arms are full extended. Hold yourself at the lowest point for a second before squeezing your shoulders together and pulling upwards until your chin clears the bar.

Try to keep you whole body as stiff as possible and avoid jerking.

2. Close-grip chin up

This is a slightly easier variation of the classic version, which works the biceps more than your back muscles. To start, bring your hands together on the chin up bar with your palms facing towards your face.

Don’t forget you need to drop down as far as you can go.

3. Wide arm chin up

The wide arm chin up is an excellent exercise for your upper back but it also targets the shoulders and biceps. There is little surprise then that it’s so difficult to master.

Begin by placing your arms as wide as is possible – without jeopardizing the up and down movement, and drop down slowly. It will help to bend your knees slightly and cross your feet at your ankles.

4. Weighted chin ups

Adding weight can be done once you’ve mastered some or all of the variations we have discussed above. If you’ve only started doing a chin up routine, we wouldn’t expect you to add weights for a couple of months at the earliest.

But yes, they’re as hard as they sound.

5. Chin up with a knee twist

This one is great to work on your core, as well as your biceps and upper back muscles. First things first, choose a chin up you know you can execute.

At the top of the movement bring your knees into your chest before twisting to the left and then to the right before finally lowering to the fully extended position.

6. Chin up with straight leg raise

When you get to the top of the movement bring your legs parallel to the floor, holding for a second before slowly lowering.

7. Round the world chin up

Perform one of the above chin ups and as your chin approaches the bar haul yourself up and to the left before moving across to the right, completing a semi-circle before lowering.

Try these for yourself and let us know how you get on…

Read: ‘They don’t take it easy on me in training just ’cause I’m that bit older’

Read: Want shoulders fast? Follow this plan…

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