How to do Chin ups.

How to do chin ups

There are two keys to doing the perfect chin up. One is strong back muscles so you need to be able to perform plenty of rows and lat pulldowns. Two is that like everything else in life practise makes perfect. So it is with chin ups. But how can you practise something you cant achieve yet.  Here is the tricky bit you will need an assisted chin up machine, a friend or a chin up band.  The assisted chin up machine pictured here

The assisted chin up machine you will find at gyms and allows you to have your legs supported on the bench which is weighted to move upwards pushing you up.  This is a great way to learn as the weight can be lowered the better you get at it. You can start at say level 15 and you wont have to do much pulling at all dependent on your weight. The more you weight the harder it is. But you can start at a high weight just so you get the fundamentals right. Chest forward, shoulders back, a straight back and no kipping. Keep doing this until you can do 10 with good form and then move on to the next weight.  Which in this case is down so from 15 to 14 which is really 15 times 5 = 75kgs. So if you weigh less than 75kgs then you wont be doing any of the work the machine will lift you on its own so move the level down a couple unless your over 100kgs.

If you haven't got access to an assisted chin up machine then a friend can perform the holding and lifting of the legs for you. With a friend get the friend to hold your legs in the bent knees position and assist you as you pull yourself up but let you come down or the eccentric phase on your own. Remember good form means no kipping, shoulders back, chest forward and a straight back. Go all the way up until your chin is above the bar and all the way down until yours arms are straight.

With the band either kneel on it or put it under the soul of your shoes and perform the chin up as pictured below

 You might need to perform some rows to get your muscles ready. Here is a good example