The chin-up requires a solid foundation of upper body pulling strength, and those who try to rush the process often end up with shoulder injuries and very little progress.
At TSTM, we refuse to use banded chin-up as they are a waste of valuable training time. Using bands for a movement like chin-ups is more about entertaining a client, not training them.
If you're aiming to get your first chin-up, you would be wise to invest in the following six steps to build strength and avoid injury.
1. Learn the correct pulling mechanics
This might sound obvious. Still, there are many people doing chin-ups with terrible mechanics, and there are many "personal trainers" and "coaches" who struggle to understand the correct chin-up mechanics.
Chin-ups must begin with a dead hang position. The shoulders are relaxed and elevated and the head is pushed forward of the arms. We recommend bending the knees and pulling the heels towards your butt to shorten the lever length and to increase the arch in the back. This allows us to activate more of the back muscles, create a much stronger and safer pulling position for the shoulders, and pull the chest to the bar.
The hollow body chin-up is not the best starting place for most beginners because the lever length is longer, and most beginners have very little shoulder depression and retraction strength.
After setting an arched body shape, we then depress and retract the shoulders without bending the elbows. This places the humerus (upper arm bone) into the back of the shoulder socket and allows us to contract the back muscles harder (see point 2). Once the shoulders are set in place, we can then pull with the elbow flexors and bring the chest to the bar.
We then reverse the movement by extending the elbows before allowing the shoulders to relax and return to the dead hang.
2. Build awareness and strength in scapular depression and retraction
It is critical to building strong and capable shoulders. Often we see beginners performing chin-ups with the shoulder elevated and/or protracted. They fail to use their back muscles, and all of the load goes into their biceps. This places the shoulder into a vulnerable position that can quickly lead to injury.
Beginners will find it hard to retract and depress their shoulders. They will find it even harder to keep the shoulders back and down when they try to flex the elbows. This is why we must train shoulder depression and retraction before we start performing chin-ups. Failing to do so is a one-way ticket to shoulder injury.
3. Build endurance with horizontal pulling
Horizontal pulls work the same muscles as vertical pulling. Bodyweight rows on a bar or with rings can help to build the strength required for chin-ups. Isometric holds, slow eccentrics and feet elevated variations can increase the intensity of the horizontal rows. Intermediate and advanced level clients can benefit from horizontal rows as they also help to main structural balance in the shoulder muscles.
4. Create shoulder stability and mobility to prevent injury
This is often missed in many programs. We train the big compound movements, and we target the primary movement muscles, but we forget to train the small stabilisation muscles. The shoulder external rotators and the lower trapezius muscles (also known as the trap 3) often limit upper body strength. I've written about this before in Building Strong and Stable Shoulders.
Building strength in the primary movers and forgetting to train the stabilisation muscles is like owning a Ferrari with loose engine mounts. You can not use all of the Ferrari’s power because the engine isn’t bolted tight to the frame of the car. If you put your foot down and try to use the power, the car will break. If you try to use all of your strength without stable shoulders, your shoulder will break.
Shoulder external rotation and lower trapezius work must be in every single week of training. They are, without a doubt, the most important upper body exercises.
Shoulder mobility should be a no brainer, if you have tight shoulders, you will not be able to dead hang, and you will not be able to get your chest to the bar in the chin-up. If you have tight wrist supinators, you will not hold a supinated grip on the bar. If you have tight lats, pecs and biceps, you will struggle to lift your arms overhead without bending your elbows. If your rotator cuff muscles are short and tight, you will have limited shoulder external rotation, which will impact your ability to depress and retract the shoulders (see point 2).
5. Train the grip
A strong grip is critical to chin-ups. Holding onto the bar with a firm grip can increase neural drive and therefore, strength. If you have a weak grip, you're going to struggle to increase your chin-up numbers. You might like to read about the power of the pinky finger.
6. Slowly increase the intensity of upper body pulling movements
Achieving your first chin-up is not a sprint, its a marathon. It takes time to work through the above five points and to build a solid foundation for success. Some people will skip over some or all of these steps and still get their first chin-up. But they will struggle to improve their numbers, and they will often complain about shoulder pain.
Learning to slow down and enjoy the journey is a valuable life lesson. Connecting the mind and the muscle, understanding the correct movement mechanics, and executing it is very rewarding. If you work on the above five steps, you will get your first chin-up, and when you do, you will start to progress to 2,3,4 and 5reps very quickly.
Where should you start? How can you put these steps into action? You might like to check out our earlier blog post "How do you build the strength to get your first chin-up".
If you have any questions in regards to this post, please don't hesitate to contact us.
If you want to start making progress, you need to dedicate time to movement quality and strength development. If you're looking to master the push-up, you might want to check out the TSTM Chin-up programs