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Do chinups hit your back as well as pullups...?

S

SofaGeorge

New member
Contrary to Spatts' silly theories... I don't have any training injuries... really... swear to God... um... okay... well maybe my left biceps is feeling a little peeked. But that's it (um... unless you want to count my sore knee too.)

I was doing weighted pullups. I could get through the sets but my left biceps was in agony... so I decided to try switching the movement to chinups. I was astounded to find that chinups didn't hurt at all. It was like they don't even remotely engage the biceps as much as pullups.

This led me the question:

Do chinups hit your back as well as pullups? Are they better?

I've always used pullups as my #1 choice of back exercises... periodically switching to chinups just to shake things up. It wasn't until I noticed how differently that chinups didn't appear to engage the biceps as much that I wondered if there was even much fundamental difference between teh two movements.
 
Oh, wait a minute...I thought pull-ups were palms facing you, and chins were palms facing away from you.

I'm changing my vote.
 
Oh, I just always referred to them as the many different variations of the pull up. In/away, in/facing, middle, out wide, etc...

I'm witcha :)
 
Whoah.....:( wait a minute......I always thought chins were palms out and pulls were palms in.

You guys sure about this?
 
Thaibox said:
Whoah.....:( wait a minute......I always thought chins were palms out and pulls were palms in.

You guys sure about this?
Click to expand...

That's what i thought too...i was pretty sure of it.
 
We at Elite should come up with specific names for both. That way, everyone will know what hell everyone is talking about.

That is, until we use the terms in public. Then, confusion shall ensue.
 
I've always referred to palms-away as chins and palms-in as pulls, and so have all the dudes I've lifted with.

Now I gotta go look this up.:(
 
Chin ups by traditional definition are palms facing in.

Oddly, I went to several of the animated sites... and they had both chinups and pullups using the same overhand (palms out) grip.

Hence, I go with the Marine corps description - palms facing in.
 
SofaGeorge said:
Chin ups by traditional definition are palms facing in.

Oddly, I went to several of the animated sites... and they had both chinups and pullups using the same overhand (palms out) grip.

Hence, I go with the Marine corps description - palms facing in.
Click to expand...

Alright, regardless...I think palms facing away from you hits your back more.
 
Do you guys find that chins (palm facing you) or a lot easier than pullups? I sure do, in fact it feels like it's mostly bicep flexion to me.
 
Bulldog_10 said:


maybe your biceps isn't injured...maybe it's the brachialis, which would be the muscle that would be worked if you're using the palms facing away grip. Kinda the same motion as doing hammer curls.
Click to expand...

"Ah, I see," said the blind man.

That makes sense. This might be the brachialis. I should have thought of that. Thanks.
 
SofaGeorge said:


"Ah, I see," said the blind man.

That makes sense. This might be the brachialis. I should have thought of that. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Ah I see,
Ah I hear ya,

Said the blind deaf mute man.

I always thought that chins and pulls were the same thing and could be used for either grip. I thought you described grip by saying supinated or pronated.

Anyway, I think palms away wider than shoulder grip hits the back more. Just from what I can feel. I pull in along with up and it seems to hit my back pretty hard. I have also found that I can concentrate on using my back more than my bicep to make the pull and it doesnt fatigue my bicep as much.
 
Mike_Rojas said:
Do you guys find that chins (palm facing you) or a lot easier than pullups? I sure do, in fact it feels like it's mostly bicep flexion to me.
Click to expand...

i find the opposite w/me. palms out is always worked better and less awkward. and btw when i was in service we had to do these in a test every 6 mos and they called them "pullups" and said you can do them palms out or in. i always thought that. i dunno....o well.
 
Trivia idiocy to add to this:

I used to be a writer/producer in the entertainment industry. I've worked a lot of idiotic projects... including some totally wierd pilots for TV shows that never made it to air. I was doing game show testing years ago back in the '80s. We would drive 2 hours north every day to Gorman... north of LA... to this ranch in the middle of nowhere. (It's the type of place only dirt bikers ever see... remote remote remote.) The guy who owned the ranch was a special effects hand. He would build giant cross bows... catapults... hanging bridges... suspension pulleys so you could sword fight while flying... all this wierd ass shit. We'd have a blast all summer testing the equipment they were going to use for new adventrue game shows... then after we'd worked the bugs out of it (by screwing up big time!) we'd put an announcement in the trade papers and interview contestants.

We didn't want to reinvent the wheel... so we got a copy of AMERICAN GLADIATORS screening process. It listed all the physical things a contestant had to be able to do in order to be eligible. One of the things on the list:

Every contestant had to be able to do 50 chinups in one set!

This blew my cookies to read. I considered myself pretty buff at teh time, and pullups/chinups were one of my specialties... and I sure as hell couldn't do 50 chins. I couldn't believe we were going to be able to find people who could do that many. (I was dying for every rep after 25... making it to 30 was done one hope and a prayer only... and in horrible form for the last couple.)

We hired a couple of the contestant interviewers from American Gladiators to help us screen the contestants. That is when I got the eye opener... cuz every person they interviewed was able to do 50 chins... easy.

When I do a chin or pullup... I go all the way down... full hang... then come all the way back up. These people would all barely dip a 1/4 of the way below the bar then come back up... no extension at all. Scrawny ass punks were able to easily blast out 50.

I learned that day - an exercise differs greatly by interpretation.
 
Mike_Rojas said:
Do you guys find that chins (palm facing you) or a lot easier than pullups? I sure do, in fact it feels like it's mostly bicep flexion to me.
Click to expand...

Same for me. Thus, I do them palms out to try to work my back more.
 
Supinated grip: palms in, like doing bicep curls, underhand grip
Pronated: palms out, pullups/bent over rows overhand grip. I neglected to switch grips, I always do pullups, I should do chins too.
 
SofaGeorge said:
Hence, I go with the Marine corps description - palms facing in.
Click to expand...

My friend is a marine, and I believe they are tested with their palms facing out (makes more sense, if your'e climbing a wall or something)

The real difference is like a reverse curl vs. a regular curl. Palms facing you (supinated) works the biceps more, palms out (pronated) works the forearms more.

That's the reason you can generally do more weight with a supinated grip. How many of you can reverse curl more than you can curl?
 
Debaser said:


My friend is a marine, and I believe they are tested with their palms facing out (makes more sense, if your'e climbing a wall or something)

The real difference is like a reverse curl vs. a regular curl. Palms facing you (supinated) works the biceps more, palms out (pronated) works the forearms more.

That's the reason you can generally do more weight with a supinated grip. How many of you can reverse curl more than you can curl?
Click to expand...

When I was a marine we could do either grip... most everyone chose the supinated grip. We also were encouraged to use a lot of body swing to get more reps.. they called it "kipping". I think the "kipping" is now not allowed, but I don't know if the grip has changed. I got out in '91.
 
I only do chins and rows - my back is is getting bigger for what its worth

chins prevent internal rotation - which makes it much easier on the shoulders

you biceps are in a stronger position so you can lift more weight and they can keep up with your back.
 
Last edited:
Mike_Rojas said:


When I was a marine we could do either grip... most everyone chose the supinated grip. We also were encouraged to use a lot of body swing to get more reps.. they called it "kipping". I think the "kipping" is now not allowed, but I don't know if the grip has changed. I got out in '91.
Click to expand...

yes you can use either grip, i always used palms out and no you cannot kip. they have a guy stand in front of you with arm straight out (not a comfy feeling in those thin ass pt shorts.ugghh) to keep you from swinging and you had to go to full arm extension and chin over the bar. how it should be.
 
Mike_Rojas said:
Do you guys find that chins (palm facing you) or a lot easier than pullups? I sure do, in fact it feels like it's mostly bicep flexion to me.
Click to expand...
I believe Arnold said that palms in pullups/chins was his favorite bicep builder.
 
A supinated grip is fabulous for the bi's. I NEVER do any direct bicep work and they're fairly proportional to the rest of my body due to chins.
 
My vote is chin's are palms out, and pull ups are palm in. Also I see chin's being done with the widest grip possible and pullups much closer like shoulder width apart grip.
 
I feel like my abs are going to burst doing pullups, esp the top 2. I get sore upper abs after a workout involving bicep curls. I can't avoid contracting the abs though...any explanation for this? Do you guys find pullups/chinups awkward for your shoulder, the internal rotation seems quite unsettling.
 
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