pull up hand positions

[TomoUK]

where about should i be placing the hands on the bar when i do pull ups? wide grip/ close grip, palms facing me/facing away?

 

[silver_shadow]

palms away and wide grip recruits biceps less. palms facing you with close grip will involve the biceps more. choose depending on your goals. i personally use pull-ups/chin-ups as a warmup and so i don't really bother much about this... though i usually alternate between grips. my main lat exercises are bent over BB rows and power cleans.

 

[bignate73]

power cleans as a lat exercise? interesting. i mainly get work in my legs when I do it. your upper body shrugs hard but i can't see any significant lat involvement beyond stabilization.

 

[Assertive Guy]

where about should i be placing the hands on the bar when i do pull ups? wide grip/ close grip, palms facing me/facing away?

Of all the vid's of pro's doing chins, I've only ever seen them doing wide grip palms facing away.

 

[alex2678]

I get better back stimulation doing heavy weighted chins with a medium underhand grip pulling more with the lats rather than the bi's. Just a personal favorite. Dorian Yates mentioned this a lot 10 years ago so I always got used to doing them this way.

 

[Numani]

did them this morning. first time in an age.

overhand grip felt tough on the delts. been pressing a lot recently

so settled on underhand grip - hands about 12 inches apart. 8 sets of 3 building up the volume without too much strain.

 

[bignate73]

overhand grip felt tough on the delts. been pressing a lot recently

you really should stretch if this was tough on your delts. there shouldnt be much strain on your delts doing these, except your rear delts.

 

[kingkrs]

where about should i be placing the hands on the bar when i do pull ups? wide grip/ close grip, palms facing me/facing away?

yes!

 

[plrpower]

I only do them palms faceing me. Wide grip and away hurts my delts all around. I also belive in my case anyway that palms facing me works my lats more, it doesnt seem to make logical sense but it works.

 

[silver_shadow]

power cleans as a lat exercise? interesting. i mainly get work in my legs when I do it. your upper body shrugs hard but i can't see any significant lat involvement beyond stabilization.

yes, obviously this is a compound movement and works lots of different muscle groups... lats are important for stabilization here. i do find my lats sore as well after cleaning heavier weights. this is not to say that my legs aren't worked too.
maybe you would have noticed the lat development of (especially) male olympic lifters. i'm guessing this has alot to do with snatching and cleaning & jerking.

 

[bignate73]

I agree that the lats are involved, just never heard it included as a main move. i know my mid/lower traps get worked with snatches and overhead squats....cooked!