Best Chin Up Workout Routine

By Mike Thiga author of The Muscle Experiment

Most of the old-school type coaches and bodybuilders got it right when they said first get strong from doing chin-ups, before focusing on doing any direct arm exercises. Unfortunately, most trainers have it backwards because they start training by using advanced bodybuilding exercises in order to focus on a specific part when training biceps.

For example, they'll only isolate upper body musculature while forgetting to build the systematic strength they need in their entire upper body. That's like building a house without building a solid foundation. Your body isn't designed to grow that way.

If you're unable to do a minimum of 12 strict chins using bodyweight, then you need to spend more time doing chins before you try a movement like reverse preacher cable-curls using a thick grip and adding in isometric stops. The bottom line is that if you cannot do 12 bodyweight chin-ups then you've got pounds of good quality muscle just waiting to be added to your upper body.

Your chin-ups should be performed using a supinated grip or a neutral grip, it will be your foundational mass-building movement for your biceps, your lats, and all your upper back musculature. When doing chin-ups using both palms facing each other you'll be putting more stress on your brachialis, increasing the size of your upper arms.

When doing chin-ups with both palms facing you it'll overload your elbow flexors which will bring more muscles into the chinning action when compared to using a wide-grip pull-up. It will also maximize the cross sectional area used in the upper body musculature.

It will also increase your grip strength which is correlated to your arm size. The following chin-up routine is what would be recommended for anyone who is unable to complete 12 bodyweight chin-ups. If you perform this routine, you'll definitely increase your upper body mass and help to give you a death-grip.

First find a convenient chin-up bar, whether it be something like a jungle gym or a tree or a rafter in your garage, you need to find a place that you can do a few sets of chin-ups that are always convenient. Every day you'll do a few sets of chin-ups but never to the point of failure, you'll always separate a few sets of chin-ups with an hour's break.

Over the next 4 weeks your objective is to collect as many sets of chin-ups you can collect, doing a set before you train, after lunch and after dinner. Some days you may get as many as 50 chin-ups in and some days only 10. The objective is to complete more chin-ups than you did the previous week.

Once a week, you should select a challenge day. Which means setting a timer to do as many chin-ups as you can in 5 minutes using good form. You then add this number to your weekly chin-up total and then take the next day of chinning off so give yourself a rest.

Note: For more information checkout The Lost Secrets of Bodyweight Training