Training guide
A chin-up is a pull-up with your palms facing you: you hang from a bar with your hands about shoulder-width apart and pull until your chin clears it. Your lats, the big muscles down the sides of your back, do most of the work, with your biceps, the back of your shoulders and your grip helping.
Many people find chin-ups a little easier than pull-ups, probably because the muscles that bend your elbow pull from a stronger position with your palms up. That comes from coaching experience and one small study of elbow strength: no study has counted how many reps people manage with each grip.
This guide shows a strict chin-up step by step on the 3D figure, how it compares with the pull-up, the steps to your first one, how many to do and how often, and how to look after your elbows and shoulders.
Hang from a bar with your palms facing you, hands about shoulder-width apart or a little closer, and pull until your chin clears the bar; then lower all the way to straight arms. The pull-up is the same pull with your palms facing away, usually a little wider.
Your lats worked at 117 to 130% of a maximal test effort with either grip in 25 young adults. The chin-up drew more biceps and chest activity in that study, but in another of 19 trained men the grips worked the muscles much alike.
Coaches find most people manage a chin-up before a pull-up. A likely reason: in 11 men, elbow-bending strength with the palm down was about half that with the palm up or facing in. No study has counted reps with each grip, so treat it as a rule of thumb.
Hangs and shoulder-blade pulls, rows, assisted chin-ups with a band or a machine, slow lowering, then the full chin-up, two or three times a week. Lowering-only training built lifting strength about as well as lifting-only training in machine trials.
About 3 sets, stopping 1 to 3 reps short of failure, 2 or 3 times a week, with 2 to 3 minutes' rest: our pull-up guide's starting point, which we use for chin-ups too. There's no health standard for how many you should manage.
If the front of your elbow hurts, switch to a palms-in or palms-away grip. A sudden pop at the front of the elbow with bruising or a bulge in the upper arm needs an urgent treatment centre or A&E.
In a chin-up your palms face you (an underhand grip), usually shoulder-width or slightly closer. In a pull-up they face away (overhand), usually a little wider. A neutral grip, palms facing each other on parallel handles or a V-bar, sits between the two.
Mostly your lats, which worked at 117 to 130% of a maximal test effort, with the biceps at 78 to 96%. The infraspinatus on the back of your shoulder blade, the lower trapezius, the main chest muscle, the long back muscles and the obliques at the side of your trunk all worked too. The brachialis and brachioradialis bend the elbow with the biceps, and your forearm muscles hold the bar.
Count each hard set of chin-ups as a full set for your back and about half a set for your biceps, as our bicep curl guide does: in a review of 67 studies, counting pulls as half a set for the arms fitted the growth data best.
Source 11
Most grip studies use EMG (electromyography: electrodes measuring how hard a muscle works over a few reps). It isn't a validated predictor of which exercise grows a muscle more, so treat the numbers on this page as clues, not verdicts.
Source 12
In 21 men and 4 women, the lats worked at 117 to 130% of a maximal test effort in both the chin-up and the pull-up. The chin-up drew more biceps and main chest muscle activity, the pull-up more lower trapezius, and the elbow moved through slightly more range in the chin-up (about 101 degrees against 93).
Source 3
In 19 strength-trained men, underhand, overhand, neutral and rope pull-ups worked the shoulder, arm and forearm muscles much alike. The overhand grip beat the neutral grip only for the middle trapezius, between the shoulder blades.
Source 4
One pull-up study found more biceps activity with the palms up. A pulldown study of 12 men found grip direction didn't change biceps activity, and in 16 people bending the elbow, biceps activity stayed the same whichever way the palm faced. A computer model of 11 men even favoured the biceps and brachialis in the overhand grip.
In 11 men, elbow-bending strength was 214 N with the palm up and 244 N with it facing in, but only 114 N with it facing down, partly because of a mechanical disadvantage. Coaching bodies say most people find chin-ups easier. We found no study that counted how many chin-ups and pull-ups the same people could do.
Chin-ups drew more biceps and lower-back muscle activity than lat pulldowns during the pull. Pulldowns are a useful step, but practising on the bar matters, as our pull-up guide explains.
Source 14
Across 27 trials on strength machines, lowering-only training raised lowering strength more than lifting-only training (27% against 10%) and raised lifting and holding strength about the same (13% against 14%, 18% against 17%). Nobody has trialled body-weight negatives for chin-ups, but this supports them.
Source 6
In 30 inactive young men who could already do 3 or 4 pull-ups, adding forearm training to the same 8-week pull-up programme gave the biggest rise in pull-up reps and in how long they could hang (up 55%).
Source 15
In 10 untrained men over 8 weeks, the arm that curled grew its elbow flexors by about 11% and the arm that rowed by about 5%. But in 29 untrained men over 10 weeks, pulldowns alone grew them about as much as curls alone. Pulls build your arms; curls may still add.
In 11 regular performers, the underhand grip started the shoulder in strong outward rotation, a possible pinch point at the bottom of the hang, and the authors linked underhand and wide grips with movement patterns tied to impingement. A coach quoted by ACE calls palms up the shoulder-friendly grip. No study has compared injuries by grip.
Tears of the biceps tendon at the elbow affect 3 to 5 people per 100,000 a year, mostly men over 30. In two collections of videos (56 and 57 tears), most happened with the palm up and the elbow nearly straight under a heavy pull, most often deadlifting; none of the 57 was a chin-up.
From ACE's and NASM's coaching guidance and our move page. The breathing cue is from our breathing guide.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Chin-up
For many people, the chin-up, because your elbow-bending muscles pull from a stronger position with your palms up or facing in. It's a rule of thumb from coaching and one small strength study, not a measured difference in reps.
Neither: both drove the lats past a maximal test effort, and the grips worked the muscles much alike in trained men. The pull-up worked the lower trapezius a little more in one study.
The studies disagree on whether palms up works the biceps harder. Both grips work your arms, and curls still add arm growth on top, so if bigger arms are your goal, do both.
Palms facing each other on parallel handles or a V-bar worked the muscles much like the other grips. It's the usual swap when the front of your elbow or your shoulder complains with one of the others.
Source 4
NASM suggests using both over time, and choosing by which you can do with good form. Our pull-up guide covers the pull-up; this guide covers the chin-up.
Source 2
That's the usual chin-up grip, as NASM describes it. Within that range, choose the width that feels strongest and doesn't hurt.
Source 2
A full grip is more secure than a thumbless one, especially when your grip tires (coaching practice).
One palm towards you and one away changes little, since the grips it combines work the muscles much alike. Swap hands each set.
Source 4
Train it: dead hangs and farmer's carries between sessions. Forearm training raised pull-up reps most in one 8-week trial.
Source 15
Train two or three steps in each session, each at the hardest one you can do well (our pull-up guide's approach). Dead hangs, 3 hangs of 20 to 30 seconds, and scapular pull-ups, 3 sets of 8; inverted rows, 3 sets of 8 to 12; machine-assisted chin-ups, 3 sets of 6 to 10 (all our pull-up progression workout); band-assisted, 2 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 (ACE) or 3 to 5 sets of 5 to 10 (NASM), as its move page gives; negatives, 2 or 3 sets of 3, lowering for 3 to 5 seconds and building towards 5 to 10 (our pull-up guide); then chin-ups, 3 sets of 3 to 8 (pull-up progression). The row, assisted and negative demos show an overhand grip: turn your palms to face you.
3D demoBar hangIntermediate · Pull-up bar + A step
3D demoScapular pull-upIntermediate · Pull-up bar
3D demoInverted rowIntermediate · Pull-up bar
3D demoBand-assisted pull-upIntermediate · A band + Pull-up bar
3D demoAssisted pull-up (machine)Beginner · Strength machine
3D demoNegative pull-upIntermediate · Pull-up bar + A step
3D demoChin-upAdvanced · Pull-up barInverted rows worked the biceps, lats, lower trapezius and the back of the shoulders above 60% of maximum in 26 adults, and hanging trains the grip that often gives out first.
A loop band helps most at the bottom, where it's stretched furthest, and least near the top; a machine helps evenly through the rep. Use whichever you have, and reduce the help steadily, as our pull-up guide explains.
Step up so your chin is over the bar, then lower as slowly as you can to straight arms and step back up. Lowering work brings more next-day soreness than usual, and very hard, unaccustomed exercise can rarely cause rhabdomyolysis, a serious breakdown of muscle, so start with fewer than you think.
Once you can lower for about 5 seconds and do 10 inverted rows at a low bar, try one or two chin-ups every second week (our first pull-up workout). Testing more often than that mostly tires you.
No study has timed it. Our pull-up guide's estimate: a few weeks if you can already lower yourself slowly or need little help, and often 2 to 6 months from no pulling strength, sometimes longer.
Holding yourself at the top with bent elbows (a flexed-arm hang) trains grip and the top of the pull. An ACE article reports a coach's athletes averaged about 10 seconds at their first test. Step up into the top position of the chin-up, with a box under your feet in case your grip goes.
Source 1
About 3 sets, stopping 1 to 3 reps short of failure: 1 to 3 RIR (reps in reserve: how many more reps you could have done). Our editorial starting point, as in our pull-up guide; our pull-up progression workout uses 3 sets of 3 to 8.
There's no need to grind to failure: across 15 studies it added a trivial amount of growth at most. People underestimate the reps they have left by about 1, so end the set when a rep slows or your body starts to swing.
2 to 3 minutes between hard sets of chin-ups, as our plans advise for heavy compound lifts; a review found a small growth benefit from resting more than about 60 seconds.
Source 25
Our pull-up guide starts at 6 to 12 hard pulling sets a week, building towards 12 to 18. For your back overall, about 10 or more hard sets a week across chin-ups, pull-ups and rows builds muscle, with smaller gains from each extra set.
Two or three times a week, with a day between, at the start of your session. Matched for weekly sets, training a muscle more often made little difference to growth, so daily chin-ups aren't needed.
Source 28
There's no health standard. Test scores even depend on height: in 85 chin-up tests, shorter people were more likely to reach the top score. In college students, women's best pull-up averaged about three-quarters of their body weight and men's a little more than theirs, so many women need longer to reach a first rep; compare yourself with yourself.
Once you can do several, our increase pull-ups guide covers adding reps. About 10 strict reps is the point at which we suggest adding weight: 2.5 to 5 kg, 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 (its editorial starting point).
Momentum makes the bar harder to hold and skips the work. Brace, squeeze your legs together and start each rep from still.
Jumping to the top or stopping halfway down. Lower to straight arms every rep, and use a band or a lower step until you can.
Source 1
Reaching your chin over the bar instead of pulling your body up. Keep your neck long and lead with your chest.
Source 2
Falling the last few inches jars the shoulders and elbows. Lower under control and settle into the hang.
Draw your shoulder blades down before you pull, rather than hunching your shoulders up to your ears.
Breathe out as you pull and in as you lower, as our breathing guide advises.
Discomfort up to about 3 to 4 out of 10 is acceptable if it settles within an hour and is no worse the next morning, as our preacher curl and pull-up challenge pages say. More than that, go back a step for a week.
Leave chin-ups for now and use whichever grip doesn't hurt, palms in or palms away, as our chin-up move page advises; shorten your negatives too. Our elbow pain from pull-ups guide covers pain that lasts.
A sudden pop at the front of the elbow, with bruising, a gap there or a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E: it's best repaired within the first 2 to 3 weeks, and pain that eases after a week or two doesn't mean it's healed.
Keep pain during exercise to about 5 out of 10 or less, settling by your next session, the rule our shoulder guides use. Try a shoulder-width palms-in or palms-away grip, and leave hanging out while the shoulder is painful and stiff.
Source 18
Dislocations during chin-ups are rare enough to appear as single case reports. After a dislocation, or if a shoulder feels unstable when you hang, leave hanging out until a physiotherapist clears it, as our bar hang move page advises.
Source 31
Breathe out as you pull and get advice before maximal lifting, as our breathing guide says. With controlled blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe; a band or machine keeps chin-ups moderate.
Source 32
After heart surgery through the breastbone, or breast cancer surgery or reconstruction, follow your team's advice before pulling or hanging from your arms, as our chin-up move page says.
The NHS says strength training at a gym is fine if you already do it. Hanging gets harder as your weight changes: machine-assisted chin-ups or rows are easy swaps, and stop if you feel uncomfortable or unwell.
Source 33
V-bar (palms-in) pull-ups and chin-ups to the chest, 2 to 3 sets of 3 to 8, stopping 1 or 2 reps short; the underhand pulldown, 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, 2 or 3 short; chin-ups with a knee raise, 2 to 3 sets of 5 to 8 slow reps, 2 or 3 short (their move pages; leave the knee-raise version out with osteoporosis or a past spinal fracture). Mixed-grip and towel one-arm chin-ups have no set dose; the one-arm version needs many strict chin-ups first. Weighted: after about 10 strict reps, 2.5 to 5 kg for 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 6 (our increase pull-ups guide); its demo shows the overhand grip.
3D demoV-bar pull-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar + Other / check instructions
3D demoMixed-grip chin-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar
3D demoUnderhand close-grip lat pulldownBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoGironda sternum chin-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar
3D demoChin-up with a knee raise (gorilla chin)Advanced · Pull-up bar
3D demoTowel one-arm chin-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar + Other / check instructions
3D demoWeighted pull-upAdvanced · Pull-up bar + Something with weight
3D demoPull-upAdvanced · Pull-up barFarmer's carries, 2 walks of 20 to 30 m, and wrist curls, 2 sets of 12 to 15, light and slow (our first pull-up workout); hollow body holds, 2 of 20 seconds (our front lever progression); supported one-arm dumbbell rows, 3 sets of 10 to 12 each side (pull day B); curls and hammer curls at our bicep and hammer curl guides' doses.
3D demoFarmer's carryIntermediate · A dumbbell + A kettlebell
3D demoWrist curlsBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoHollow body holdIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSupported single-arm dumbbell rowIntermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoDumbbell biceps curlBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoHammer curlBeginner · A dumbbellThe first pull-up workout tests a chin-up every second week; pull-up progression and the pull-up challenge workout ladder up to it; the more pull-ups workout adds chin-ups once you can do several; pull day B and the back workout at home let you swap chin-ups in.
Train for your first pull-up: hangs, shoulder-blade pulls, rows, band- or machine-assisted pull-ups, slow negatives and grip work in one session.
30 minBeginner8 movesPull-up bar, A stepWork up to your first pull-up: dead hangs, scapular pulls, rows, negatives and assisted pull-ups.
25 minBeginner7 movesPull-up bar, A stepA level-by-level pull-up session for the 30-day pull-up challenge: hangs, rows, assisted pull-ups, negatives or quick sets, then grip work.
25 minBeginner14 movesA band, Pull-up barFor anyone who can do 1 to 10 pull-ups: quick pull-up sets well short of failure, chin-ups, slow negatives, inverted rows and grip work.
40 minIntermediate9 movesPull-up bar, A stepPull day B: cable rows, lat pulldowns, one-arm dumbbell rows, reverse flyes, incline curls and back extensions, with sets, reps and rest.
50 minIntermediate10 movesPull-up bar, A cable machineA back workout at home with dumbbells and a band: pull-ups or band-assisted pulls, two rows, face pulls, reverse flys, shrugs and Romanian deadlifts.
40 minIntermediate14 movesA band, Pull-up barEach of these plans uses a workout with chin-ups or a pull-up ladder.
A free 30-day pull-up challenge with four levels, from building a hang to more reps: three short sessions a week, rest days and a test on day 1 and day 30.
3 training days25 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week calisthenics plan for beginners: three bodyweight sessions a week with push-up, pull-up, squat and dip ladders, and a bar if you have one.
3 training days40 minBeginner6 days a weekA 6-day push/pull/legs plan for experienced lifters: two push, two pull and two leg days, with sets, reps, rest and lighter weeks.
6 training days55 minAdvanced3 days a weekA 12-week beginner barbell program: squat every session, alternate bench and row with press and deadlift, and add weight each time until it stalls.
3 training days50 minBeginnerIf you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
Source 32
For chest pain that feels tight, heavy or squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck, jaw or back; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint; severe difficulty breathing; or angina pain that doesn't stop after rest and your medicine. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
If you haven't exercised for some time or have a medical condition, speak to your GP first, as the NHS advises. Get advice before heavy lifting if your blood pressure is uncontrolled, or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
See a GP after any faint, and for dizziness that won't go away or keeps coming back.
A sudden pop at the front of the elbow during a heavy pull, with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon: don't wait for it to settle, because it's best repaired within the first 2 to 3 weeks. Also after an arm injury with a snapping noise or a change in shape. In the US, go to urgent care or the emergency department.
If your arm hurts when you exercise but the pain goes away when you rest. See a GP if elbow or arm pain doesn't go away after a few weeks.
Source 7
For sudden or very bad shoulder pain; if you can't move your arm; if the shoulder has changed shape or is badly swollen; for pins and needles that don't go away or no feeling in the arm; if the arm is hot or cold to touch; for pain after an injury or fall; for severe pain in both shoulders; or if you feel feverish or unwell. See a GP if shoulder pain gets worse or doesn't improve after 2 weeks.
Source 44
Get medical advice the same day (NHS 111, or urgent care in the US) for dark, red or cola-coloured urine, passing less urine, weakness, or severe muscle pain and tenderness. These can be signs of rhabdomyolysis, which can rarely follow severe exertion, including calisthenics.
Source 22
Your lats do most of the work in both grips, and only one of the studies found more biceps activity with the palms up. Chin-ups are probably easier because your elbow-bending muscles have better leverage with the palm up, but no study has counted reps by grip.
In one small trial curls grew the elbow flexors about twice as much as rows; in another, pulldowns grew them about as much as curls. Count chin-ups as about half a biceps set, and add curls if your arms are the goal.
No study compares injury rates by grip. Biceps tendon tears in videos happened mostly in deadlifts, a shoulder dislocation during chin-ups is a single case report, and a motion study linked the underhand grip with impingement-risk patterns without measuring injuries. Switch grip if one hurts.
Two or three sessions a week of the steps above is our plan, and matched for weekly sets, training more often made little difference to growth. Short daily practice is untested, as our increase pull-ups guide says.
Source 28
For many people, yes: coaches find most people manage a chin-up before a pull-up. A likely reason is leverage, since elbow-bending strength with the palm down was about half that with the palm up in one small study. No study has counted reps with each grip, so treat it as a rule of thumb.
Mostly your lats, the big muscles down the sides of your back, with your biceps, the back of your shoulders, your middle and lower trapezius, your chest and your grip helping. Your stomach muscles keep your body still. Count it as a back exercise first and an arm exercise second.
Neither: both work the lats hard, and in trained men the grips worked the muscles much alike. Do the one you can do well and without pain, and mix them over time.
Build up with dead hangs, shoulder-blade pulls, rows, band- or machine-assisted chin-ups and slow lowering, training two or three of those steps in each session, two or three times a week. Try a full chin-up every second week once you can lower for about 5 seconds and do 10 inverted rows at a low bar.
No study has timed it, so this is our estimate: a few weeks if you can already lower yourself slowly or need little help, and often 2 to 6 months from no pulling strength. Testing every second week shows your progress.
There's no health standard, and test scores even depend on height: in one set of 85 tests, shorter people were more likely to reach the top score. Aim to add reps over time; about 10 strict reps is the point at which we suggest adding weight.
You don't need to do them every day. About 3 sets, stopping 1 to 3 reps short, two or three times a week with 2 to 3 minutes' rest between sets, is our starting point, because training more often made little difference to growth once weekly sets were matched.
Yes, but they may not replace curls if bigger arms are your goal: in one small trial curls grew the elbow flexors about twice as much as rows, though pulldowns matched curls in another. Count each set of chin-ups as about half a biceps set.
If the front of your elbow hurts, switch to a palms-in or palms-away grip and keep discomfort to about 3 to 4 out of 10 that settles within an hour and is no worse next morning. See our elbow pain from pull-ups guide if it lasts. A sudden pop with bruising or a bulge in the upper arm needs an urgent treatment centre or A&E.
Not for most people, though no study has compared injury rates by grip. One motion study linked the underhand grip with movement patterns tied to shoulder pinching, so with a sore shoulder try a shoulder-width palms-in or palms-away grip. See a GP if shoulder pain gets worse or isn't better after 2 weeks.
About shoulder-width or a little closer, palms facing you. Grip changes which muscles work only a little, so choose the width that feels strongest and doesn't hurt.
You need something to hang from, such as a doorway bar fitted as the maker says. Without one, rows build the same muscles: inverted rows under a sturdy table, after testing the edge with your feet still on the floor, or a band row anchored in a closed door.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
