Want Bigger Arms? DO CHIN UPS!
It’s very common for people to identify arm training with the elbow joint. The elbow joint is a hinge joint, and if you aren’t too familiar with biomechanics, this type of joint has the most limiting range of motion of all. It primarily allows us to perform motion in one plane of movement. To simplify, think of another hinging motion you witness on a daily basis - opening a door. The door is built on hinges, and when you open the door, it moves either forwards or backwards, just like the elbow does. In this case, it means arm training only goes forwards,backwards, up and down… right? If that’s the case, what in the hell are we doing sitting here and discussing arm training in depth!?
Well, to bore you with even MORE information, arm training doesn’t have to be a single joint movement. In fact, some of my favorite and more dominating movements prescribed to clients would be multi-joint movements for arm training. A multi-joint movement is beneficial for many reasons. Think about a bicep curl or a barbell squat. If I asked you to perform twenty reps of a bicep curl or a barbell squat, which one is more exhausting? The correct answer is barbell squat, but are you really shocked? Most would allude to the fact that squats are just troubling due to the fact they require massive levels of force using your leg muscles, and that’s exactly correct. The more muscle groups incorporated, the more metabolically exhausting a prescribed exercise can become. If you do a bicep curl, this single joint movement requires the biceps to play the main and only role in the movement. However, if you use a multi-joint movement that requires more muscular force and strength to conquer the movement, you have found yourself in a much more fatigued state that in return evokes a higher level of an anabolic response. That’s why I want to talk to you today about the chin up exercise. The chin up is not only for muscular strength but muscular hypertrophy as well.
Wait, when I was a kid we did either chin ups or pull ups. They are the same thing, right?
NO, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME AT ALL! The chin up and pull up are performed with either a pronated or supinated grip. During the pull up, the palms are in a pronated grip that means the palms face away from you. This grip alone makes a huge difference in the movement pattern from a chin up. With a pronated grip, the shoulder joint is allowed to have a much wider range of motion and for the most part, it’s performed in the frontal plane, similar to the plane of movement for a jumping jack. Yes, the chin up is a pulling motion so it can be coined as a “back” exercise, but as noted with the variations of grips…the supinated grip starts to engage the biceps more and could be considered an arm training exercise for bicep hypertrophy.
When doing the chin up, the supinated grip can keep our elbows primarily tucked in and limited to the sagittal plane of movement. Remember, the supinated grip means the palms are facing you, and with this grip the elbows stay primarily fixated and can’t move as much due to the grip you have established. Isn’t that crazy? One change of the movement can change almost everything about the exercise. With the chin up, your elbow joint and shoulder joint work in conjunction to allow the body to move up and down, creating a pulling motion that puts a heavy load of weight on the bicep muscles as well as the pulling muscles too. Because it’s a pulling motion, it works the pulling muscles as mentioned before, but think about the physiology of the movement as well. What’s similar about the chin up and most bicep exercises is the fact the palms are upward (for the most part, not all the time). So, whenever you do ANY pulling motion with a supinated grip, if you focus primarily on the elbow joint it looks like a curling motion which explains why there becomes a much more engaging opportunity for the bicep to play a dominant role in the established movement. After much debate and discussion on one damn movement, I hope you can understand the reasoning and justification on why the chin up plays a dominant role in arm training.
It doesn’t stop here, though. When doing the chin up, there are tons of ways to modify the movement to target the various fibers of the bicep head. You can focus on pausing chin ups to fatigue the top of the muscle, or perhaps you can focus on the eccentric phase of the movement and getting a huge stretch of the muscle. There are many ways to change the tempo and pacing of movement which can change the structure of your bicep entirely.
I absolutely LOVE the chin up as an exercise for bicep hypertrophy and strength. Sure, other muscles are being utilized during the chin up, such as the latissimus dorsi and the various trapezius fibers of your posterior chain, but as we noted before…the more muscles and joints used the more metabolically exhausting the movement becomes to help elevate a spike in naturally secreting growth hormone for muscular hypertrophy. Plus, once you have completed this exercise and stack it with an isolated bicep movement, the more likely the biceps will grow in return.
As mentioned before, you can change the tempo of the movement to promote rigorous fatigue such as using a pause or even a slower eccentric phase during the descending motion. Another tip I recommend is to make sure that when you do the chin up, alter your grip by using a supinated, neutral, or even an angled grip. With the neutral grip, it starts to move the displacement of the load and works not only the various bicep heads (short head and long head), but it also engages the brachioradialis. The brachioradialis is a forearm muscle located in the lateral forearm to help add to the illusion of having a much more muscular arm. Hell, it’s not even an illusion! Those who train wisely will understand the importance of this muscle, in addition to the bicep muscles, to build a proportionately stronger looking arm for size and performance.