How to do the Chin-Up
Step by step
- Grip the bar with palms facing you (underhand), hands about shoulder-width apart.
- Hang with your arms straight and shoulders active, ankles crossed if you like.
- Pull your chest up toward the bar, driving your elbows down.
- Continue until your chin clears the bar.
- Lower yourself slowly back to a full hang under control.
The thing people get wrong
The underhand grip lets your biceps help, making this easier than a pull-up. Use a full range - all the way up, all the way down - rather than half reps.
Coaching cue
Pull your shoulder blades down before your elbows bend so your back starts the rep.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Use a band under one knee, or the assisted pull-up machine.
- Harder: Pause for two seconds with your chin over the bar.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Lats, Biceps
- Secondary: Upper Back, Core, Forearms
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.