How to do the Chin-Up Negative
Step by step
- Grab a pull-up bar with your palms facing you, about shoulder-width apart.
- Jump or step up so your chin starts above the bar, elbows fully bent.
- Hold the top for a moment, then begin lowering yourself as slowly as you can.
- Fight gravity the whole way down, resisting with your arms and back.
- Reach a full hang, then step or jump back up to repeat.
The thing people get wrong
Aim to make the lowering last several seconds. Dropping quickly wastes the rep, since the slow negative is the entire point.
Coaching cue
Keep your shoulders pulled down away from your ears the whole way down.
Stay safe
Check the bar is secure before you jump up to it, and step down at the bottom instead of dropping.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Lower only halfway, then step back up.
- Harder: Stop and hold for two seconds halfway down before finishing the lower.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Biceps, Lats
- Secondary: Upper Back, Forearms
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