1. If you can’t do chins, you are either hurt, fat or weak – And none of these three things are good. There’s a reason why Joe DeFranco believes that chinning strength is a great indicator of speed and the above are why. There is no reason why a big man can’t do chins, so don’t use that as an excuse.
2. Do chins with a variety of grips, all the time – Don’t just stick to one or two different grips. Use underhand, overhand, parallel grip, wide, medium, and narrow. Use ropes, softballs (Glenn B. style) and towels for grip strength. Don’t be afraid to chin using nontraditional chin bars (chin off random pieces of equipment or structures) – be strong in all ways, on all things. And please, don’t use straps.
3. Do a set of chins between every pressing set – You don’t have to do a ton of reps between each set, but doing this will greatly increase your chin volume without taking any extra time or energy from your workouts. Even doing a set of one or two reps between your pressing sets will go a long way in improving your back strength.
4. Use a variety of different tempos – Don’t be afraid to use a little body English when doing chins, but don’t be afraid to cut down on the reps and do them strict. Just don’t turn the exercise into an Olympic lift.
5. Use them as a warm-up and a workout – I always start every upper body day with chins. What this does is help traction my shoulders and get a great stretch; this is a great way to prepare your body for the pressing work ahead and get some extra volume in. These don’t have to be for max reps as this is a warm-up.
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Jim was employed as a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Kentucky, where he worked with several different teams including football and baseball. He played football and graduated from the University of Arizona where he earned three letters. Jim’s best lifts include a 1000 lbs squat, a 675 lbs bench press, 700 lbs deadlift, and a 2375 total in the 275 lbs class.
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Totall Assome
Great article! I’ve recently rediscovered my love for chins since my wrestling days in highschool. I consider them one of the best ways to test where my overall strength and athleticism are at.
Is that Wendler in the picture? The tats seem the same but that guy seems to have some hair and is pretty lean, I didnt know he was ever lean and had that much hair at the same time? Maybe Rachel can answer this?
Grade school the presidential fitness test and I couldn’t even do one, how embarrassing. Chins are now one of my favorite exercises. Not only can I do em…I can do them with added weight hanging off me. Number 1 is classic! Build you some wings. red bull not needed.
nice variety in here and also cleared up questions I had on doing chins between pressing sets….awesome
Yes-THIS IS WENDLER.
He is about 9%BF,like he said.
Two places always empty in a commercial gym sq rack and pullup bar.
If you can not do chins you are not STRONG! Simple truth and it hurts. I watched a kid go from 1 band assisted chin up to knocking out 16 unassisted consecutive chin ups in one year time, and all his other lifts skyrocketed. Of course he was cycling in Wendler 5/3/1 routine on the power lifts, but damn this kid got strong for his bodyweight.
I hate it when there’s a massive queue at the chin-up bar.
After reading this I decided to jump on the 531 train and just ordered the book. Apart from the program the book is a great read! I’ll be starting the program next week and am really excited about it. Thanks Jim!
When will 5/3/1 for Powerlifting be available?
this isn’t actually five reasons to do chins…..it’s 4 suggestions on how to do them and 1 quasi-statement
What the deal with joe defranco, is he one of the renowned coaches? why is he mentioned here?
I’ve been consistently doing chin and pullups for about a year now and it has significantly improved my back muscularity that cable pulldowns had never achieved. I do them in a Cluster set method.
BW x (5×2)x5 = (5 sets of 2 reps) x 5 sets = 50 overall reps. I rest 5-10 seconds after each mini-set of 2 reps and continue until I complete 10 total reps then rest 1 minute. I use it as part as the Big But Boring accessory work. I’ve done 100 total reps just because, and I felt it for days.
I do the cluster sets after doing weighted chins.
The title talks about chin-ups, the picture shows a guy doing pull-ups. Confusing?
Confusing..Because of the pic..I think you should read number 2 and come on MAN !!
From 5/3/1:
Chin-ups, pull-ups, whatever. It doesn’t matter to me. Just bring yourself up to a bar and back down again. Your grip should vary: wide, medium, close, overhand, underhand, neutral. Use ropes and towels for chins to build back and grip strength.
palms facing you have been said by rippetoe to be the most productive and I feel them much more and agree. But every one has his or here own opinion.
Chinups, along with pushups, will always be fundamental bench marks for upper body strength.
Ive always believed that men should, without need of warmup of prep, be able to bust out 10 chinups/pullups and 50 pushups at any given time
If you struggle at either of those things, i would seriously evaluate you’re training, if any.
Been using 5/3/1 for a while, and could not find an answer for this. I know Jim reccomends doing chins between every pressing set, even for a couple reps. Im assuming these chins should be done far from failure? Should these be counted toward chins done for the other parts of the program? For example.. on my press day, I do 50 bodyweight chins as an accesory exercise. Would any chins I do between my presses be counted here?
MikeMc, I think you may be overthinking it mate. If you’re doing 50 reps on say, military press day as an auxilary exercise then that would surely suffice, but on bench day you could throw a few in in between pressing sets. Thats how I would read it anyway.
MikeMc- if you so sets of pullups between pressing, have you done the pullups/chin ups or not? Herein lies your answer.
And here I just wondered if they airbrushed on hair, most of you need to get the book then have someone read the book to you and explain what it means, by someone I mean your mom who lives upstairs. Get off the net and DO.
What’s wrong with the Olympic lifts? hahaha…
Doing a set of chins / pullups between each set of overhead press / bench press is one of the best things I have ever done – improved pullup strength, improved pressing, faster workouts, better recovery.
GREAT article! Short and to the point. I am on my 2nd cycle of 531. This is a great program. I promised myself to do it for at least 6 months. Can’t weight to retest my 1RM in each lift.
The people who don’t find the value in these are the same ones who can’t do them and thus criticize them for lack of understanding. When in doubt- go up.
Chin ups/pullups are probably my least favourite exercise. I find my forearms get fatigued before anything else does. I do them, but I hate them.
Chins – supinated and pronated helped my deadlifts, and both overhead press, and bench. Loved the 5-3-1, and have done a few cycles.
I do super sets of weighted dips and chins on bench and overhead press days. In about 5 months, I’ve added almost 65 pounds onto my bench 1RM. It really helps to build the stabilizer muscles in your back and your lats. 5/3/1 program is awesome, I highly recommended it to anybody who wants to get strong.