How To Do Chin Ups

While these don’t appear in the High Intensity with Kayla program, I know that being able to do a chin up (or five) is a fitness goal for lots of women! So today I thought I would give you some simple tips on what you can do to help prepare your body for them!

Jump to: 

• How to get better at chin ups
• Hang around
• Build strength
• Patience

How to get better at chin ups

1. “Hang Around”

You might find this a little strange, but the first step to mastering the chin up is simply hanging on to a chin-up bar! Why, you ask? The action of hanging can help you improve your grip and also build strength in some key muscles that can help you to perform chin-ups later. Perform this several times a week, either at the beginning or end of your workout.

2. Build Strength

It’s also a good idea to incorporate some targeted “back” exercises into your training program to help improve your upper body strength. A great example of this is doing negative repetitions, which essentially means practicing the “easy” part of the movement. When doing a negative chin up, start at the top of the movement and slowly lower yourself down over a period of above five seconds until your arms are extended.

Some other examples include fly or rowing type exercises, lat pulldowns and so on. Try adding a few sets into your workouts one to three times a week.

3. Be Patient

Remember that chin-ups are a very difficult exercise to master. It’s important that you don’t try and rush your body into them as this can lead to injury. Just like we learn to crawl before we walk or run, start slow and make sure that you prepare a solid foundation first.

Start putting these tips into practice and let me know how you go!