How To Get Your First Chin-Up and Pull-Up

Want to start training to get your first chin up or pull up? This is the place to be, to find out how to get your first chin up!

The movement itself is great, because it requires aspects to cover.

First, it’s the strength. Building strength takes time - so get working on that.

Secondly - it needs muscle. It’s related to the first point so you’ll knock both of these together at the same time.

Lastly - it requires you to work on relative strength to body weight. This means that you need to decrease your weight if your strength isn’t high enough. So what do you do? Work on your nutrition and body composition. We’ll touch base on this a little further into the blog.

So let’s get going. Let’s get your strength and muscle going.

First Priority: Strength & Technique

Movements you’ll need to look into are the ones related to the actual pull-up and chin-up itself. I’ll focus on 3 types of chins ups that I use in my method.

1.0 Isometric 

“Think squeeze but no movement”

To do this, you will need to have something to jump off to get yourself at the height. When we do isometric squeezes, we want to hold just as long as possible and really focus on working the muscles squeezing.

You might think, well .. this is a waste. Well - it’s not! 

Let me explain - it’s all about making sure the mind muscle (insert Arnold Swarzeneggar quote) connection is working, and the talk between brain and muscle is firing. Of all the ways of movement, this one drives the nervous system to work more.

I recommend being able to hold this for somewhere between 45 - 60 seconds before progressing.

2.0 Eccentric 

“Think squeeze with control on the way down”

This is a progression from the isometric movement, where we add some extra movement. Just like the isometric, we jump up but this time we control on the way down for as long as possible. 

You’ll now start to work the muscles in the full range of motion and develop the muscles furthermore. 

I generally aim for everyone to be able to complete 3 sets x 3-6 reps at 10 seconds each for strong progressions into the chin up.

(Side note: Eccentric and Isometric type loadings require more strength and control than concentric based movements!)

3.0 Banded 
“Think something pushing you up as you focus on speed!”

If you’re following this progression, this will be your first full movement with actual pulling this time!

Now, you will require a resistance band, and all the bands have different forms of resistance and support. There is generally an order of which is lighter to heavier (the colours of the rainbow, with the darkest being the most resistant) but it also varies with the width of the band too.

No matter, we will just focus on the actual movement. 

I highly recommend that you work up to 10-12 reps on each band, and try and regress down the colours til you hit red. If you’re in the red to green area, you’re getting close to the chin up. It now just takes patience!

Second Priority: Muscle Builders!
I’m not saying that the first priority based movements aren’t the muscle builders, but they are just more specific to the movement. The exercises that you’ll see here on the second priority are exercises which build the muscle but are less specific to chin-ups and pull-ups.

Exercises in this category, we tend to try and hit a range between 6 to 12 reps, to give the chance for hypertrophy, and 2-3 sets is more than enough in the session. 

So - now onwards to the exercises. Here are just a list the one which I personally like:

Free Weight

Inverted Rows / Supine Pull-Ups

Dumbbell Rows

Barbell Rows

Machines

Seated Rows

Close Grip Lat Pulldowns

Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns

Third Priority: Nutrition

So maybe you’ve tried everything in the first and second priority. But you still can’t get the chin up?

This is a good one to look and deep dive and see what you need to do with this. 

I won’t be going into specifics on weight loss and nutrition in this blog - because then it’d become less of a “how to get your first chin up/pull-up” blog at all - there is just that much to talk about when it comes to nutrition.

One thing I can do is recommend you look into what your weight is, and try to decrease this or change your body composition to increase your muscle mass. Because, yep, you got it. Strength is driven by muscles!

As always, this is just the framework which gets you into a chin up and pull up. What you need to understand is that the process might need you to focus on one thing more than another person.

So if you’re on the heavier end and struggle with the isometrics, focus on the muscle builders and the nutrition/bodyweight situation. If you’re a little lighter, then focus on the strength and muscle builders rather than your bodyweight and nutrition.

It’s a steady progression, but keep at it. If you don’t see progress, don’t be discouraged and you can contact us to help you out!

If you ever need help and support in your training, programming and performance, don’t be afraid to contact Momentum Active Remedy for a consultation. We have a team of University Qualified Exercise Physiologists and high quality Personal Trainers that can provide you with the support you need to achieve your goals.

Call us on 0423 568 356, email sean@momentumactiveremedies.com or book online on www.momentum-active.com to book yourself in!

Remember, #MomentumIsKey. You just need to get started.

Sean Koh

Owner & Director
S&C Coach, Exercise Physiologist, Scientist & Personal Trainer

Post. Grad. Dip. (Exercise Physiology) & B.Sc. (Sports Science)

AEP, AES