Chin-ups vs Pull-ups

Pullups are often done at a wide-grip or at shoulder-width, and chin-ups are usually done at shoulder-width or narrow-grip.

There’s also a third type of grip which is:

Neutral-Grip = when your palms are facing each other like when doing hammer curls.

This one usually requires a special bar with parallel handles.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the nitty-gritty stuff.

#Pull-Ups

To start with, I want to talk about wide-grip pullups where the hands are placed outside your shoulder width.

In general, wide-grip pullups are going to have a slightly increased emphasis on recruitment of the lats.

The reason for this is when the arms are out wide, the biceps are actually placed in a mechanically disadvantaged position, whereby the lats are forced to do a bit more work during the exercise.

This is coupled with the fact that when you’re in a pull-up position, your hands are pronated, a thing which takes away one of the other functions of the bicep – supination.

When you’re gripping the bar with a wide grip, you have an increased capacity to perform adduction at the shoulder joint, and that allows you to increase the recruitment of the lats.

Compare that to a close-grip chin-up or a close-grip pullup where the elbows are forward in front of the body – you can’t get as much of that forceful adduction that demands more recruitment of the back.

Additionally, there’s less overall elbow flexion required to complete a full range-of-motion wide-grip pullup compared to a standard pullup or a standard chin-up.

#chin-ups

When it comes to chin-ups (shoulder-width or narrow-grip), there’s probably no surprise there, but you tend to get a little more biceps involvement with this hand placement.

The reason for that is this:

One of the functions of the bicep is forearm supination.

When your hands are in supinated position,  your biceps are actually in a mechanical advantage to produce greater force

So, to make a long story short, whenever you’re doing chin-ups, you’re placing a bigger emphasis on the biceps.