This month’s exercise is the Pull up as well as the Chin up variation. Like many exercises, the pull up technique tends to get slaughtered in the gym! While it may seem easy enough to figure out, pull your chin up to the bar, there are many things that can go wrong during that process.

The biggest culprit of bad technique is a swinging motion of the body to generate momentum to get you moving up. In the traditional pull up, the body should essentially be dead weight hanging straight down.

Another mistake that is made is bringing the arms too far inward which makes more use of the biceps and abs while bypassing much of the back. The back should be the target muscle groups for this exercise. Focus on keeping the elbows back and squeezing the shoulder blades together as you pull yourself up lifting your chin just over the bar. The arms should be extended straight (but not locked) at the bottom of the movement as well.

For chin ups, much of the same technique should be used. However, note that with the palms now facing you and arms in closer, that you are using more biceps and even some chest muscles to help the lift. Chin ups are generally easier than Pull ups as well.