Anyone Here Still do Rack/DC Chins?

This is what I’m talking about:

Doing pull ups hard one day and then chin ups hard on another day in one week is taking a toll on where my lat meets my shoulder. I’m taking care not to just bounce off my connective tissues when I reach the bottom already and have not problems with standing presses or OH squats so I’m inclined to think it’s not a mobility issue.

I was thinking I’d sub my pulls up with these. The angle might be easier on my shoulder and at least for a time I was thinking of instead of loading them up for the rep scheme I want I would take advantage of the deload relative to a regular pull up to do a pause in the bottom while still keeping tension in my lats so I’m not just hanging off connective tissue and to strengthen and reinforce the proper mechanics and strengthen that position.

Do y’all have any thoughts regarding my plan? More optimal alternatives? Additional work I could be doing? Questions? Comments?

Even if your rack pull up story has nothing to do with what I intend to use them for I’m still curious.

If you’re worried about stressing your connective tissues then you might not want to do them shoulders to ears like Paul does in the video. Did a few sets last week, they’re definitely different enough from regular pull-ups to warrant the experiment. Hits my lats better.

Does hanging from a bar hurt? Does it hurt if you activate your scapula and pull it down but remain on bent arms?

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I haven’t been allowing that shoulders to ears position for that reason. I could try not letting my elbows extend all the way, I’ve actually made it a point to let that happen so I’m not cheating but if there’s a chance it lets me keep doing pull ups hard and regular I’ll try it. At least for now.

Just hanging from a bar doesn’t cause any irritation whether it be a dead hang or with my scapulae at least slightly depressed and lats engaged.

I gave them a shot and these make a fantastic addition to the toolbox! They are super easy on the shoulders. I’m not going to add weight for the moment and do a 5x5 with pauses in the bottom and at the top which are the parts most difficult for me to control with regular chin ups and pull ups.

I do think they hit the lats better than chins/pull ups but I don’t necessarily think they’re better than those. To me it’s almost like comparing leg presses to squats. The chin/pull up requires more total body strength, technique, and control whereas these target the back muscles more. Different tools for different jobs.

I was doing chin/pull ups twice a week. I’ll replace the pull up day with these for now and keep doing chin ups since the chins weren’t aggravating anything. I’ll also start doing some hanging leg raises where I actually hold onto the bar to improve core control too.

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