In regards to pull ups, is there any major difference in effect between palms facing away from you or palms facing in towards each other?
Thank you.
You can probably do more reps palms facing each other (which is a good thing)
You will probably feel your lats stretch and work more if you do palms facing you and full range of motion (which is also a good thing, in a different way)
A good idea is to mix them up. (also include palms facing away)
Unless you can already do 15BW pullups, I’d suggest sticking to one grip for a few weeks, then the next one etc.
Pull ups are the hardest. Neutral grip and chins are a little easier. Usually, I’ll burn out on weighted pull-ups and then finish with a set or two of chins when I can no longer do even a bodyweight pull-up.
YMMV
Supinated grip=uses your biceps more.
Pronated grip=uses your back more.
Then you focus on different areas with how far apart your hands are, too.
I appreciate the responses so far. Here is an additional question; Chin ups i.e. palms facing in are good biceps exercises. Many articles on this site prefer them to isolation curls. Would pull ups with palms facing in towards each other be similar to hammer curls and maybe superior?
Thoughts? Thank you again.
there are several articals around here about pull/chin ups. Like with most other things you get alittle bit of a different answer depending on who you aske. There was was I really like that said Supinated grip uses the same amount of back as Pronated grip but put your arms in a better position to pull and Im not to sure what one it was.
But here is and artical Couch Tibbs wrote on inproving you chins
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=460273
The other im going to find b/c now I want to know and read it again GD. Im willing to bet that Fulmen knows hes always got good answers
[quote]TRAJJ wrote:
I appreciate the responses so far. Here is an additional question; Chin ups i.e. palms facing in are good biceps exercises. Many articles on this site prefer them to isolation curls. Would pull ups with palms facing in towards each other be similar to hammer curls and maybe superior?
Thoughts? Thank you again.[/quote]
Chins recruit the biceps into the movement but they are not the prime movers, the lats are. I like a little arm iso, doing curls after chins keeps me humble.
They have a little blurb about pull-ups versus chin-ups in this article:
http://www.T-Nation.com/article/bodybuilding/common_exercise_misconceptions_part_2&cr=
Found It!!
http://www.T-Nation.com/article/bodybuilding/common_exercise_misconceptions_part_2&cr=
"I can hear the whistle of incoming flames already. Some of you are probably thinking, “Surely this can’t be a misconception.” Well, just hang in there (pun intended) and hear me out. Others may be scratching their heads and saying, “But aren’t pull-ups and chins just different names for the same exercise?” No, they’re not. Let’s once again define our terms. When you do pull-ups, your hands are pronated (palms facing away from the body when placed on the bar), and you typically grip the bar a bit wider than shoulder width.
When you do chin-ups, your hands are supinated (palms facing towards the body when placed on the bar) and you grip the bar right around shoulder width, or a bit narrower or wider depending on individual comfort.
Most people find that chin-ups are easier because you’re better able to use your biceps, and pull-ups are harder because you can’t use your biceps as much. They likely deduce that because of this, pull-ups allow you to put more stress on the lats, and therefore are better for lat development. It’s an understandable conclusion, but it’s wrong.
In the chin-up, the biceps are placed in a much more efficient pulling position. This enables one to do more reps, or use more weight, as compared to the pull-up, which places the biceps in a comparatively weaker pulling position. If we are trying to get maximal development of the lats, we want to maximize the loading (and loading duration) of the involved musculature by placing the smallest muscles in a position where they can last the longest or be loaded the greatest so that they don’t give out prior to the larger muscles involved. Chin-ups accomplish this. Pull-ups don’t.
Make no mistake about it, in the pull-up the elbow still flexes, and the movement will be over when the elbow can no longer flex. In addition, the lat contracts through a greater range of motion at the glenohumeral joint on the chin-up. Generally, it’s always better to take a muscle through its full safe range of motion for optimal development.
Many times, though, trainees will become concerned with where they “feel” the exercise and they imagine they “feel” the pull-up more in the lats and feel chin-ups more in the biceps. However, unless you have some crazy strength imbalance and can curl your bodyweight, you don’t need to worry about feeling chin-ups in your biceps.
By the way, about that upper back “pump” you think you’re feeling in your lats after a set of pull-ups: what you’re actually feeling is the teres major (a.k.a the “mini-lat”), a relatively small muscle that’s being recruited more in the pull-up variation because of the greater adduction component at the shoulder.
I’m not suggesting that the pull-up isn’t a viable alternative to chins on occasion, but I do believe that if you’re using them to maximally develop your lats because you think your biceps aren’t involved as much, you need to re-examine your approach.
Chins are probably a better option because you can increase the duration of loading on the lats and use more load in comparison along with an increase in the range of motion. The arm development from chins is a nice side benefit as well, which I’m sure many wouldn’t complain about."
BAAAA!!! scraz beat me to it…basterd
That was a very interesting article. I can understand his thinking regarding chin ups being better than pull ups. Kind of a win-win really, work out for the back and the biceps all in one shot.
Works for me as I do back and biceps on the same day.
[quote]TRAJJ wrote:
I appreciate the responses so far. Here is an additional question; Chin ups i.e. palms facing in are good biceps exercises. Many articles on this site prefer them to isolation curls. Would pull ups with palms facing in towards each other be similar to hammer curls and maybe superior?
Thoughts? Thank you again.[/quote]
If you want to work your biceps try supinated (palms facing you) and very close grip pullups. try it with your hands touching each other (very close) and go all the way down. You’ll probably feel that it works the biceps a lot by the end of the set. I wouldn’t neglect a few sets of curls here and there though, they definitely have their place.
Here is a fairly obvious tip:
To focus on the biceps, concentrate on pulling your hands to your shoulders.
To focus on your lats, concentrate on pulling your elbows down to your torso.
Thanks for all the info gentlemen. I’m going to concentrate on chin ups for a while as opposed to pull ups and see what results I get. As I mentioned, it works well as I do back and biceps on the same day.