The way I set up by myself using a dumbbell for this exercise is as follows:
1 - Get your equip set up right (smith bar at right height, foot support in place)
2 - Get into position by squatting down under the bar, as if setting up using no weight at all, and you will naturally form a flat area with your legs
3 - Place the weight in between the crux formed by your legs and torso, weight up to 50-60 pounds should be easily doable with one hand, otherwise just pick up the weight ahead of time and squat down holding the weight in front of you.
from here you place your legs up onto your support device, the weight should not fall if done right… Really not that hard when you get into the gym and do it. In between sets I dont stand up, just unwrap from the bar and let the weight stay in your lap.
Also, a few notes on Rack Chins and why I gather its become a popular exercise amongst DC’ers in particular:
1 - Allows for a very wide grip, which helps acheive a deep stretch in the bottom of the movement, an idea which Dante (from DoggCrapp training, the guy who popularized the exercise) holds very highly in the quest for fast muscle.
2 - Allows for a slow descent, another part of the lift Dante is quite fond of. Many people cannot lower themselves nice and slowly (3-4 second negative) on a chin up/pull up.
3 - Allows for a large weight progression. You could theoretically start off at bodyweight Rack Chins and end up using 120-150 pounds for 15-25 reps in the DC Rest Pause fashion. Thats a HUGE jump in weight, which is a cornerstone of DC (and any other program worth its salt). Of course you could do this with regular pull ups, but many people can barely do a single pull up with a nice slow descent and a deep stretch in the bottom, much less 15-25 reps as recommended by Dante.
For many people, this exercise takes everything that makes a pull up great and gets rid of the disadvantages.
What kind of reps/sets do you guys use for this movement? I’ll probably add this in, as pullups don’t help with thickness very much for me. This would be considered a “thickness” movement, right?
Hmmm wow Rack Chins seem pretty awesome. Do you guys think that rack chins would be a good one to improve pullup/chinup ability for people that cant do many pullups or chinups?
Therizza - As I typically only see these done in the DoggCrapp training world, they are generally done for anywhere between 15-25 reps done in a 3 set Rest Pause fashion. IE - 12 reps, rest 30 seconds, 8 reps, rest 30 seconds, 5 reps. Set over. Although you could easily do them more conventionally, as in 3 sets of 10.
Also, and again since its mainly used in the DC training system, they are used as a “Back Width” exercise, not a thickness one. Although I’m sure they add noticeably to both when progressed on well.
AverageGuy - I dont see any reason why, if you were to increase your Rack Chins from body weight to using a 100 pound load, you wouldnt see an improvement in your regular pull ups as well… Although you may never want to go back to regular pull ups again after doing Rack Chins
AverageGuy - I dont see any reason why, if you were to increase your Rack Chins from body weight to using a 100 pound load, you wouldnt see an improvement in your regular pull ups as well… Although you may never want to go back to regular pull ups again after doing Rack Chins :-)[/quote]
I got back from the gym just a few hours ago and i already want to go back in to try these!
Rack Chins yet another useful variation along with Commando Pull-Ups… so mix it up. Rack Chins are perfect for when you can’t find a bar to do your dead hangs from. And yes, I have found that Rack Chins can be extremely useful/beneficial in developing pull/chin-up prowess in soldiers that were weak in their dead hang performance.
My take: great excersise, similar to Gironda’s sternum chins, but much easier to progress and maintain proper execution. The angle of the torso helps you to concentrate more on back muscles, also it’s harder to cheat on, as your legs are still, thus making it impossible to swing-cheat.
Personally I rarely do them, but it’s funny, as few days ago a friend of mine asked forr a great lat excersise and I just recommended him to do these.
It’s only drawback that it can be hard to set up in a gym without squat-power rack (like mine… we have two adjustable forks, you can set them between 1.5 and 2 metres in height, but heck, it’s a nightmare to rack the weight after a set of squats as they tend to be a bit… “unstable”. )
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
is there a way to get these done w/o a partner placing the weight in your lap and then making sure it stays there?[/quote]
[quote]Therizza wrote:
What kind of reps/sets do you guys use for this movement? I’ll probably add this in, as pullups don’t help with thickness very much for me. This would be considered a “thickness” movement, right?[/quote]
15-20 rest paused, higher reps seem to mean less biceps taking over for me. CC mentioned this a while ago
[quote]Vejne wrote:
My take: great excersise, similar to Gironda’s sternum chins, but much easier to progress and maintain proper execution. The angle of the torso helps you to concentrate more on back muscles, also it’s harder to cheat on, as your legs are still, thus making it impossible to swing-cheat.
Personally I rarely do them, but it’s funny, as few days ago a friend of mine asked forr a great lat excersise and I just recommended him to do these.
It’s only drawback that it can be hard to set up in a gym without squat-power rack (like mine… we have two adjustable forks, you can set them between 1.5 and 2 metres in height, but heck, it’s a nightmare to rack the weight after a set of squats as they tend to be a bit… “unstable”. )[/quote]
Have you tried the unfunctional smith machine for rack chins?
[quote]SmallToBig wrote:
AccipiterQ wrote:
I tried them yesterday, they were interesting. They felt like they were almost entirely bicep though. My grip was as wide as the rack I was in would allow me to go. Your lats don’t really stretch at the bottom, your biceps do though. Each pull up to the bar felt like my biceps were going to explode; my lats felt barely activated. I guess these could be used more as a bicep exercise, maybe to compliment normal chinups?
I didn’t have my feet higher than the bar that I was hanging from. I’ll fix that next time.
How is that even possible ???
Your biceps ??
You sure your doing the exercise everyone else is doing ? How are your lats not doing the work?
^That’s what you did yes ?[/quote]
Yup, that’s exactly what I did. 3 sets for 6 a piece with around 30 lbs. in my lap. Lats weren’t sore the day after, nor today. Doesn’t even feel like they were worked. My biceps however are as sore as they’ve been this year.
Anyone notice that in the videos the people don’t have their feet up higher than the bar they’re hanging from (per the advice from others here).
Never… Cause we don’t have smith machine Once when I was in the capital city I’ve been to a gym where they had smith. That unfunctional squat I did was my best quad workout ever (my ass-hams seems to do most of the work, though I squat in a narrow stance)
I have to admit I’m going to the worst equipped gym ever. We just have bars-plates and a pullup bar. THe lat pulldown station is a mess (the weight hardly moves, perhaps it shall need some grease)…
[quote]AccipiterQ wrote:
SmallToBig wrote:
AccipiterQ wrote:
I tried them yesterday, they were interesting. They felt like they were almost entirely bicep though. My grip was as wide as the rack I was in would allow me to go. Your lats don’t really stretch at the bottom, your biceps do though. Each pull up to the bar felt like my biceps were going to explode; my lats felt barely activated. I guess these could be used more as a bicep exercise, maybe to compliment normal chinups?
I didn’t have my feet higher than the bar that I was hanging from. I’ll fix that next time.
How is that even possible ???
Your biceps ??
You sure your doing the exercise everyone else is doing ? How are your lats not doing the work?
^That’s what you did yes ?
Yup, that’s exactly what I did. 3 sets for 6 a piece with around 30 lbs. in my lap. Lats weren’t sore the day after, nor today. Doesn’t even feel like they were worked. My biceps however are as sore as they’ve been this year.
[/quote]
Like plateau mentioned, you may want to try a higher rep range, say, 15 lbs for 12 reps to minimize the biceps in the movement.
[quote]AccipiterQ wrote:
SmallToBig wrote:
AccipiterQ wrote:
I tried them yesterday, they were interesting. They felt like they were almost entirely bicep though. My grip was as wide as the rack I was in would allow me to go. Your lats don’t really stretch at the bottom, your biceps do though. Each pull up to the bar felt like my biceps were going to explode; my lats felt barely activated. I guess these could be used more as a bicep exercise, maybe to compliment normal chinups?
I didn’t have my feet higher than the bar that I was hanging from. I’ll fix that next time.
How is that even possible ???
Your biceps ??
You sure your doing the exercise everyone else is doing ? How are your lats not doing the work?
Yup, that’s exactly what I did. 3 sets for 6 a piece with around 30 lbs. in my lap. Lats weren’t sore the day after, nor today. Doesn’t even feel like they were worked. My biceps however are as sore as they’ve been this year.
Anyone notice that in the videos the people don’t have their feet up higher than the bar they’re hanging from (per the advice from others here). [/quote]
You sure anyone said that? All the posts on Intense Muscle say your feet have to be higher than your hips. Not the bar.
[quote]Vejne wrote:
Never… Cause we don’t have smith machine Once when I was in the capital city I’ve been to a gym where they had smith. That unfunctional squat I did was my best quad workout ever (my ass-hams seems to do most of the work, though I squat in a narrow stance)
I have to admit I’m going to the worst equipped gym ever. We just have bars-plates and a pullup bar. THe lat pulldown station is a mess (the weight hardly moves, perhaps it shall need some grease)…[/quote]
If you have a squat rack or Power rack you can do rack chins in it.
[quote]kylec72 wrote:
AccipiterQ wrote:
SmallToBig wrote:
AccipiterQ wrote:
I tried them yesterday, they were interesting. They felt like they were almost entirely bicep though. My grip was as wide as the rack I was in would allow me to go. Your lats don’t really stretch at the bottom, your biceps do though. Each pull up to the bar felt like my biceps were going to explode; my lats felt barely activated. I guess these could be used more as a bicep exercise, maybe to compliment normal chinups?
I didn’t have my feet higher than the bar that I was hanging from. I’ll fix that next time.
How is that even possible ???
Your biceps ??
You sure your doing the exercise everyone else is doing ? How are your lats not doing the work?
^That’s what you did yes ?
Yup, that’s exactly what I did. 3 sets for 6 a piece with around 30 lbs. in my lap. Lats weren’t sore the day after, nor today. Doesn’t even feel like they were worked. My biceps however are as sore as they’ve been this year.
Like plateau mentioned, you may want to try a higher rep range, say, 15 lbs for 12 reps to minimize the biceps in the movement.[/quote]
Yup. Not only that but it sounds like you (Accipiter) need to work on your form/mind muscle connection. Are you pulling with your elbows, contracting your lats to pull yourself up? Or just trying to pull yourself up to the bar by whatever means necessary? Sounds to me like you are pulling primarily with your arm flexors.
Also, did you use straps? That can assist even more in removing the biceps/forearms from the movement. Try to think of your hands simply as hooks attaching you to the bar and again, pull from your elbows. Forget the added weight for now and just rep out, making sure to pull with your lats/keep good form.
