What muscles do pull-ups and chin-ups primarily work?

gazerofthestars
gazerofthestars Posts: 255 Member
edited December 19 in Fitness and Exercise
I think they're a great workout but I can't decide when to do these on my split routine. Back day, shoulders or arms? In my experience (read; muscle soreness!) chin ups seem like a great bicep exercise and pull ups seem to work my entire upper body.

Replies

  • ElHombre23
    ElHombre23 Posts: 126 Member
    Any day just get them in...those suckers will build you up quicker than any weight you can lift...
  • cllovesdw4eva
    cllovesdw4eva Posts: 74
    I would say arms. If you do curls, presses one day then do pullups/chinups, u wont give your muscles enough time to repair themselves.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    1. you probably shouldn't be on a split routine at this point.

    2. I'd put them on back day if you are doing a split. They primarily work your lats, trapezius, biceps, and anterior/posterior deltoids. Lats take most of the work though, so I group them as a back excercise.
  • TluvK
    TluvK Posts: 733 Member
    I'll just tell you what the trainer at my gym told me.

    With a pull-up, you are primarily (if doing them correctly, which means shoulders down, arms wide) working your upper back muscles and your lats. Chin-ups will work your biceps, but, he also stressed to me not to rely entirely on my biceps, but to also rely on my back muscles and lats. There's also some good pec action too with both.
  • mskari77
    mskari77 Posts: 142
    2. I'd put them on back day if you are doing a split. They primarily work your lats, trapezius, biceps, and anterior/posterior deltoids. Lats take most of the work though, so I group them as a back excercise.


    This...I do them on back day.
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
    For pull-ups it targets back, shoulders, arms (biceps & triceps), lats & core.. basically a total upper body workout. I experience muscle sore in these areas the following day after doing a pull up.

    As for chin-ups, it targets your biceps, core & shoulders.

    I only do two body part split, upper & lower body/abs plus one day total body & I incorporate it under upper body workout along with push-ups & dips.
  • gazerofthestars
    gazerofthestars Posts: 255 Member
    Appreciate the input everyone. Very helpful. Thanks.
    1. you probably shouldn't be on a split routine at this point.

    2. I'd put them on back day if you are doing a split. They primarily work your lats, trapezius, biceps, and anterior/posterior deltoids. Lats take most of the work though, so I group them as a back excercise.

    Just wondering why do you think I shouldn't be on a split routine? (fyi, I am not on a split for the moment - but I switch up my workouts sometimes to stress some muscles more than others when I am sore in other parts)
  • gazerofthestars
    gazerofthestars Posts: 255 Member
    Any day just get them in...those suckers will build you up quicker than any weight you can lift...

    That's what I normally do. Love the burn I get in my upper body after a round of these!
    I'll just tell you what the trainer at my gym told me.

    With a pull-up, you are primarily (if doing them correctly, which means shoulders down, arms wide) working your upper back muscles and your lats. Chin-ups will work your biceps, but, he also stressed to me not to rely entirely on my biceps, but to also rely on my back muscles and lats. There's also some good pec action too with both.

    I always end up relying on my back anyway for chin-ups. my arms kind of give up after a couple sets :(
    For pull-ups it targets back, shoulders, arms (biceps & triceps), lats & core.. basically a total upper body workout. I experience muscle sore in these areas the following day after doing a pull up.

    As for chin-ups, it targets your biceps, core & shoulders.

    I only do two body part split, upper & lower body/abs plus one day total body & I incorporate it under upper body workout along with push-ups & dips.

    How many days in a week do you workout?
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    Just wondering why do you think I shouldn't be on a split routine? (fyi, I am not on a split for the moment - but I switch up my workouts sometimes to stress some muscles more than others when I am sore in other parts)

    I think bodybuilding splits are a bit much, and inneffective for people newer to lifting (not hating, I'm just assuming because of your question).
    A full body routine, or at least a solid barbell routine (5/3/1, SS, etc) is going to work wonders for anyone, as opposed to training like a bodybuilder.

    A lot of people don't plan their splits out right, and end up training the same muscles two days in a row, or more. And for a natural athlete, that's not practical.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Appreciate the input everyone. Very helpful. Thanks.
    1. you probably shouldn't be on a split routine at this point.

    2. I'd put them on back day if you are doing a split. They primarily work your lats, trapezius, biceps, and anterior/posterior deltoids. Lats take most of the work though, so I group them as a back excercise.

    Just wondering why do you think I shouldn't be on a split routine? (fyi, I am not on a split for the moment - but I switch up my workouts sometimes to stress some muscles more than others when I am sore in other parts)

    Many noobs and intermediate lifters do split routines designed for advanced bodybuilders and those using 'roids without realizing that it is terribly inefficient. Full body workouts are much more effective for beginners and intermediate lifters. The only reason to get off full body workouts is when your diet and rest are up to par, your set to set recovery is great, but your session to session recovery time stretches longer and longer. Beginners and intermediates see best results when they work each muscle 3x a week, most split routines only work each muscle 1x-2x times a week.
  • SirBen81
    SirBen81 Posts: 396 Member
    Primary: Back
    Secondary: Arms
  • lickmybaconcakes
    lickmybaconcakes Posts: 1,063 Member
    mainly back (lats) then arms ( biceps and post forearms)
  • scott091501
    scott091501 Posts: 1,260 Member
    Just wondering why do you think I shouldn't be on a split routine? (fyi, I am not on a split for the moment - but I switch up my workouts sometimes to stress some muscles more than others when I am sore in other parts)

    I think bodybuilding splits are a bit much, and inneffective for people newer to lifting (not hating, I'm just assuming because of your question).
    A full body routine, or at least a solid barbell routine (5/3/1, SS, etc) is going to work wonders for anyone, as opposed to training like a bodybuilder.

    A lot of people don't plan their splits out right, and end up training the same muscles two days in a row, or more. And for a natural athlete, that's not practical.

    Good advice right here.
  • doubglass
    doubglass Posts: 314 Member
    Back day. They primarily work your back. Same with Aussie pull-ups.
  • FlyeredUp
    FlyeredUp Posts: 632 Member
    I do mine on back day, like mentioned before, they work you're lats and bi's but they also work you're lower back, core and glutes.
  • gazerofthestars
    gazerofthestars Posts: 255 Member
    @ilovedeadlifts @waldo56 : Makes a lot of sense. I do a program where I work the whole body almost with compound movements (hence the pullups) every other day but using different number of reps/sets. So it's like strength and power one day, endurance the other.. etc etc. I find it more flexible and allows me to get in my cardio or HIIT two days in a week.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
    whatever fits your schedule, is ultimately going to be what you have to do.

    As long as you're routine is based on bench, squats, deads, and overhead, I think you'll make progress for quite a while.
  • LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo
    LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo Posts: 3,634 Member
    For pull-ups it targets back, shoulders, arms (biceps & triceps), lats & core.. basically a total upper body workout. I experience muscle sore in these areas the following day after doing a pull up.

    As for chin-ups, it targets your biceps, core & shoulders.

    I only do two body part split, upper & lower body/abs plus one day total body & I incorporate it under upper body workout along with push-ups & dips.

    How many days in a week do you workout?

    Total of 6 days a week, Lifting days are every Wednesday (upper)-Friday (lower)-Sunday (whole body) while the rest are cardio days except Monday which is my rest day. Before I used to lift 4 days a week with upper & lower body splits twice but then my tendons got badly hurt & at the same time my muscles was still sore & not yet fully recovered by the time on my next lifting day & therefore couldn't workout properly because of it. PT's advised me to reduce my lifting days.
  • oats4breakfast
    oats4breakfast Posts: 225
    Do you ever plan on doing weighted pull-ups ? (be it chin or other).
    IMHO, if you do body-weight only pull-ups then just do them every other day regardless of your split routine - just use them as something that you do to build overall - like core work. Say you do Split A on Monday, Split B on Tuesday, Split C on Wednesday.
    Then I see no reason why you couldn't be doing core work on all 3 days, then pull-ups on Mondays, chin-ups on Tuesdays then more pullups and core work on Friday and Saturday. This way, you can reduce time spent doing them each day, but get in enough volume and rest for them to be beneficial. Make sure you do full-range too, none of this eye-balls to bar then down to a bent elbow so you short the range. Do the entire thing - straight arms to bar under chin (try not to throw head over bar - pull the bar down until head is over).

    After a while, you may start doing lots of pull-ups and it starts taking up too much time to do - like 3 sets of 15+ (that would be awesome BTW). At that point, then you should add in weighted pull ups. Add some weight and try to do 6-8. When you consistently get 8+ add more weight. Don't try to do weighted too early because you could injure yourself - by having shoulders and rib cage in a poor/extended position and pulling poorly. Maybe at this point you can add them into your split as an upper body exercise.

    Also, don't neglect push-ups as an assistance to build the shoulder girdle. The problem is, these upper body muscles that are in use get taxed fast and once spent, you can't use them until much later. So, if you want to get good at pull-ups and a killer upper body strength, then do 3 sets of X push-ups in the morning. Then give it a few hours before you do the pull-ups. This way, you'll get full benefit of both.
    You'll also work out how to best work these into your split. If it were me, I'd do the push-ups in morning of M/W/TR/S Then pull-ups with my core work (which would be 3-4+ times per week) either on a different day than push-ups, or 3+ hours later. Then just work in my splits when they were designed to be done. Listen to your body too, it will tell you when you're doing too much and if doing these on the same day as "split A" is a bad idea etc.

    NOTE: I don't do split work (I used too - those days were so boring), so this is just my "humble opinion" based on nothing but what I think and have experienced. So there's lots of grains of salt here. I do crossfit and olympic lifting so I'm always hitting stuff from different angles and doing loads of assistance work - it does teach you how different muscles interact and what happens when they are "fubar'ed" and/or when you back-to-back certain movements. I also swim and run. The core can take a hammering and should be worked often, but the shoulders/arms/upper back gas fast. Yes, we do kipping pull-ups, but we also do a lot of strict and weighted ones so we can work harder.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    ^^^ You could also learn to do one arm chins when regular BW pulls/chins get to easy. In addition to being a good bicep/back exercise, one arm chins are an awesome grip exercise, every bit as tough on your grip as a 2x BW Deadlift w/o a mixed grip.
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
    I think they're a great workout but I can't decide when to do these on my split routine. Back day, shoulders or arms? In my experience (read; muscle soreness!) chin ups seem like a great bicep exercise and pull ups seem to work my entire upper body.

    I do flat bench + pull ups + lunges. Chest, back, then legs

    If I do 4-5 sets of bench, I'll start doing a chin up as I can only do 3-4 sets of 10 pull up. But I can do chin ups almost all day long. Plus I'll get some bicep work in as a bonus.
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,010 Member
    I think they're a great workout but I can't decide when to do these on my split routine. Back day, shoulders or arms? In my experience (read; muscle soreness!) chin ups seem like a great bicep exercise and pull ups seem to work my entire upper body.

    You have an arm day? Are back day and chest day not enough?
  • gazerofthestars
    gazerofthestars Posts: 255 Member
    I will probably guess and say I am still a LONG way away from doing 12 let alone 15 pull ups in a row. But yes that is something I am working towards and eventually would add weights or try to work towards doing even a single rep one arm.
    You have an arm day? Are back day and chest day not enough?

    I don't follow a split routine at present, but sometimes I stress and focus on certain muscles more than others (so it's more like a half-split, half-compound full body routine).
  • oats4breakfast
    oats4breakfast Posts: 225
    If you're still trying to get up in numbers, "grease the groove" then. Install a pull-up bar at home (spend a few small $ and create one with a few plumbers pipes) and everytime you walk past it, jump up there and do some pull-ups. Don't wait for back or arm day. Just do them often and you'll knock em out eventually.
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
    If you're still trying to get up in numbers, "grease the groove" then. Install a pull-up bar at home (spend a few small $ and create one with a few plumbers pipes) and everytime you walk past it, jump up there and do some pull-ups. Don't wait for back or arm day. Just do them often and you'll knock em out eventually.

    I'll dedicate one super set day to pull ups and do them with dumbell rows etc...

    But on other days, I'll add chin ups as one of my superset/triple set exercises.
  • oats4breakfast
    oats4breakfast Posts: 225
    <<<<<< Thread has inspired me to change my profile picture (and I just used the darn thing because I went past it).

    Simple home made pull up bar - cost about $20-30, took a very short time to install too. Much better than those door things - I can actually hang from it and it's rock solid.
    "uprights" are about 8" and galvanized (I have plenty of head room because of under deck) and only about 3/8" diameter (lower cost). Cross bar is about 3ft long and I can't recall if it's 1" or 1.25" in dia. It was black pipe and I also painted it.
    Bar is fitted to the 2x6 wood with straight through nuts/bolts and washers. The wood is then affixed to under deck with 6" coach screws. Wood is weather treated and the hardware is also galvanized.
    It's a great thing, but can be a struggle when it's cold ..... but that's just life. (it's always in shade so it doesn't get 100* from the sun).
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