Welcome to Home Workouts

Chin ups work the latissimus dorsi (lats), biceps, trapezius, posterior deltoid and several other mucle groups. A chin up is executed with your palms facing away from you. If your palms are facing you, that’s a pull up.

Any chin up bar will do. Some of the more modern home models, like the door gym can be installed in a doorway without drilling any holes. Older models generally require metal “cups” to hold them up. Those cups have to be drilled into the doorway. The chin up bars retract so they can be removed from the cups. Despite the conventional wisdom, most chin up bars are not held in place by tension against the outside of the door frame.

You can swing your legs up, raising your center of gravity, to make chin ups easier to do. That swing or lift is called a kip. Chin ups done without a lower body swing require more upper body strength and are more of a workout for your upper body.

Your hands are important. If you let go from a bar too quickly, the bar may scratch or pull at your hands. Slow up, slow down and a slow release.

You won’t find many home workouts better than the chin up.