Back·Other·Compound

One Arm Chin-Up

Upper Back · Other

Advanced

Body Part

Back

Equipment

Other

Level

Advanced

Type

Compound

Force

Pull

The One Arm Chin-Up is an advanced other exercise that primarily targets the Upper Back.

Muscles Worked

Upper Back primaryBiceps secondaryForearms secondaryLats secondary

How to Do the One Arm Chin-Up

  1. 1For this exercise, start out by placing a towel around a chin up bar.
  2. 2Grab the chin-up bar with your palm facing you. One hand will be grabbing the chin-up bar and the other will be grabbing the towel.
  3. 3Bring your torso back around 30 degrees or so while creating a curvature on your lower back and sticking your chest out. This is your starting position.v
  4. 4Pull your torso up until the bar touches your upper chest by drawing the shoulders and the upper arms down and back. Exhale as you perform this portion of the movement. Tip: Concentrate on squeezing the back muscles once you reach the full contracted position. The upper torso should remain stationary as it moves through space and only the arms should move. The forearms should do no other work other than hold the bar.
  5. 5After a second on the contracted position, start to inhale and slowly lower your torso back to the starting position when your arms are fully extended and the lats are fully stretched.
  6. 6Repeat this motion for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
  7. 7Switch arms and repeat the movement.

Related Exercises

Exercise data from the open-source Free Exercise DB.