How To Get A One Arm Chin Up

Getting a one arm chin up is actually pretty straight forwards - not easy, but straight forwards…

First I would focus on strength… Build your weighted chin ups up to past 50% of your bodyweight for 3-5 reps.

Here’s some hypothetical athletes…

Hypothetical athlete A weighs 80kg and can do 5 chin ups with 20kg around his waist.

Total weight = 100kg

- Athlete A builds to a set of 3 chin ups with 20kg around his waist.

- He takes 10% off his total weight and waits 3 minutes

- He performs a set of 5 chin ups with 10kg around his waist.

- He takes 10% off and waits 3 minutes

- He performs a set of 7 chin ups with no extra weight added.

Next session, athlete A adds 1.25kg to his heavy 3... At this stage, I’d advise training this session 2 - 3 times per fortnight. After 16 sessions, he will have added 20kg to his heavy 3, taking him to the +50% mark…

* Please note, he started with reps in reserve - make your life easier and do the same.

Hypothetical athlete B weighs 60kg, and can do 3 chin ups with no additional weight.

Total weight = 60kg

- Athlete B builds to a set of 3 chin ups with no weight added.

- He waits 3 minutes

- He performs 3 sets of lat pull downs in the 8-12 rep range.

Next session, athlete B builds to a set of 4 chin ups, then, if he completed all 3 sets of 12 reps, will add weight to his lat pull downs too... At this stage, I’d advise training this session 2 - 3 times per week. Once athlete B has 10 chin ups, it’s time to add weight and look more towards athlete A’s program…

Hypothetical athlete C is overweight and can do 0 chin ups with no additional weight.

- Athlete C performs 3 sets of lat pull downs in the 8-12 rep range.

Next session, athlete C will add weight to his lat pull downs, assuming all 3 sets were 12 reps... At this stage, I’d advise training this session 3 times per week, dialing in on the diet, and getting some steps in. When this athlete has some decent weight on the lat pull downs, we’d try a few chin ups, and move more towards athlete B's routine…

So that’s strength building loosely covered, next I would focus on the actual technique… For this, I’d use single arm ring rows with a slight false grip…

The single arm ring row will, if performed a certain way, teach you to wrap your body around your arm, which I know sounds a bit weird, but that’s what happens with a one arm chin up - you coil yourself around your own arm. The semi false grip - when your pinky knuckle sits over the top of the bar, slight bend at the wrist - creates tension from your wrist all the way down to the lat… Essentially it activates (for want of a better term) the big pulling muscles of your arms and lats, and without it your one arm chin up will be dead in the water… Strong wrist flexion goes a long way… This movement will give you a feel for how the one arm chin up is performed - it’s not a vertical pull, it’s a coil… Once you know how to coil and you’ve built some decent pulling strength, try a one arm chin up!

Here’s a simple template you can use / adapt / whatever…

Chin Ups - 3 Sets

(3-5-7 / lat pull downs)

Single Arm Ring Rows - 2 Sets

(8-12 with a false grip)

Wrist Curls - 1 Set

(Max reps)

I would definitely include bicep and lat openers in the warm up, too, but you do you…

Hope this helps!

(And if you do need a little help, and you’re local to Haywards Heath, hit me up!)

Cheers,

~ Collins