How to Train for One Arm Chins

by Atomic Athletic on Friday, September 16, 2011 at 5:08pm

Chin-ups are a great way to show off, but lots of guys can do several good chin-ups. If you are actually wanting to impress someone, do a 1 handed chin-up. Odds are you can tell if someone else watching might be capable of doing a one handed chin-up.

Training Tips

Here are three quick training tips to help get you genuinely strong enough to do those one handed chins.

1. Heavy Barbell Curls: Chin-ups are really a biceps tester. This might sound strange, but you do not need to be able to curl double your bodyweight to do a one handed chin-up. However, you do need to really work at getting as close to your own bodyweight as possible.
2. One Hand Barbell Deadlifts: Lots of guys with really strong biceps simply don't have the grip and wrist strength to do the movement. I believe that you absolutely must be able to do a one hand barbell deadlift with 120% of your bodyweight, but that is just a guess.
3. Regular Chin-ups & Pull-ups: Of course you need to work your two handed chin-ups. I would think that this is an obvious one. Make sure you do a full range of motion. Do your chins first, while you are fresh and then move into pull-ups.

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe