Pull-Up vs Chin-Up - Wesley Chapel chiropractorPull-ups and chin-ups exercise are two of the most common exercises for strength training. They are both body weight trainings that use the body’s own weight to increase the strength of muscles. A lot of people also do these exercises, but little do they know about the differences in the benefits of the two since they mostly have similarities in terms of how you do them, and as with any exercise, proper form is absolutely important to avoid injury and/or more frequent visits to your Wesley Chapel chiropractor.

Pull-ups and chin-ups basically develop strength in the arms as you lift your body up the monkey bar. These two may look the same, but they are different in terms of carrying out as well as their effects. In order to identify which of these two is more advantageous over the other, it’s better to take a look at the differences of the two strength training exercises.

Grip Differences

The basic difference of the two exercises is the manner of your grip. In pull-ups, you use an overhand or pronated grip when grabbing the bars. While gripping the bar with a pronated hand, you actually turn your palms and fingers away from you. Also, you need a grip width that is a little wider than your shoulder width.

In chin-ups, you do exactly the opposite. You use a supinated hand to grip the bar making you face your palms and fingers. The grip width is also the same as your shoulder width.

Movement Differences

Both chin-ups and pull-ups aim at moving the body up vertically in the bars. However, there are differences on how you execute these two exercises. When you do pull-ups, the elbows come down and back from your side while in chin-ups, the elbows come down and back from the front.

Despite these differences in movements, pull-ups and chin-ups still both aim at developing your biceps and lats.

Strength Differences

Pull-ups usually are harder to perform than chin-ups because people will have a stronger line of pull when doing chin-ups. You may probably do 10 chin-ups, but cannot do pull-ups in same numbers. If you are a beginner, it is best to do chin-ups, but if you want to increase your strength, then you can try pull-ups because it makes your muscles work more to lift your body.

However, these two develop a specific muscle more than the other. For instance, chin-ups will work your biceps better because the narrower your grip, the harder it will work your biceps just to pull you up. On the other hand, pull-ups will work more on your lats because your hand position during pull-ups makes your biceps weaker making our lats work more.


These two exercises are generally safe to perform. However, safety becomes a concern when people try to do these in incorrect ways such as having the bars behind your neck instead of in front you. This greatly injures your muscles, tendons and bones in your cervical area. Another mistake is the use of a very wide grip width. The wider the grip width, the more injury to the shoulders will occur.

In terms of preference, most people will prefer chin-ups or the other way around. Nevertheless, the differences are only based on individual preferences, but the advantages of the two are just the same. If you want to develop your biceps and lats altogether, then you can try both exercises.