Exercise:

Neutral-Grip Chin Up

Target Muscle:

Back (Lats)

Equipment

Chin Up Bar w/ Neutral Grip Handles

Grasp the chin-up bar using a neutral grip, hands facing in toward eachother.

Bend your knees so that your feet are positioned behind your body and begin the exercise from a hanging position with a full stretch in your lats.

Pull yourself up until your chin is just over the top of the bar and you feel a strong contraction in your lats, and then lower yourself back down into the bottom position.

- In order to maximize the tension on your lats rather than your biceps and shoulders, focus on pulling yourself up using your elbows rather than your hands. Imagine that your hands and forearms don’t even exist, and just place 100% of your focus on driving yourself up using your elbows.

- Keep your shoulders positioned down and back and lead with your chest as you pull yourself up.

- If you're able to perform the prescribed number of reps in your plan using your body weight, you can add resistance to the exercise by using a weight belt or by squeezing a dumbbell in between your knees.

- To increase the activation of your back muscles even further, you can use a set of lifting straps or lifting hooks to fully eliminate your grip from the equation.