Pull up grip width?

I really like pull ups, but I never know how far apart to put my hands. The thing I'm confused about is some say a wider grip focuses more one your lats, while others say you should use a medium width grip with your palms facing you so you can make it easy on the arms and focus on your lats.

So....what's the best and why:

Palms facing AWAY from you:
1. close grip (hands touching)
2. medium grip (about shoulder width)
3. wide grip (almost as far as you can go)

Palms facing you:
4. close grip (hands touching)
5. medium grip (about shoulder width)
6. wide grip (almost as far as you can go)

~shoulder width; too wide = less rom, leverage, more chance of r/c injury.

[QUOTE=$AJ]~shoulder width[/QUOTE]

is that with palms facing you or away?

doesn't matter; lat involvement should be roughly similar. main difference will be amn't of bicep involvement (more for underhand)

I like shoulder width/palms away. The main thing is that you pull the shoulder blades back before you move your arms. But with a shoulder-width grip you can use more weight and it's safer.

[QUOTE=PumpAddict]I really like pull ups, but I never know how far apart to put my hands. The thing I'm confused about is some say a wider grip focuses more one your lats, while others say you should use a medium width grip with your palms facing you so you can make it easy on the arms and focus on your lats.

So....what's the best and why:

Palms facing AWAY from you:
1. close grip (hands touching)
2. medium grip (about shoulder width)
3. wide grip (almost as far as you can go)

Palms facing you:
4. close grip (hands touching)
5. medium grip (about shoulder width)
6. wide grip (almost as far as you can go)[/QUOTE]

-Shoulder width or wider palms facing away are best for overall shoulder width

-Close grip palms facing each other(hammer grip) are best for purely hitting the lats.

Ok, what you guys have said makes a lot of sense, but now I read things like this that confuse me:

[quote]
Whatever you do, [b]you should always use a fairly narrow pronated[/b] (palms in toward you, underhand) grip rather than the much more popular wide overhand grip.

The underhand grip allows for almost a 50 percent greater range of motion. You wouldn't (I hope) do half-reps on squats or bench presses, yet so many trainers do a style of pulldowns that gives such limited results in relation to what is possible.

Show me a guy who can do ten reps of wide-grip pulldowns with 250 pounds, then compare his lat development to another guy who can do ten reps of chins with 150 pounds hanging from his waist. There would be no contest. The pulldown guy's back would be flat Kansas prairie next to the weighted chinner's Colorado Rocky Mountain Range. And, contrary to the name "chin up," chins should actually be performed leaning slightly back and pulling until the mid-chest hits the bar.
[/quote]

This was is an article on our site by Ron Harris.

[QUOTE=PumpAddict]"You wouldn't (I hope) do half-reps on squats or bench presses"[/QUOTE]

I would; it's called rack lockouts; limiting the ROM can sometimes be desirable depending on how you're doing it

[QUOTE=PumpAddict]Ok, what you guys have said makes a lot of sense, but now I read things like this that confuse me:



This was is an article on our site by Ron Harris.[/QUOTE]

There is no ONE CORRECT way to do any exercise. Everyone is different. You will have to experiment what way works best for YOU not Ron Harris.

i do them with my hands underhand grip and directly in front of me so my palms are always in line with my shoulders, it would work both biceps and lats
does any one here to proper 1 handed chin ups?

[QUOTE=Ricky_k]i do them with my hands underhand grip and directly in front of me so my palms are always in line with my shoulders, it would work both biceps and lats
does any one here to proper 1 handed chin ups?[/QUOTE]
mate there's nothing proper about a 1 handed chin up! either u r very strong or very skinny !

[QUOTE=MrSinister]mate there's nothing proper about a 1 handed chin up! either u r very strong or very skinny ![/QUOTE]

i dont get how people think if ur skinny your good at chinups cause a skinny person has skinny arms thouse skinny arms have to pull up a skinny body which still weights quite a bit compared to the skinny arms

but i know a skinny person doesnt do them 1 handed only the very strong

I do a variety. Chins, pullups, wide grips. Mix it up.

[QUOTE=Ricky_k]i dont get how people think if ur skinny your good at chinups cause a skinny person has skinny arms thouse skinny arms have to pull up a skinny body which still weights quite a bit compared to the skinny arms

but i know a skinny person doesnt do them 1 handed only the very strong[/QUOTE]

yea, when i was like 110pds I could only do 4 or 5 with just bodyweight. At 225ish, my best has been +90pds*2 1/2 + bw.

[QUOTE=PumpAddict]I really like pull ups, but I never know how far apart to put my hands. The thing I'm confused about is some say a wider grip focuses more one your lats, while others say you should use a medium width grip with your palms facing you so you can make it easy on the arms and focus on your lats.

So....what's the best and why:

Palms facing AWAY from you:
1. close grip (hands touching)
2. medium grip (about shoulder width)
3. wide grip (almost as far as you can go)

Palms facing you:
4. close grip (hands touching)
5. medium grip (about shoulder width)
6. wide grip (almost as far as you can go)[/QUOTE]

I'll try to clear this up for you.

The reason there is confusion, is that there is a difference in how grips affect you, and sometimes a little knowledge is confusing.

The latissimus dorsi is a fan shaped muscle like the pectorals, different parts can be trained.

The majority of the muscle fibers are at the bottom. So to train a majority of the lats, one must use a more narrow grip. Basically, the more narrow the grip, the lower your lats are worked.

Sounds easy right? Sounds like you should use a medium to narrow grip?

Well, here's the kicker.

Most people want a WIDE back. In order to make your back look like a "V", you need to:

a. Develop the UPPER/OUTER lats, and teres muscles (right under arms).

b. Spread the shoulder blades (make them more flexible, so they "stand out" more

The WIDE GRIP chin-up develops the upper/outer lats/teres, and pulls the scapula out.

So, really, they are two different exercises. Use either or both depending on your goals.

Regarding grips-use a palms away with wide grip, or hammer grip with closer grips (which is actually the strongest grip, not palms facing). You want to MINIMIZE bicep involvement, not maximize it.

hi i know this sounds stupid but can anyone tell me the difference between chin-ups and pull-ups i checked in the exercise directory and could not tell the difference

[QUOTE=LRTF2005]hi i know this sounds stupid but can anyone tell me the difference between chin-ups and pull-ups i checked in the exercise directory and could not tell the difference[/QUOTE]

You will hear some people give "official" descriptions, but there is no real difference.

It is the difference between "French Presses" and "Skullcrushers" and "Lying Extensions".

Awesome information.

thanks defiant1

[QUOTE=LRTF2005]hi i know this sounds stupid but can anyone tell me the difference between chin-ups and pull-ups i checked in the exercise directory and could not tell the difference[/QUOTE]

chin - palms facing you
pull - palms facing away

I've even heard the opposite--pull-ups are the ones done with an upside down grip.

There really can't be a difference, it's gotta just be some name thing. I've heard all kinds of definitions for both.

[QUOTE=ko_kidd]I've even heard the opposite--pull-ups are the ones done with an upside down grip.

There really can't be a difference, it's gotta just be some name thing. I've heard all kinds of definitions for both.[/QUOTE]

it refers to whether or not wrists are supinated (i think that's the right word, AJ tired now, so if it isn't, screw off :p )

the difference is in bicep involvement.

[QUOTE=$AJ]it refers to whether or not wrists are supinated (i think that's the right word, AJ tired now, so if it isn't, screw off :p )

the difference is in bicep involvement.[/QUOTE]

Think about the terms. Chin up and Pull up. How does one indicated hand position?

They don't.

[QUOTE=PumpAddict]Ok, what you guys have said makes a lot of sense, but now I read things like this that confuse me:



This was is an article on our site by Ron Harris.[/QUOTE]


I think I'll listen to WILL Harris, the IFBB PRO who prefers to do them WIDE with an overhand grip. The width of his back speaks for itself. Same with Coleman, he does them with an ultra wide grip, about a foot wider than shoulder width!

You want Colorado Rockies thickness, do Barbell, dumbell, and cable rows, maybe a few v-handle chins every now and then. Will Harris considers seated cable rows to be the squat of back exercises.

[QUOTE=AlxandrTheGreat]I think I'll listen to WILL Harris, the IFBB PRO who prefers to do them WIDE with an overhand grip. The width of his back speaks for itself. Same with Coleman, he does them with an ultra wide grip, about a foot wider than shoulder width!

You want Colorado Rockies thickness, do Barbell, dumbell, and cable rows, maybe a few v-handle chins every now and then. Will Harris considers seated cable rows to be the squat of back exercises.[/QUOTE]


Interesting, because I consider parallel handle chins the squat of back exercises, and that is essentially a free weight cable row.

[QUOTE=Defiant1]I'll try to clear this up for you.

The reason there is confusion, is that there is a difference in how grips affect you, and sometimes a little knowledge is confusing.

The latissimus dorsi is a fan shaped muscle like the pectorals, different parts can be trained.

The majority of the muscle fibers are at the bottom. So to train a majority of the lats, one must use a more narrow grip. Basically, the more narrow the grip, the lower your lats are worked.

Sounds easy right? Sounds like you should use a medium to narrow grip?

Well, here's the kicker.

Most people want a WIDE back. In order to make your back look like a "V", you need to:

a. Develop the UPPER/OUTER lats, and teres muscles (right under arms).

b. Spread the shoulder blades (make them more flexible, so they "stand out" more

The WIDE GRIP chin-up develops the upper/outer lats/teres, and pulls the scapula out.

So, really, they are two different exercises. Use either or both depending on your goals.

Regarding grips-use a palms away with wide grip, or hammer grip with closer grips (which is actually the strongest grip, not palms facing). You want to MINIMIZE bicep involvement, not maximize it.[/QUOTE]

Solid post, rep to you :)

i read in muscular development magazine that the best exercise for developing width in the lats was, lat pulldown with wide grip and palms facing away (i.e. hands just slightly wider than shoulder, not too far out). i suppose you could substitute the lat machine for chins.

scientists discovered this by measuring the EMG (electrical activity in the muscle) and they found that wide grip with hands facing away on a lat machine, produced the most electrical activtiy in the muscle and therefore the most activity in the fibres of the lats that would stimulate most muscle growth.