Parallel grip pull up, muscles worked?

[nems7]

What's the difference between a wide grip pull up and a parallel grip pull up in terms of the muscles they work?

thanks.

[NZninja101]

Parallel grip works biceps more, they're in a stronger position than in regular pullups, but not in as strong a position as chinups.

[DJAuto]

FYI - hammer grip is the accurate term.

[Celtika]

The general muscle groups that pull-ups work are your:
- Back
- Shoulders
- Arms

The different variations of pull-ups tend to work some muscle groups more than others. In your question, with wide-gripped pull-ups, they are used to transfer more of the effort to your lats, as opposed to your biceps.

Closed-grip pull-ups work your LOWER lats a lot more than a standard pull-up

Crunch/gorilla pull-ups will work your biceps and abdominals a lot more than a standard pull-up

There are a lot of variations to play around with, and just make sure to research the variations you are interested in, so that you can maintain the correct form! If you have any questions feel free to pm me and i'll find you more material.

Good luck =)

[shaolin_tiger182]

FYI - hammer grip is the accurate term.

Neutral grip is the accurate term.

NG pullups are easier on the shoulders and engage all 3 of your elbow flexors.

[ZoranM]

Parallel grip works biceps more, they're in a stronger position than in regular pullups, but not in as strong a position as chinups.

No, it doesn't.

The position relevant for Biceps is almost exactly the same.

[NZninja101]

No, it doesn't.

The position relevant for Biceps is almost exactly the same.

Then why are people stronger on chinups than pullups?

[ZoranM]

Then why are people stronger on chinups than pullups?

I thought I replied to your comment about neutral and wide grip. What's with the chin up now?

Anyways, and first of all, not everyone is. But generalization may come to this: neutral>chin up>pullup

Do a peck deck motion right there where your sitting. Arms to your sides-wg pullup, arms in front-neutral. But your upper arms, forearms and hands are positioned exactly the same, and STILL, chin up will be between them in term of resistance used.

What matters is how/where the bone of your upper arm-the humerus moves. The line of pull which concerns recruitment of the humans "most important climbing muscle", the lats, at least, is why one will pull more. If Biceps was the key thing, chinups would be the strongest for everyone, and that's a maybe, in fact an anecdotal assumption. But lats don't go to your hands, and hand positioning is not relevant for greater Lat recruitment. in fact not greater, but different. Humerus, aka line of pull, is what makes one pull more with a certain grip.

Similar to lines of push with decline>flat>incline(not the decreased ROM).

[Tyciol]

What's the difference between a wide grip pull up and a parallel grip pull up in terms of the muscles they work?

My guess is both variations hit the same muscles, but maybe with a slightly different emphasis. With the palms facing forward (prone/overhand grip) I think it becomes easier for the elbows to travel out to the sides, emphasizing shoulder adduction movement over shoulder extension movement.

I don't know what this does in terms of what muscles would work harder though since there's a confusing amount of overlap between muscles that perform adduction and extension.

Parallel grip works biceps more, they're in a stronger position than in regular pullups, but not in as strong a position as chinups.

Can we just say 'supine grip'? It's a chin up if the chin gets to the bar, no idea why we should name stuff on the basis of grip after the chin.

One thing that always confused me about this: the biceps seem to be able to generate more power as an elbow flexor when forearm's supinated, but does that actually mean the bicep is working harder? The biceps still work to flex the elbow when in a pronated position, right? It's just they're more stretched out and can't generate as much force, but couldn't they still be working pretty hard and just get less out of it due to the leverage? Sort of like how you might preacher curl less than you curl but not necessarily do less work during it?

Closed-grip pull-ups work your LOWER lats a lot more than a standard pull-up

I want to understand this, do the lower lat fibres contribute more to extension and upper lat fibers contribute more to adduction? It's confusing bro.

Then why are people stronger on chinups than pullups?

The reason people tend to be stronger on supine-grip pull ups (sup-ups) than on prone-grip pull-ups (pro-ups) could be due to reasons besides stronger elbow flexion due to better biceps leverage. One major difference is that a supine grip keeps the elbows in tighter closer towards the front of the body, whereas a prone grip forces the elbows to move out. When the arm travels through a different path in space (the extension vs. adduction thing discussed earlier) this can affect how much force the muscles that affect the shoulder and scapulothoracic joints can exert.

[StrengthCoachCC]

Then why are people stronger on chinups than pullups?

They are just pull ups, not chin ups, the end destination of the movement is the same no matter the position of the hand or shoulder.

Parallel refers to the position of two objects in proximity of each other, in any scenario. Neutral refers to the position of an object/s at rest and without applied force. Given that neutral grip would be the proper term since "parallel" is a more broader term.

Chin up or what is actually a supinated grip is the weakest position for the elbow, but is a stronger position where it concens using shoulder adductor muscles like serratus anterior.

Pull ups or what I think you are referring to as a pronated grip, is the strongest position for the shoulder, but weaker because it uses shoulder extensors like the anterior delt I.E. why people start to swing to put the shoulder into extension which eliminates the bottom or external part of the motion which is the hardest.

But the strongest position for a pull up is neutral grip because unlike all of the others, it utilizes a very strong support muscle group in the pec major.

To test this theory, do pronated-supinated and neutral grip in that order, for the same loads, and for as many as you can do. Only never not make neutral grip your last grip, but do switch the order of pro and sup as many times as you like. What you will find is neutral grip will always end up out performing the other two grips, even though it's the last in the order.

[GeneralSerpant]

They are just pull ups, not chin ups, the end destination of the movement is the same no matter the position of the hand or shoulder.

Parallel refers to the position of two objects in proximity of each other, in any scenario. Neutral refers to the position of an object/s at rest and without applied force. Given that neutral grip would be the proper term since "parallel" is a more broader term.

Chin up or what is actually a supinated grip is the weakest position for the elbow, but is a stronger position where it concens using shoulder adductor muscles like serratus anterior.

Pull ups or what I think you are referring to as a pronated grip, is the strongest position for the shoulder, but weaker because it uses shoulder extensors like the anterior delt I.E. why people start to swing to put the shoulder into extension which eliminates the bottom or external part of the motion which is the hardest.

But the strongest position for a pull up is neutral grip because unlike all of the others, it utilizes a very strong support muscle group in the pec major.

To test this theory, do pronated-supinated and neutral grip in that order, for the same loads, and for as many as you can do. Only never not make neutral grip your last grip, but do switch the order of pro and sup as many times as you like. What you will find is neutral grip will always end up out performing the other two grips, even though it's the last in the order.

Strong terminology at the top.

as far as the bold goes, that's not any kind of an indicator of which one is the strongest.

I don't know about the elbows (grip/forearm maybe?), but you're right about the shoulder positioning for chin-ups. Although I don't think it's the anterior deltoids that are the problem on pronated, I think you are just spreading (adducting) the arms out to an non-neutral position.

As far as neutral goes, it doesn't focus on the lats as much, and it also doesn't give as much of a stretch to the lats as the other two grips do, respectively.

[heinstein]

Neutral grip is generally the strongest. Whatever position you are the strongest is generally best for muscle building. See references to compound movements.

[PossumBotherer]

I cannot locate parallel, Neutral grip pull ups or Hammer pull ups in the exercise database, could they be filed under something else?