Stopping shy of dead hang on chin ups

[Wolf200]

This thread is about chin ups, not pull ups.

I always go dead hang on pull ups, but have recently started doing chin ups PRIMARILY FOR BICEP WORK. Does stopping shy of a dead hang help isolate/work the biceps more during a chin up? Or is there no difference. I find it puts less strain on the inside of my elbow (where the bicep meets the forearm) stopping before going dead hang but this may just be soreness as I haven't done chin ups (again, not pull ups) that often previously.

Thoughts?

[Engineer_Guy]

This thread is about chin ups, not pull ups.

I always go dead hang on pull ups, but have recently started doing chin ups PRIMARILY FOR BICEP WORK.

1. Pull ups and chin ups are virtually the same.
2. Neither one is for bicep work.

[Temple90]

I find that the more you have ur elbows in the more biceps you are using. If your elbows are out 90* it feels like mostly back, when I start getting tired and bring them in for the last few reps I feel it more in my biceps which is why I can squeeze out a few more reps. I also never lock out. It makes my elbows uncomfortable. Im not sure if thats the correct way to do it or not but it feels better that way.

[Retardo-pex]

I know this is a bicep focused question but since the exercise it self is not really bicep focused I'll give you a general answer. The two schools of thought are A) you go to full extension to maximally stretch all of the muscle groups involved ( in the case of biceps it can't actually be maximally extended without reaching straight out behind your back so keep that in mind) or B) keeping the most amount of continuous tension on the muscle groups involved throughout the entire set.

Its sort of up to you and you should base it around how your body responds, one way you might be able to handle a heavier weight or more reps with body weight, so there will always be a trade off somewhere. If you like the longer range, go to the dead hang, if you prefer a bigger pump, stop just shy of dead hang.

Its pretty much like any other lift, do you lock out or fully extend on everything, somethings, nothing? Treat this the same way.

[BFJ]

This thread is about chin ups, not pull ups.

I always go dead hang on pull ups, but have recently started doing chin ups PRIMARILY FOR BICEP WORK. Does stopping shy of a dead hang help isolate/work the biceps more during a chin up? Or is there no difference. I find it puts less strain on the inside of my elbow (where the bicep meets the forearm) stopping before going dead hang but this may just be soreness as I haven't done chin ups (again, not pull ups) that often previously.

Thoughts?

i think it's going to depend on how you're built. the length of your upper arm vs. lower arm, how wide your lats are and on and on. so what i'd advise is play around with the ROM and try to figure out for you which portion is mostly movement at the shoulder vs. movement at the elbow........whatever portion of the motion involves the most movement at the elbow would be the part you'd hone in on to max the bicep work. i'm kind of with the others here that it's not a major biceps move, but if you tweak it right, as you say, it can be more than normal.

[Garage Rat]

Your purpose for the chin ups is for biceps.
The only reason to go to full extension at the bottom os to stretch the biceps out.
The bad thing is the bicep tendons and elbow take a lot of stress(total bodyweight)which isn't the smartest thing if you want to stay healthy.
If your doing the chins for biceps i wouldn't worry about complete extension of the arm but maybe down to an inch before and then back up.
Also do your chins with a closer grip maybe inside the shoulders to involve the arms more.

[Wolf200]

1. Pull ups and chin ups are virtually the same.
2. Neither one is for bicep work.

You're having a laugh....

[Retardo-pex]

You're having a laugh....

I think his point is that there are plenty of better exercises to choose from if your main target is the biceps.