Chin up vs Pull up

[Nehedeezy]

Hi everybody,

I know that Mark is a big fan of the chin up over the pull up, because you ultimately involve more muscles and therefore more muscle mass. From this point of view, it makes sense.
My thinking/understanding also has been that we do strength training for the transition into every day scenarios. A deadlift is a great movement, because it is very natural to pick up something from the floor. Overhead press is great, because it is very natural to lift something above our heads.

I feel like in this regard, the chin up is inferior to the pull though, because a pull up is much more everyday-compatible? For a chin up, we ultimately need an objectiv, which we can grip around, because only then a supinated grip can be achieved. Not every object in real life enables this, while basically every object that would qualify for doing a pull up allows us to do a pronated grip.
Making this very abstract, if I hang on a ledge fighting for my life, i will always need to apply a pronated grip, because no ledge will allow me to do a supinated grip. Of course, this is an extreme example, but if we trace it back to the basic movements of every human and interacting with our environment, I feel like a pronated grip simply is much more versatile and can be applied much more frequently - so this strength simply is more useful?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do you deadlift with a barbell? Is a barbell "everyday compatible"?

[Maybach]

1) The "law of specificity" is not a law in any useful sense of the word. It is barely a tendency.


2) Similarity between exercises and activities outside of the gym is in no way a criteria for exercise selection.

My thinking/understanding also has been that we do strength training for the transition into every day scenarios.

Your thinking/understanding is wrong.

[Satch12879]

You are never going to be hanging from a ledge “fighting for your life.” You are not in an action movie.

[Peter Bex]

I know that Mark is a big fan of the chin up over the pull up, because you ultimately involve more muscles and therefore more muscle mass. From this point of view, it makes sense.

OK, so you accept the premise that chin ups grows the muscles in your arm more efficiently than pull ups do. Then, when you have to do a pull up to save your life, do you think it will be easier or harder when the arm muscles are bigger and stronger?