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Thread: Chin-up strength progression compared to the four main lifts

  1. #1
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    Aug 2021
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    Default Chin-up strength progression compared to the four main lifts

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    Good day, I wanted to ask a question about the chin-up and how it compares to the four main lifts. Namely I wanted to ask how the chin-up could be expected to progress in comparison to the other lifts and what strength level someone would need to be at to do chin-ups at various weights.

    It occurred to me that the chin-up could be defined by weight like the other exercises. That would mean for instance that a 100 kg guy doing chinups for sets across would be doing them for 3x5x100 kg. A 100 kg guy with a 25 kg belt would be doing them for 3x5x125 kg, whereas a 100 kg guy using an assisted chin-up machine that provides a 25 kg counterweight would be doing them for 3x5x75 kg.

    Now in the book it is said that for a trained person, the deadlift is likely to involve the most tonnage lifted for the average person, then the squat, the bench press (and power clean) and then the press. I was curious as to where the chin-up would fit on this spectrum. Would the numbers on the chin-up (in terms of kg lifted for sets across) be comparable to the bench press or the press, or to some other exercise? Tying in with that, would the chin-up be expected to progress by smaller jumps (i.e. 1.25 kg) after the first couple of weeks like the upper body exercises or would it be more likely to involve moderate jumps (i.e. 2.5 kg) like the squat and deadlift?

  2. #2
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    Chins are at least as limited by limb length and the resultant effect on relative bodyweight as they are by absolute bodyweight. Short guys will progress much faster. Progression can be steady but slow. I am 51, 6’5” and weigh about 260. I can do about 11 full length chins. It has taken pretty much my entore life to get here. When i ws 20 years old and weighed 215 i could do zero chins. It was not until years and years later, incluing after my novice LP on SS that inadded enough general size and strength to overcome my leverages and achieve a chin up. From there, progress was slow and hampered by life and injuries.

  3. #3
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    May 2018
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    The chin-up is an assist exercise, not a basic one, therefore your reasoning is invalid.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by FatButWeak View Post
    Chins are at least as limited by limb length and the resultant effect on relative bodyweight as they are by absolute bodyweight. Short guys will progress much faster. Progression can be steady but slow. I am 51, 6’5” and weigh about 260. I can do about 11 full length chins. It has taken pretty much my entore life to get here. When i ws 20 years old and weighed 215 i could do zero chins. It was not until years and years later, incluing after my novice LP on SS that inadded enough general size and strength to overcome my leverages and achieve a chin up. From there, progress was slow and hampered by life and injuries.
    Second this. Chins as a big guy are hard. Especially if you're long legged, means a much larger percentage of your mass is not contributing to the exercise any.

  5. #5
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    Refer to Santana's thoughts on the subject, he has devoted a lot of attention to chins.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by FatButWeak View Post
    Chins are at least as limited by limb length and the resultant effect on relative bodyweight as they are by absolute bodyweight. Short guys will progress much faster. Progression can be steady but slow. I am 51, 6’5” and weigh about 260. I can do about 11 full length chins. It has taken pretty much my entore life to get here. When i ws 20 years old and weighed 215 i could do zero chins. It was not until years and years later, incluing after my novice LP on SS that inadded enough general size and strength to overcome my leverages and achieve a chin up. From there, progress was slow and hampered by life and injuries.
    Quote Originally Posted by CommanderFun View Post
    Second this. Chins as a big guy are hard. Especially if you're long legged, means a much larger percentage of your mass is not contributing to the exercise any.
    Sounds like it could be my problem as well. I know I have long legs relative to torso and its possible I got long arms too. Oh well, I will just have to work through it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jovan Dragisic View Post
    Refer to Santana's thoughts on the subject, he has devoted a lot of attention to chins.
    Thanks, it seems he has a few articles on chins. I will look into them.

  7. #7
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    His point, and I will let myself get corrected on this, is to try and get one hundred chins per week, if your elbows allow it, with your first set being an AMRAP. By the time you are doing one hundred per week, you should be able to do a set of ten. I find this to be true, I can do eight in my first set and I am doing something like eighty chins per week, three to four times. Also, my body weight is about 230, so the big guy argument does not fly. I used Santana’s lat pull down protocol to get to my first chin.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jovan Dragisic View Post
    Also, my body weight is about 230, so the big guy argument does not fly. I used Santana’s lat pull down protocol to get to my first chin.
    Try adding 60 pounds of bodyweight and tell me how your chins are going then.

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