The One Arm Chin Up

The one arm chin up is an incredible feat of strength and is easily the most revered one too. A bench press or squat of a certain weight, would be strong in one gym, weak in another and are of different types and depend a lot on bodyweight (the more the better). However, a one arm chin up will earn you respect in any gym on the planet. Not only is it the ultimate test of lat and bicep strength, it is also a symbol of proportional strength, back development and grip strength. It is the great equalizer among weight classes and genders too.

However, a lot of guys nowadays who perform one arm chin ups are small skinny guys. I have already discussed the reasons for this in my previous post. (Why are body weight guys not big?) If you want to be big and strong you have to work up to the one arm chin up using progressive steps, mastering every step along the way properly in perfect form.

So, how hard is the one arm chin up? Incredibly hard, but by no means impossible. A lot of people have come up with this interesting statistic that only one in 1,00,000 people have the genetic ability to perform a one am chin up. This cannot be true! Think about it, how many people have told you it is physically impossible to achieve a double bodyweight bench press or squat? No one right? Yet you expect me to believe that in the upper body lift in which the body is actually the strongest, it is supposed to be impossible to lift twice your body weight!  And frankly I would say the chinning muscles are the fastest and easiest muscles to develop in the upper body. The lats are the biggest upper body muscle (when fully developed, they can be as big as the quads), and also the most powerful. The pectorals assist the lats, much in the same way the lats assist the pecs in the bench press. The posterior deltoids, the trapezius, the rhombozoids and all the scapular retractors and external rotators assist very powerfully in the movement. The biceps and all the other elbow flexors contribute directly to the lift. And let us not forget the fact that hip drive and core strength transfer a whole lot more powerfully to the chin up than they do to the bench press. All this means that you should have at least 50% more power in vertical pulling movements than horizontal pressing. If bench pressing twice your bodyweight is achievable for everybody, achieving 3-4 reps of the one
arm chin up should also be considered in the same vein- incredibly hard, but by no means impossible.

Let us get started.  I am going to assume that you can perform 1 set of 12 of each of the following pull up variations in perfect form (see post- The Pull Up) on a very thick bar (about 2-2.25 inches in diameter) in one workout, in less than 30 mins.
1. Wide Overhand Grip
2. Medium Overhand grip
3. Close (fingers Touching) Overhand Grip
4. Medium underhand grip
5. Close underhand grip

If you cannot do this, achieve this first, than get back to this article. If you can, go back to my Pull up post and brush up your form. If you can do this even after that, than read on.

The first thing you must learn is how to express power with one arm, and to use your back to generate most of this power. Thus, in preparation to beginning progressive chin up work, you will-

1. Master the one arm top position isometric hold for 15 seconds-
This teaches you to use your back and develops top range lock out power and teaches you to express power using one arm. This is important because a lot of people can do uneven chin ups, in seemingly perfect form. Yet they crank out the same number of reps as the close chin up. This is because they actually use both arms evenly, whereas the whole point is to use one arm to do the bulk of the work. Done properly uneven chin ups are quite a bit harder than normal chin ups. You should feel the side grabbing the bar doing most of the work. This exercise of mastering the top position will teach you how to emphasize the working arm properly. Everyone who has mastered 12 reps of every pull up variety on a thick bar should be able to do at least 4-5 seconds of this hold on a standard bar. Add a few seconds every other workout. It should not take you very long to master the hold for 15 seconds- at worst, a month.
Remember,  the bar should be in contact with the collar bone, and the humerus in line with the body.
It may be useful for you to master this hold even before you master 2 arm chin ups, if you are weak in the top range of motion of your chin ups, and regularly fail to lock yourself in the top position.

2. Master the one arm dead hang isometric hold for 15 seconds- Keep your shoulders tight and lowered, and your elbow slightly kinked. You will have to master the top hold first before you can do this one. This will strengthen the lats, and teach you the correct full body tension.

The above 2 will also prepare your grip for the stages that follow. You should be able to achieve both in about 45 days. Train them often (5 times a week), but for very light sessions- 2 attempts per arm MAX!

Now you are ready to begin working up the ladder-

1. Uneven Chin ups-
Grab the bar with one arm in a supinated grip, with the other had holding the wrist of the working arm. The thumb should be over the portion of the wrist, a little lower than the base of the palm. Keep your shoulders even with respect to the bar at all times. You you mastered the preliminary steps, you should have no problem in making the working arm do most of the work- the trick is to focus on that arm and to keep the shoulders even at all times. This will get harder the higher you go, as the closer to lock out, the lesser your assisting hand can help you. This is where the top hold really helps! You should be able to go over the top portion of the ROM with your working hand moving almost all your weight. If the top portion feels easy to you, or you don't feel a big difference in the contribution of the arms, you are doing it wrong, and probably not going high enough.
Remember, use a full ROM- all the way from a dead hang (elbows slightly kinked and shoulders tight) to the point where your collar bone touches the bar. Stop for a full second at the top.
Master for 2 sets of 10 on each arm before moving on.

2. Uneven Chin Ups 1.0-
Same as the previous technique, except your supporting hand will be grabbing your working hand about 2 inches lower. This will make the top portion of the movement harder, and reduce the ROM in which the assisting arm can assist.
Master for 2 sets of 9 on each arm.

Uptil this point, it will probably be useful for you to retain some wide overhand grip and close overhand grip work in your schedule. From this point on you can drop wide overhand grip pull ups, but retain close overhand grip chin ups till you master step 3 and have gotten over with the pre-steps for step 4. Than you can drop it too.

3. Uneven Chin Ups 2.0-
Same as the previous technique, except once again you will move your supporting hand 2 inches lower.
Master for 2 sets of 9 on each arm.

Before moving on to step 4, take the time to master one arm negatives for 10 seconds. Simply, get to the top
position of a one arm chin up, and lower yourself as slowly as you can. If you have done step 3 properly with perfect form, you should be able to do a negative for 4 seconds. Take a couple of weeks to work up to the point you can stretch it out for 10 full seconds. Train often and light, just like you did for the holds. This phase will build a lot of strength in the middle portion of the ROM, and will prepare you for the coming steps.

4. Uneven Chin Ups 3.0-
Same as 2.0, except the assisting hand will be 2 inches lower.
Master for 2 sets of 8 on each arm.

5. Uneven Chin Ups 4.0-

Same as 3.0, except the assisting hand will be 2 inches lower.
Master for 2 sets of 8 on each arm.

By this point your hand should be very very close to your elbow, such that it would be impossible to move the supporting hand 2 inches lower. If this is not so, master step 5 with your supporting hand exactly 2 inches above your elbow.

At this point, if you tried, you should be able to perform a 15 second one arm negative. If you can't, take a week to get there.

Now is when you become a man.

6. Top Range Partial One arm Chin Ups-
Get to the top position of a one arm chin up, and lower yourself all the way down, until your elbow is at approximately 90 degrees and your humerus parallel o the ground. Your contracted bicep would be a bit higher than your elbow. Stop at this point and immediately pull your self back up. Repeat for the required reps. If you can't handle this depth, use a shallower range. Use what ever depth allows you to get 2 proper reps. Work on your reps and your depth every session.
Master for 2 sets of 7 on each arm.

7. Half one arm chin up-
Same as the previous technique, except that you will go a bit lower, to the point where your bicep is just a millimeter lower than your elbow.
Master for 2 sets of 6 on each arm.

8. Frog Chin Ups-
Get into a one arm dead hang and place the fingers of the non working hand on the bicep of the working hand (the middle portion). Now begin pulling. The assisting hand will be able to help you out, only until you reach the bottom position of the 1/2 one arm chin up, than it makes things harder. When you hit that point, take off the finger and complete the rep. Then lower yourself just like a one arm negative, except you are not trying to unduly stretch it out. This helps in two ways- 1. Emphasizes the portion of the ROM in which you are strongest, and uses a full ROM. 2. Uses the fact that you are stronger in the negative portio of the movement.
Master for 2 sets of 5 on each arm.

9. Advanced frog Chin Ups-
Same as the previous technique, except this time the assisting fingers will be on the upper portion of the bicep.
Master for 2 sets of 5 on each arm.

10. The one arm chin up-
You should be able to do 1-2 reps on each arm. If you can't, master the previous step for 2 sets of 6 reps.

Once you nail your first one arm chin up, consolidate the technique. Train it with very very low volumes, but often. Once you can get 3 clean reps, you are safe.

Congratulations! You are now among the greats! If you have been doing your squats and have worked just like i have told you, juicing every step, your lats will look like wings and your back will be huge!! You should be having 18 inch biceps too (provided you have trained your triceps with the one arm push up progression).
I am assuming you are a well proportioned 200lb guy. You may have bigger arms, but certainly not lesser! And yes, this will be your cold measurement. You will always have proportional arms, if you have built your biceps and triceps using the chin up and pull up progression. And they will be strong as hell!