Part 2 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before

Part 2 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before
By Nick Nilsson


(Here: Part 1 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before)

PHASE 3

Now we move on to Negative Training. You may have heard of this before...now you're going to put it to use!

We've built up a foundation of grip strength (which is HUGE) and a foundation of pulling power in the strongest range of motion of the exercise (the bottom few inches). It's time to test yourself against gravity.

Set a chair, bench or box in front of the chin-up bar. Ideally, it should be a height where you can stand on it and put yourself into the top position of the chin-up (chin just above the bar) while still standing on it.

Because what you'll be doing next is gripping the bar, getting into position then lowering yourself down slowly. This is called a "negative rep."

But here's the key that a lot of people miss when it comes to Negative Training...

The idea is to not just passively lower yourself down...the idea is to ACTIVELY FIGHT GRAVITY all the way down!

So when you take your grip on the bar and take your feet off the bench, I want you to try your darndest to pull yourself UP, even though gravity is pulling you DOWN.

This generally will result in a slow downward rep, with you fighting it all the way. When you get to the bottom, let go of the bar, climb back onto the bench and repeat.

In your negative set, perform reps in this fashion until one of two things happens...

1. You grab the bar, take your feet off the bench and can't slow your descent at all, dropping right into the position within a second or two.

2. You get to 6 reps of this negative training in your set.

What do those guidelines mean? In the first one, it means your muscles aren't actually doing any more work and there's no reason to continue.

In the second, when we hit 6 reps, that's plenty when it comes to negative training. If, on that sixth rep, you can still control your descent, you're doing well!

So here's the deal...in your workouts (again one set at the beginning and one set at the end of every single workout you do), do this negative training. This will probably amount to 3 to 5 times per week, depending how frequently you're in the gym.

Keep going in this fashion until you are able to do 6 negative reps and on the SIXTH rep, you can still pretty well control your descent and don't just crash down.

Now, for one calendar week, NO chin-up training. You're going to give your muscles a break from the specific training and allow them to recover.


PHASE 4

The last step before hitting chins on your own is the Flexed Arm Hang. Now that your muscles have recovered from the Negative Training, we're going to set that bench back up and get you into the top position of the chin.

Take your feet off the bench and HOLD that top chin position for as long as you can. Hold it until your arms start to straighten and your lats start to give.

Now FIGHT that all the way down until you're hanging at arms-length on the bar. That's it! Just one set and one rep, done ONLY at the beginning of each workout (when you're strongest), not at the end.

Repeat this procedure (one set of hanging at the start of each workout) until you can hang for at least 30 seconds before you start to lower down.

Once you can do that, it's SHOW TIME!


YOUR FIRST CHIN-UP

Give yourself a few days off from the Flexed Arm Hang phase before doing your first chin. You want to be fully recovered and feeling strong!

Grab the bar (at this point, you will be so used to grabbing the chin-up bar that there will be NO fear associated with it, as there may have been before). You'll KNOW you can do this.

Tighten your grip, tighten your muscles, then PULL!

Because of all the background work you've done, I have a feeling you're going FLY right up!

Heck, when you get the first one, if you feel good, try a second one!


And finally, if you do go through this chin-up program and WHEN you do your first chin-up, send me an email and tell me your story! I want to hear from you!

Here: Part 1 - How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before


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Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology
and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 17 years.
Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including
"Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass",
"Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!"
and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of" all
available at HERE. He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com.


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