Side To Side Chins

🎯 Lats🏋️ OtherIntermediateCompoundBiceps (2°)Forearms (2°)Middle back (2°)Shoulders (2°)

How to do the side to side chins

  1. Grab the pull-up bar with the palms facing forward using a wide grip.
  2. As you have both arms extended in front of you holding the bar at a wide grip, bring your torso back around 30 degrees or so while creating a curvature on your lower back and sticking your chest out. This is your starting position.
  3. Pull your torso up while leaning to the left hand side until the bar almost touches your upper chest by drawing the shoulders and the upper arms down and back. Exhale as you perform this portion of the movement. Tip: Concentrate on squeezing the back muscles once you reach the full contracted position. The upper torso should remain stationary as it moves through space (no swinging) and only the arms should move. The forearms should do no other work other than hold the bar.
  4. After a second of contraction, inhale as you go back to the starting position.
  5. Now, pull your torso up while leaning to the right hand side until the bar almost touches your upper chest by drawing the shoulders and the upper arms down and back. Exhale as you perform this portion of the movement. Tip: Concentrate on squeezing the back muscles once you reach the full contracted position. The upper torso should remain stationary as it moves through space and only the arms should move. The forearms should do no other work other than hold the bar.
  6. After a second of contraction, inhale as you go back to the starting position.
  7. Repeat steps 3-6 until you have performed the prescribed amount of repetitions for each side.

Muscles worked

The prime mover is the latissimus dorsi, which pulls the upper arm down and back toward the ribcage.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the biceps add force at the elbow; the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first; the mid-back retracts the shoulder blades so the shoulder has something solid to work from.

The shoulders take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:LatsBicepsForearmsMiddle backShoulders

How this movement works

The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.

It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.

What you need

These train the lats too, using equipment this one does not:

Difficulty

Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.

Of the 45 lats exercises in this database, 14 are listed at intermediate level.

Related exercises

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ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.