Whether you are on a journey to complete your first chin-up, multiple chin-ups, or you are just committed to improving your back strength and posture, let me introduce you to one of my favorite foundational and supplementary moves to help you get closer to your goal: the leg assisted Chin-up.
The Leg Assisted Chin-up is amazing if you:
-don’t have access to an assisted chin-up machine
-don’t want to mess around with bands for assistance
-are kind of scared of heights
-are still working on your grip strength
-want to increase overall volume of your vertical pull
Set up is pretty easy:
To set up your leg assisted chin-up, head to your squat rack or Smith machine.
Lower the bar to about belly button height then, Set your hips on the ground beneath the bar.
Reach your hands directly overhead to grab the bar.
Then, depending on how challenging you want to make the move, bend your knees tighter to your body for more assistance, or walk your feet away from your body for less assistance (like an upside down plank).
Once you’re in position, pull your chin to the bar and get those gains!
That’s all there is to it!
This may seem like an entirely different exercise than a chin-up. You might even be thinking, but it doesn’t even look like a chin up.
Well, the thing about the leg assisted chin-up is that it not only works the same back muscle groups as a chin-up (making the muscles needed for a chin-up stronger) but it also forces your abdominals to kick on. This recruitment of your abs is the key to any chin-up, assisted or not.
So, it’s fair to say that training in this way will teach your abdominals to join the party when performing this move, ultimately bringing you closer to your chin-up goals even faster.
Do you think you’ll try it?
Let us know if you do! We’d love to celebrate you reaching a fitness goal!
Did you like this Training Tip? Check out these blogs for more fitness secrets: Well, Isn’t That Handy?! An App-Free Guide For Tracking Food, How to Do a Proper Deadlift: The Ultimate Guide for Dancers, Performance vs Outcome Goals: The Role of Each In Productive Goal Setting