The barbell row to the chin is the main exercise for increasing the mass and strength of the traps, shoulder muscles.
Why you need to do this exercise
Let’s take a look at what exercises the barbell pull to the chin can repeat. For pumping the shoulders, there is an army press, lifting the bar from behind the head, various dilutions of dumbbells and barbell presses at an angle. For trapezoids – shrugs.
The chin row is a combination of several exercises. Definitely, it simultaneously contains shrugs and dumbbell breeding through the sides. And here’s why:
- When we pull the projectile upward, first the movement is carried out using the force of the deltoid muscles (with the correct technique, of course).
- Further movement is carried out by the upper parts of the trapezius muscles will help pharmacom labs.
Thus, different exercise techniques will allo you to focus efforts either on the shoulders or connect the upper back to the work.
This exercise must be performed once a week in front of the isolated elements on the shoulders. Shrugs can be done after.
The element on the trapezoid is called “high barbell pull.” On the shoulders – pull the bar to the chin.
You can also find such names as “standing with a barbell” and “broaching with a barbell “. This is the same. Usually in the gym these words are not used, just like “lifting”.
Possible chin pulling techniques
You don’t have to grab a barbell to do this. It can be done with dumbbells, or with a lower block. First, let’s figure out how and what is done with the barbell. The barbell pull to the chin is a common name, but you can do it with anything.
Barbell Row
To begin with, you need to do a warm-up lift with an empty bar. It so happens that 20 kg is a lot for the first time (for girls this is really a lot), so we are looking for the lightest bar that you have in your gym. If 20 kg is all there is, take 2 5 kg dumbbells. Let’s imagine it’s a barbell.
You need to stand in front of a mirror. We install the bar (bar) on the bench press, for example. It makes no sense to put it higher – it will be difficult to shoot. If it is not possible to put weights on the racks for the press, lower the projectile to the floor.
Grab the bar with a medium grip:
- Remove the bar from the racks and take it to the body. It hangs on arms slightly bent at the elbows near the legs.
- Pull it upward with the strength of the shoulders, pulling the elbows to the sides and slightly forward. The wrists are flexed as much as possible. By the way, the grip is straight (in this case, palms facing you).
- During movement, the bar slides over your body to the chin.
- Do not forget to stand correctly – feet shoulder width apart, push the pelvis back, the chest with a wheel, the shoulders are straightened. Looking forward into the mirror. Carefully make sure that the elbows go up, so that the bar is pulled at the expense of the shoulders.
- When the elbows reach general parallel, you will have 2 options to continue the exercise. First, you lower the projectile down. And the second – pull your elbows up as much as possible. The latter option will maximize your trapezius muscles to work. The first option loads the shoulders more.
We do 15 warm-up reps, then take the working weight and work 3 sets of 10-12 times. You do not need to take maximum weights and do 4-6 repetitions. This is quite dangerous.
Block pull
The barbell broach can be replaced with a block trainer. This is both more convenient and safer. First, weights can be changed quickly. And secondly, the block trainer is much more free than barbells in gyms.
As in the previous case, you need warm-up. Place 10-15 kg on the counterweight. Place the small, straight handle on the bottom block of the block frame. In this case, you will be holding the bar with a narrow grip. This is acceptable when using the machine, but not with a barbell. You may not be able to maintain balance there.
In the same way as with the barbell, but with a narrow grip, we pull the bar to the chin, spreading the elbows to the sides.
For girls, the best option is with 15 repetitions in three approaches and only on the block. A wider grip and a barbell are better for men.
Barbell pulls to the chin are generally more suitable for guys than girls. The latter have enough dilutions. Unless the girl is engaged in strength training and bodybuilding in heavy weight.
Working with dumbbells
Absolutely the same as with a barbell, only you can vary the grip: you can hold your hands as if you are working with a narrow grip (the dumbbells are pressed against each other), or you can with a wide one. Usually dumbbells are 10-15 cm apart.
At first, dumbbells will help you a lot. While you are just starting to train, it is very difficult for you to work with a barbell. Moreover, if you still hang pancakes on it.
Variations of the exercise
A variation of techniques for pumping a certain muscle is already professionalism. If you have recently come to the gym, or are going to work out with a barbell at home, you need to clearly understand how to work with different zones of your muscles.
By doing exercises in a certain way, you you can pay more attention to some muscles and less to others.
We load traps and shoulders. By the way, not all shoulder muscles work. The load is distributed between the anterior and middle bundle of the deltoid muscle. Most of all “goes” to the middle beam. It is for him that the barbell pull to the chin is intended.
At first, do the pull so that the elbows do not go up. For the first month, strengthen your shoulders, build up weights. Then, in the second month, you can change the technique and raise your elbows high to the ceiling. The higher you do this, the more the trapezius muscles (their upper part) will contract.
When you work with a narrow grip, high it is more convenient to take your elbows away. Try this in practice.
Potential problems and how to solve them
Wrist pain
Because your wrists flex a lot during exercise, you may experience discomfort or pain in certain situations. The solution is simple – wristbands or elastic bandages on the wrists.
Shoulder pain
In the first repetitions, the pain can mean a bad warm-up – leave the barbell. Twist your arms, do a warm-up with light weights.
If it hurts after that, try using a warming ointment. This will help you quickly warm up the muscles you want. Only then don’t put your hands in your eyes, suddenly the ointment got on your hands.
There is another pain – from sprains. If you are injured until the pain is completely gone, you cannot use the barbell. Then, when you decide that everything has healed, you need to start with light weights, very slowly and carefully.
Elbows do not rise above parallel with the floor
It happens that you cannot raise your elbows high. If it is muscle weakness, over time you will develop and can do anything. If this is the limitation of the shoulder joint, then you can try to grab the bar with a narrow grip, not a wide one. Or you can accept, because, unfortunately, you will not be able to greatly increase the mobility of the shoulder girdle.
Classical mistakes
Let’s analyze typical mistakes:
- Heavy weight. Lifting the bar will be accompanied by convulsive jerking of the whole body. If so, throw off a couple of pancakes from the bar.
- Posture. Since you are standing with a weight, you cannot bend your back. Make sure your posture is correct before doing the chin pull.
- The vertical trajectory of the bar is far from your body. That is, the weight does not slide over the body. Your lower back is under extra pressure to keep you from collapsing forward. In addition to the lumbar, the rear deltoids are also loaded. And the average ones get more workload than planned with the right technique.
