Sternum Chin-Up
Trains the Lats.
- Equipment
- A pull-up bar
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
- Hang from a pull-up bar with an underhand or close overhand grip.
- Set your shoulders down and lean your head back.
- Pull yourself up while arching the upper back and letting the hips travel forward.
- Continue until your sternum — not your chin — touches the bar, with the body close to horizontal at the top.
- Hold briefly at the top with the chest against the bar.
- Lower under control back to a straight hang, unwinding the arch as you go.
Common mistakes
- Pulling to the chin. The sternum reaching the bar is the whole point, and it requires the lean-back and the arch — a chin-height pull is an ordinary chin-up.
- Arching from the lower back. The arch is through the upper back with the chest lifting toward the bar; a lumbar arch just tips the hips.
- Attempting it before a strict chin-up is comfortable. The range is much longer and the top position is unusual.
- Swinging into the lean. The lean-back is created by pulling, not by kicking the hips forward first.