Bent Arms Chin-up

The Bent Arms Chin-up targets your upper body strength, particularly the back and biceps. This exercise involves pulling your body up to a bar with your palms facing you and your elbows bent.

  1. Start by hanging from a chin-up bar with a shoulder-width grip.
  2. Engage your core and pull your body upward until your chin is above the bar.
  3. Lower yourself back down with control to the starting position.
  4. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

How to perform the Bent Arms Chin-up

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Bent Arms Chin-up using your body weight.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your latissimus dorsi.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your latissimus dorsi rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

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