This is a guest series by Chris Lopez from Fit and Busy Dad.

How Many Can You Do? Chin-Ups Are the BEST Upper Body Exercise For Men

Those darn monkey bars were never my friend when I was a kid. I had friends who could swing off them, hang upside down on them, I even know one kid that could do a 1-arm handstand on them. Me? Not a chance. I could barely get through 2 rungs before my grip would give out and I would come crashing down to the sand.

It was embarrassing. So as a plump 10-year-old, I made a pact to myself to get better at it. To be able to swing from bar 1 to bar 10 without the embarrassment of falling on my worn out Levis that my mom had to sew knee patches on.

That summer, I worked on it. Every day before going to baseball practice I’d make sure I swung by the playground and did my round on the monkey bars. I grew that summer as well, and I went from plump to “athletically husky.” I was determined. By the time September rolled around, I went from 1 to 10 without slipping.

The cycle started again in high school when I started doing CHIN-UPS. As a then skinny freshman basketball/volleyball player, I didn’t really have access to a great gym. So one of my mentors said that chin-ups would allow me to wear my basketball jersey (without the t-shirt underneath) and not get laughed at. Determined again, I set my goals and by the time I was a senior, I was doing sets of 20. I just applied the same “monkey bar” principles to get me there.

Chin-ups are, by far, the best bodyweight-only exercise that you can do. They involve the use of almost every upper body muscle, and they are great for your abs as well.

To perform a chin-up, take a supinated (palms up) grip on a bar. From there, suspend yourself by hanging with your elbows completely locked out (this is called a “dead hang”). Brace your abs like someone was about to punch you in the gut and start pulling. You’ll want to pull yourself all the way up so that your shoulders are down and away from your ears and the bar is almost touching your chest. Lower yourself in a controlled motion and repeat.

OK, so what if you can’t do a chin-up yet? Well, there are a few things that need to happen in order for you to get there.

First, drop some weight. Let’s face it. If you’re too heavy, there’s not a lot of chance that you’re going to be able to get up there. So you need to drop some extra body fat. This is accomplished by 1) altering your diet by eating less processed food and junk and more lean protein, healthy fats and fruits & veggies and 2) using a program that combines resistance training and interval training to incinerate those extra pounds.

Second, you need to practice the movement. Just like you needed quite a few reps to learn how to throw a football properly, the same holds true for any physical motor skill – chin-ups included. PERFECT practice makes PERFECT. So buy a chin-up bar or hang one from your garage and get to it.

I know, I know. How am I supposed to practice doing a chin-up if I can’t even pull myself up? Well, there are 2 great tricks that I’ve taught my clients to use to get there. Check out the video below to learn more…

So there you go. Dropping some weight and practicing consistently using the tricks that I outlined above will definitely get you to that goal of doing your first chin-up. It’s the best way to develop that functional relative strength that we all need to be the hero in our kids’ lives. Keep at it Dads and you’ll get there in no time.

Chris Lopez, BSc HK, CSCS is a fitness expert, writer and personal trainer. He is an occasional contributor to the Globe and Mail, Maximum Fitness and Men’s Fitness Magazines and has been helping get Busy Dads in shape for 10 years since the birth of his first child. He and his wife live in Toronto, Canada with their 4 daughters. Visit Chris’ blog at FitAndBusyDad.blogspot.com or sign-up for your free report & workout at www.FitAndBusyDad.com.

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