One-Arm Chin-Up Tips
The One-Arm Chin-Up.
I can't be more official because it's the skill that everyone (should!) admire. True master of One-Arm Chin-Up possesses such biceps and lats (for their bodyweight, of course) that all conventional bodybuilders will silently stand in the corner, cry and burn from envy. He obtains arm strength to match that size.
Some people think that this feat of strength is out of reach. Especially overweight people. But it isn't so. I heard of at least two persons that are approx. 100 kg (220 lbs). I don't remember the name of the first one but the second is Metin a.k.a. LittleBeastM. You have probably heard of him. If not then here's link to his YouTube channel: LittleBeastM's YouTube Channel. You should definitely check this guy out. He's probably the heaviest guy to perform such feats of bodyweight strength.
Anyway, let's get back to tips.
Train with Singles
It may sound obvious but it took some time to understand this. Don't waste your time and energy on reps. Train with singles. It's the fastest way. In my experience training with single-rep sets is the fastest way to gain strength. It's even more true for One-Arm Chin-Up. You're traning for skill at first place, not for multiple reps in a skill. And it's difficult skill, believe me. You will spend much more time on easier progression steps if you will strive for 3-5 reps than if you will strive for a single rep. And what's the point? If your goal is to learn One-Arm Chin-Up you need to progress as fast as possible or you will spend whole eternity learning it.
One of the best ways to implement singles is Rest-Pause Training. Let me explain you. Pick progression step that is fairly hard but you can do at least one-two perfect reps. Perform single rep with right arm. Rest for 30 seconds. Then perform single rep with left arm. Rest for 30 seconds. And so on until you hit 5-6 singles per arm. Call it a day. Return 2-3 days later and repeat. It would take couple training sessions to hit 10 singles per arm. Then you have several options. You can either shave off 5 seconds of rest periods and work back up to 10 singles per arm or you can pick a bit harder variation and start over with 5-6 singles.
Pick Progression That Is The Most Effective for You
There are tons of progressions toward One-Arm Chin-Up. The most effective are considered rope or towel assisted, finger assisted and rock climbers'. Rope assisted is the best for me. I can always carry the rope in my bag. It feels the most natural. The main thing is that with rope assistance you can adjust intensity similarly to the barbell. Just count the fists on the rope and you're all set. It's very important for me. So you get it. Pick progression that suits you.
Don't Hit It Too Often
One-Arm Chin-Up is not that exercise that you want to overdo. Firstly, it doesn't progress that fast. Secondly, increased risk of injury. Once a week works awesome for me. You should experiment to find out how's best for you.
One-Arm Negatives and Static Hangs
In my experience One-Arm Chin-Up negatives are almost useless. They only teach you how to comedown from top hang. And that's all. They are good as introductory progression step but that's it. On the other hand, One-Arm Static Holds. In my opinion they are very useful. Bottom hang is useful for grip strength and endurance, 90 degree hang is useful for strength and moving past sticking point, and top hang is generally useful in One-Arm Chin-Up practice. Practice them but don't overdo.
That's it. I hope it will help you in your quest for the One-Arm Chin-Up. Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe and like (:
Play rough!
Alex Zinchenko
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October 4th, 2011 - 20:24
First time here. Awesome blog and great post. Well done.
October 31st, 2011 - 05:50
First time here. Awesome blog and great post. Well done.
+1
December 16th, 2011 - 02:22
What’s your opinion on one arm negatives with static hangs e.g static hang at top, lowering to 90 degree static hang. Is that worthwhile? Great article.
December 16th, 2011 - 12:44
Well, I think it worth a try, Ben. It should have positive impact on One-Arm Chin-Up ability. Of course if you make it progressive. Thanks for commenting. Try it and let me know how it worked for you.
December 23rd, 2011 - 20:20
Great writeup, However.
I disagree with what you said about the eccentric oac/oap’s. These were very effective in allowing me to achieve the OAP.
December 24th, 2011 - 12:46
Thanks for commenting, Daniel. I think, I’ll experiment with negatives some more and will review my position if it works better.
March 13th, 2012 - 08:30
Hey, nice site! Here’s a few more precisions about what I find works really well for the one arm chin. First, negatives are not useless at the beginning. I thing that once you’re able to do a few good negatives, you should just replace them with the static holds. For the statics holds, I found that I had a much better improvement if I was working them using maximum strength holds. Per example, I’d do 2×5 different angles holds for less than 6 seconds. But everytime I do a hold, I try to lift, but can’t cause I’m not strong enough. At some point, you get strong enough to lift, but you still want to do static holds, so you just add some weight, per example hold something just heavy enough so you can lock it for around one second at each angle. Then you use that approximate weight until you can hold each angle for close to 5 seconds. In one training, I use 2 sets of 5 angles (with enough rest between each angle), then 2 sets of 2 or 3 Archer chins, and as soon as I could, I replaced the Archer chins with box one arm chins, then progressively lowered the height of the box. Still do the static holds with the box chins (box chins with arm pretty straight, almost dead hang but still not quite).
For various reasons, that’s the fourth time I have to learn the one arm chin over the last 7 years, and this time, screw that, I’m not losing it again. Hope my insight was helpful!
March 13th, 2012 - 15:44
Thanks for reply, bro. Nice addition. I’ll try some of that stuff in my training.
October 10th, 2012 - 15:21
Man, I’m finding some great articles here. I mean, most people don’t write about One-Arm Chin-Ups or stuff like that, Great read, thanks!
October 10th, 2012 - 16:31
Thanks. That’s why I started RS. There’s not much information on such kind of training out there. So a lot of experimentation is required. And if somebody, like me, is interested in this I can share my experience with him/her and make his/her training better and more effective.
January 17th, 2013 - 05:25
A great read, and thank you because I was wondering of a few things with my OAC training.
I’m, progressing my way to a one arm chin and currently at a stage where I can lock at the top and at 90 degrees consecutively. Actually after many towel assisted ones I decide to let go of my towel grabbing hand one day and try to descend as slowly as possible. I squeezed my arm so hard that I ended up holding there instead of dropping down….and that actually took me by surprise as I wasn’t even sure I was able to hold. Then I slowly released and again I was surprised I was able to hold again halfway. I giggled (yeah) and dropped, and hurt my bicep and possibly injured my elbow. I’m taking a rest and will come back in 3 weeks to learn to pull up from a 90 degree hold (probably still with a little assistance with a towel). I’m not in excruciating pain, just a little uncomfortable. But is this a skill that is easy to lose? I’m worried I might not be able to do it again once I come back to it (other than not being able to heal fast enough).
January 19th, 2013 - 17:11
Thanks. My answer is if you even lose this skill you’ll be able to regain it faster than the first time. It all depends on individual.
- Alex