In today’s edition of Exercise of the Week, we’re going to cover a sweet variation on an old-school strength exercise.

You’re all probably familiar with the traditional chin-up/pull-up variation with the knees bent and ankles tucked behind you.  It looks something like this:

And while the standard chin-up/pull-up is still a great option, here’s a little tweak that I think you’ll find a bit more challenging.

The Pillar/Plank Chin-up is an exercise I originally heard about from physical therapist Charlie Weingroff.  I’m not sure if he calls it the pillar chin-up or not, but that’s really not here nor there. 🙂

Hang from a chinning bar, but before you perform the lift, do the following things:

• Dorsiflex your toes (pull them UP towards your face).
• Straighten your legs, extending your knees.
• Squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward.

NOW, with all these things going on, perform your traditional chin-up.  Here are the big coaching points when it comes to chinning/pulling:

• Elbows straight/extended at the bottom.
• Initiate by pulling through the elbows, not just flexing the biceps.
• At the top, the chest should touch the bar and you should squeeze your shoulder blades DOWN (think of tucking them in your back pocket).
• Lower under control to the starting position and repeat for the necessary number of reps.

I really like this version, as it seems to integrate the body a bit better, versus dissociating between upper and lower bodies.

Along those same lines, you guys know how obsessed I am with getting the core and glutes involved in our lifts, and this version really cranks up the stabilization needs of our torso and hips.

Give this variation a shot TODAY! I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Stay strong

MR