Starting Strength, 3rd Edition - Mark Rippetoe [171]
Ancillary Exercises
Not every assistance exercise necessarily duplicates a portion of a parent movement. There is no chin-up-like motion in any of the five major lifts, yet chins are a terribly useful exercise for lifters at all stages of training advancement. Chin-ups are multi-joint, they involve the movement of the whole body, they work many muscle groups, and they depend on a complete range of motion and correct execution for their quality – all characteristics of the major exercises. In contrast, it is difficult to do a wrist curl wrong, and really, who cares if you do? Good ancillary exercises contribute to functional movement the same way the major lifts do: they work several joints at one time through a range of motion that, when made stronger, contributes to performance in sports and work.
Ancillary exercises have traditionally been performed for higher reps than the core lifts are. This is not necessarily a hard-and-fast rule; some of these movements are very valuable as strength exercises in and of themselves. Some lend themselves better to this than others: weighted chin-ups and dips are quite useful at lower reps and heavy weights, whereas heavy weighted back extensions can be rather hard on the knees. Each exercise has its own specific applications and fits into each individual trainee’s program in different ways.
Chin-ups and pull-ups
Possibly the oldest resistance exercise known to the human race is the pull-up. Arboreal primates use this movement in the process of locomotion, and ever since we’ve been standing on the ground, it’s been difficult to resist the temptation of grabbing a branch overhead and putting our chins up over it. And you should be strong enough to do that; the pull-up is not only a good exercise but also a very good indicator of upper-body strength. If you can’t do very many chin-ups, your press and bench press will increase as you get stronger on this very important exercise. And that is why it is the only ancillary exercise included in the novice program.
Chin-ups and pull-ups are most famous for their effects on the latissimus dorsi muscles (the “lats”), but they are equally important for the other muscles of the upper back – the rhomboidius, the teres major, the serratus groups, and the rotator cuff muscles, as well as the forearms and hands. Chin-ups even work the pecs a little, if done from a diligent dead hang, and abs, if enough reps are used to get them fatigued.
Figure 7-36. The chin-up (top pair, A) uses a supine grip, and the pull-up (bottom pair B), done in the power rack, uses a prone grip.
In this book, the term “pull-up” refers to the version of the exercise with the hands prone, while “chin-up” or just “chin” refers to the version done with supine hands. The major and significant difference between the two is the biceps’ involvement in the chin-up and the lack of it in the pull-up. The addition of the biceps makes chin-ups a little easier than pull-ups, as well as adding the aesthetic elements of arm work to the movement. Pull-ups are harder, and they probably emphasize lat involvement more since the absence of the biceps means that something else must do its work. Because of the pronation, pull-ups also might aggravate the elbows for a lifter who is not very flexible. The prone grip shortens the distance between grip and shoulders; the supine grip tends to increase this distance if you don’t pay attention to keeping it close (Figure 7-37, B). So the pull-up might seem easier for some people if they stay too far away from the bar on chin-ups. Once your strength permits, you can add weights to strict chins and pull-ups for increased workloads. The more your trunk moves, the more trunk muscles are involved, and this is why abs can get sore. But any version of the chin-up or pull-up, where the whole body moves, is better than the machine version of the exercise, the “lat pulldown,” in which only the arms move.
Figure 7-37. A correct chin-up starts with straight elbows and ends with the chin well over the bar, as high as possible.