❓Question via Twitter last week: Pull Ups (palms away from body) vs. Chin Ups (palms facing body) for shoulder health…which one and why❓

Couple thoughts 💭

Chin Up ➡️ generally the easiest for people to perform because of the greater biceps 💪 assistance and also generally shoulder friendly for most people because the shoulder is internally rotated

Neutral Grip Chin Up ➡️ about the same or slightly more difficult then a Chin Up (still getting a decent amount of bicep 💪 assistance) and probably as shoulder friendly as Chin Ups for most people

Pull Up ➡️ the most difficult of the three variations, and probably a less shoulder friendly pulling movement then the other two for most people because the shoulder is placed in an abducted and externally rotated position

With all that in mind, we almost exclusively perform Chin Ups or Neutral Grip Chin Ups because they are both probably a more shoulder friendly position for most people, and if I’m being honest, we just Chin Up 95% of the time ➡️ I should probably program more Neutral Grip Chin Ups for the sake a variety, but we hardly ever (never) perform Pull Ups because there are better options IMO.

Bonus Thought 💭👉 Ring Chin Ups are the real best bet, the problem is they seem to be much more difficult for athletes to perform and hard to incorporate in big groups when not everyone has to ability to perform traditional Chin Ups. But, the ability to internally/externally rotate in a way that the shoulder is designed to do (all other variations don’t allow for any movement) is a game changer in my eyes.