Two Ways To Do Wide Grip Chins. Which One Is More Effective???

[Mr.Loony]

Ok, this is something I having a little bit of trouble with. Right now, I'm making Chin's a priorty in my routine. I've never done them before, and I'm wanting to become a "Chin-Up" master. So, every back workout begins with chins.

Now, before I can become a master, I must first master technique and text book form. My main objectivce is to hit the lats.

Ok, from watching videos, it appears that there is TWO ways to perform the SAME movement, wide grip chins. Question is, which is the proper way to build the back?

I have noticed you can do them by just bringing the arms elbows straight down from the shoulder with a 90 degree bend in the arms. Just like the guys (Desmond Miller, Nick Zak and Guy Cisternino, & Melvin Anthony) in these 3 videos. Watch as they don't "rotate" (don't know if Im using the right word here) from the shoulders. Instead they bring the arms straight down.

Desmond Miller:
**broken link removed**

Nick Zak and Guy Cisternino:
**broken link removed**

Melvin Anthony:
**broken link removed**


Now, in this next set of videos, these guys rotate at the shoulder. I don't know if I'm using the right word to describe this, so please excuse me. I just know the movement is different. Its like doing a pull up but with a wider grip. Or their arms are going down like they would during a rowing movement.

I have seen quite a few pro's do it this way, but I can't find any vids online of them doing this. I have them doing it in some of my dvds here at the house. I have a huge bodybuilding dvd collection. But anyways, here is the vids to show how these guys off of youtube are chinning.

Random:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFeqGH3fVbs&feature=related

Random 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=742v8O64154&feature=related

Jesse Marunde:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAUUTwoimpI


Here is what sounds like Skip Lacour narrating on how to do a chin up. Now the guy in the video is using a somewhat close grip, but obviously you can do the same arm motion with a wider grip, but this is the movement I'm talking about:

http://www.ehow.com/video_3192_pull-.html

Oh, and one more. I found this on Chris Faildo's Trailer. You have to watch the whole trailer, no timer, but he does the chins with the form I'm talking about near the end. It's right after a yellow RESERVED SIGN. You'll see doughnuts right after he's done doing the chins.

http://mocvideo.com/CFsample.html

Ok, so those videos clearly show the difference in the movement of the arms. I have noticed this also with Lat Pulldowns. I have seen a lot of bodybuilders just bring the elbows and arms straight down like in the first set of the vids. Then I have seen some almost "curl" the bar down. Sort of like Cutler does with his wide reverse grip. Ronnie in Cost of Redemption brings the bar down straight.

Or for instance, behind the neck pulldowns or chins. You obviously cant use form like in the second set of videos. You have to bring the arms straight down.

See what I mean though? There's obviously two ways of performing them to the front. Which arm movement is best? And Why?

 

[Sesshomaru]

In the interest of shoulder health, you should take a grip that gives you the most leverage which means close or just slightly outside shoulder width (none of that wide crap).

From there you pull up in two phases. The first phase requires all back because you want to pull yourself from a dead hang to as high as you can WITHOUT bending your arms. This engages the lats.

The next phase, you keep pulling as high as you can but you can bend the arms and squeeze the back more. You want to pull as high as possible without causing your shoulder to rotate.

Now if you enter a pull up competition, things are going to be different and youll want to do whats according to the rules, which may include kipping since youre just going for reps.