Quote[/b] (mikeynov @ Aug. 13 2004,3:09)]Well, here's the deal with the pullups/chinups, and why I Totally Don't Get™ the point of doing pullups, other than for variety's sake.
A chin-up usually indicates a palms-facing you grip and people occasionally call this an 'arm' or biceps exercise. Grip width is usually shoulder width or even closer.
Pullups usually refer to palms away, with a grip that ranges from shoulder width to even wider (wide grip being extremely common).
So, what are the differences between the movements?
Well, the prime mover in both movements is latissimus dorsi, so no difference there.
Chin-ups tend to involve the elbow flexors (e.g. biceps brachii) more strongly, whereas pullups do not.
Chin-ups, with a narrower grip, have more ROM for latissimus dorsi and can expose it to MORE stretch than a pullup (this is important concerning the strain->hypertrophy connection).
So, basically, chin-ups work your elbow flexors more than pullups, and allow more stretch on the lats. To me, both of these seem like good things.
People usually advocate pullups for two reasons.
1) The idea that NOT involving your elbow flexors makes it 'more back and less arms.'
2) Wide grip for wide back.
For #1, while this might be true in some sense, it also seems to be compensated by the fact that you can LIFT more in chins. So, meaning, even if one's elbow flexors are contributing moreso in chins vs. pullups, and even if 'lats' accomplish more work in a pullup vs. a chin at equal weight, you can lift MORE in a chin-up, which, imho, might very well compensate for this.
For #2, that's just silly, imho.
So, yah...to this day, I still don't get why so many people prefer pullups to chins. Having done both, I have noticed MORE lat development, imho, switching to chins almost exclusively. Chins with palms facing or neutral grip absolutely fry my lats, with the added bonus of throwing some nice tension at my elbow flexors.
More bang for your buck, the way I see it.