Cavaliere notes that the thing to focus on with pullups is the grip width on the bar.

'This will demand that the biceps do more of the work and that the lats do less.'Īs for pullups, the mechanism is different thanks to an overhand grip rather than an underhand one, which shifts the focus away from the biceps to the brachialis muscle. 'Act as if you are curling your body to the bar like you would curl a bar to your body in a traditional barbell curl,' says Cavaliere. Instead of pulling yourself straight up to or remaining super close to the bar, you should keep some distance between your body and the bar on the way up. You can do that by making sure you focus on how you are pulling your body up to the bar.

You don’t want this to happen if you are trying to build up your biceps.' 'Due to the activation of the stretch reflex at the bottom of the rep, we can turn the exercise into one that favors the lats rather than the biceps. 'When the elbow drifts out in front of the body the stretch on the lats becomes greater,' says Cavaliere. However, there is also supination of the forearm, and it may engage your lats rather than your biceps. So with the chinup, the underhand position demands supination, which engages the biceps more than in a pullup. To build bigger arms, you are going to ultimately want to build up your biceps as well as your brachialis. The brachialis lies directly underneath the biceps and, when developed, can give you wider arms and taller looking biceps,' says Cavaliere. 'This muscle is a strong flexor of the elbow. When you perform pullups, there is another 'very important' muscle used in the upper arm called the brachialis. 'The triceps of course are designed to extend the elbow and bring the arm back into extension behind the body.' It also has the ability to flex the shoulder since it has a biceps long head attachment that crosses the joint,' says Cavaliere.

'As we know, the job of the biceps is do supinate the forearm and flex the elbow. So if you're trying to grow your arms, he knows you may be repping through pullups and chinups.īut which one is superior to really help you to get those big arm gains? He breaks it down by starting with an anatomy lesson of the upper arm, which consists of the biceps and triceps muscles. Whether he's sharing his knowledge on the science behind the best moves for a chiseled chest, the best bodyweight exercises for building muscle, or the move you should be doing everyday to grow your calves, he knows what's up. is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to growing muscle and making gains. Strength coach and Athlean-X founder Jeff Cavaliere C.S.C.S.

Athlean x arms