I recently watched a video by Daniel Vadnal (FitnessFAQs) titled “Chest-to-Bar Pull-Ups Are Overrated” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq1iO2-sA78).
His main argument is that for building raw back/bicep strength and muscle hypertrophy, standard pull-ups (chin clearly vertically and horizontally over the bar) are superior to Chest-to-Bar (C2B) pull-ups. He states that insisting on touching your chest to the bar drastically limits how much weight you can add, which hinders progressive overload in weighted calisthenics. In his view, C2B is mostly useful as a secondary accessory movement or for muscle-up preparation.
Given that maximizing Range of Motion (ROM) is usually considered the gold standard for muscle growth, this caught my attention.
I’d love to hear your thoughts?
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Yea, I think that argument is weak, though not uncommon, as others in the space also advocate for choosing an exercise because it can be loaded heavier. The problem is that the premise doesn’t hold: that progressive overload means adding the most weight. It doesn’t. Progressive overload is the process of adjusting training load in order match your changing level of fitness. It applies to basically any programming variable and “adding more absolute weight” doesn’t mean one exercise variation is better than another.
You can progressively load chest-to-bar work too. Yes, you will use a lower absolute weight, but I suspect there would be similar relative increases as strength increases. Saying C2B can’t be overloaded because you go lighter is like saying front squats are pointless because you can’t load them like a back squat. The lighter load just reflects the exercise being harder due to different constraints: rack and trunk position in the FS, added ROM in the C2B. Neither of these inherently make the movement less trainable, provided someone has the mobility to do them.
The argument is worst for hypertrophy. What grows muscle is the training load the target muscles get exposed to. For hypertrophy, the training load is mostly related to volume, provided the sets are taken somewhere close to failure. Using more weight (leg press vs a squat) doesn’t grow more muscle in and of itself if the amount of training is similar. I can’t see how regular pull ups beat C2B pull ups here. They’re both the same IMO, and neither is awesome for biceps development.
Strength is a different story, but only because strength is specific. If you test max weighted pull-up strength at standard height, then training that exact ROM wins. Of course it does. That’s just specificity. Test it another way and the answer changes.
Regarding ROM, yes, you generally want a long range of motion, but the ranges have to differ enough to matter. I don’t see a big difference here.
So pick based on the goal. For size, either works, use whichever you’ll load and progress. For a specific strength target, match the exercise to how you’re testing it.
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