What do you call a chin-up?
The test in which you hang from an overhead bar, then pull your body up so that the chin is over over the bar height, can be called either a chin-up or pull-up.
The bar can be grasped using either an overhand grip (palms facing away from the body) or underhand grip (palms facing towards the body). Some sources use the term chin-up only for describing the test when the underhand grip is used. On this website, we have used mostly pull-up, but the terms pull-up and chin-up are sometimes used interchangeably.
We won't get into a discussion about whether it should be 'chinup', 'chin-up' or 'chin up'!
I gave four choices in this poll, what you call it should be covered by one of these.
When the poll was closed in 2025, the most popular answer was that the chin-up is ONLY when the underhand grip is used. So therefore, when using an overhand grip, it is a pull-up.
the results when the poll was archived in 2025 Disclaimer: These polls are not scientific, and only reflect the opinion of visitors to this website who have chosen to participate.
Related Pages
- Description of each of the grip types
- Procedure for performing a pull-up
- More fitness testing polls, and all sport and fitness polls.
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
