Side To Side Chins
Also works: Biceps · Forearms · Middle Back · Shoulders
A wide-grip pull-up performed on an arc: instead of rising straight up, you pull your chest toward one hand, lower, then pull toward the other. Shifting your bodyweight over one arm loads that side with far more than half your weight, which is why it is the standard bridge between a strict pull-up and any one-arm work.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Take a pronated grip clearly wider than your shoulders, wide enough that you can travel sideways without your head hitting the bar.
- Hang tall, then pull your shoulder blades down before your elbows do anything.
- Lean the torso back roughly 30 degrees with the chest lifted, so you are climbing toward the bar rather than straight under it.
- Squeeze your glutes and brace your abs to stop the legs swinging — this movement invites a pendulum.
- Have a bar or box within reach so you can step off between sets rather than dropping from a dead hang.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Exhale as you climb toward the hand, inhale on the way down to the hang. Pull in about one to two seconds, hold the top for one, lower in three.
Before you load it
- The straight, wide, overhead far arm is the vulnerable position here — it holds a long lever near end range while the other side climbs. If your shoulder pinches at the top, narrow the grip or drop back to strict pull-ups until it does not.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Bodyweight is more than enough. Earn 8-10 strict chest-height pull-ups before starting, then progress by adding reps, by pausing a full second at each top position, or by lowering for three seconds. Only consider a weight belt when 8 clean reps per side is routine — and most people never need to.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Squeeze the glutes and cross one ankle over the other so the legs cannot generate momentum. If you still swing, do these with a band assist until the strict version is available.
Set the target as your upper chest touching your fist. Do fewer reps at full height; a partial here trains the easy half of the range you already own.
Keep the free elbow close to straight all the way up. If it folds, you have quietly turned the rep into a slightly off-centre pull-up.
Cap the set at 3-5 clean reps per side with a full hang between them. Stop the moment the top position drops; the far shoulder is holding an awkward angle and fatigue is where it gets hurt.
Why bother
A normal pull-up splits your bodyweight between two arms. Travelling sideways under the bar moves your centre of mass under the working hand, so that lat and elbow flexors handle most of the load while the far arm mainly guides and stabilises. You get a unilateral overload without hanging any plates on yourself.
The arc also changes what the far shoulder is doing. As you climb toward one hand, the opposite arm ends up wide and nearly straight overhead, holding tension through a long lever. That position is demanding on the shoulder and is the reason this movement asks for a strict pull-up first, not a kipping one.
Where it fits
First movement on a pulling day, while you are fresh and your grip is intact. Sets of 3-5 per side are realistic even for people who own 12 strict pull-ups. Once you can no longer reach your chest to the bar, the set is over — half-height reps here mostly train the swing.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
Start here instead
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
Are these a real step toward a one-arm pull-up?
Yes, and they are one of the few honest ones. They load a single side with most of your bodyweight while a second hand is still available to bail. Pair them with heavy weighted pull-ups and one-arm hangs; alone they will not get you there, because the one-arm version is as much a connective-tissue problem as a strength one.
How many strict pull-ups do I need before trying these?
Around 8-10 clean reps to the chest. Below that you will make the arc with a hip swing rather than a lat, which trains nothing and loads the far shoulder in a position you cannot yet control.
Should I do all reps on one side, then switch?
Alternating is the standard and it works well, provided you return to a full dead hang between sides. If your grip is the limiting factor, do all reps on the weaker side first, then match that number on the other — never the other way round.
How wide should the grip be?
Wide enough to travel sideways with room to spare, roughly one and a half times shoulder width. Going wider than that shortens the range and stresses the far shoulder for no additional benefit.