How To: Tone arms with a pull-up exercise

Pull-ups are everyone's worst nightmare. Believe it or not, most people can not do a pull-up, but they should, because they work out tons of muscles. The "pull-up" and the "chin-up" both work the back, biceps, and forearms muscles. Learn this exercise the right way with Men's Health.

Grab a chin-up bar with an overhand grip, palms forward. Your hands should be slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Hang with your arms straight then pull your shoulder blades down. Pull your chest to the bar, pause, and then lower yourself to the starting position. When your hands are in the overhand position as shown, this is a pull-up.

Using an underhand grip, palms towards you, is called a chin-up. This advanced exercise is pretty hard so we do recommend the lat pull-down first to improve your strength before attempting this move.

The lat pull-down can also be used as a warm-up exercise before jumping straight up and lifting your bodyweight. Both the pull-up and chin-up will work the back, bicep and forearm muscles.