Pull-ups and chin-ups are both efficient back exercises, working your lats, traps, rhomboids and teres major at once. Both exercises also work the pulling muscles in your shoulders and arms, although how you place your hands affects which muscles bear the bulk of the load. Depending on how strong you are, you might also employ various pull-up and chin-up variations to make the exercise either easier or more difficult.
Wide Grip
The standard pull-up hand position places your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Placing your hands even wider apart puts emphasis on the inner -- that is, closer toward your spine -- fibers of the latissimus dorsi. Unfortunately, wide-grip pull-ups also limit your range of motion and place your shoulder in a relatively weak position. If you have shoulder problems, this is not the variation for you.
Neutral Grip
The palms-in, thumbs-toward-your-face neutral grip is much more stable position for your shoulder than wide-grip pull-ups. This is an ideal choice if you have issues with shoulder stability. As always, modify the exercise as necessary to avoid shoulder pain and discomfort.
Chinups
Although the terms pull-ups and chin-ups are often used interchangeably, chin-ups is correctly used to describe doing pull-ups with your palms facing toward your face. This supinated hand position allows your biceps to engage more powerfully than it does during palms-forward pull-ups, which emphasize involvement of your brachioradialis, a strong pulling muscle that crosses from your upper arms to your forearms.
Assisted and Spotted
If you're not quite strong enough to do pull-ups on your own, the assisted pull-up machine counterbalances a portion of your body weight, making the exercise easier. If you don't have access to an assisted pull-up machine, you can bend your knees and ask a friend to push up on your knees or lower legs as you lift.
Self-Assisted
You can also spot yourself through pull-ups by placing a sturdy step stool beneath the bar. Push with your legs on the step stool to help yourself through each repetition. You can also use dip bars as a substitute for neutral-grip handles, using your legs to push off the ground for an extra assist.
Weighted
If you're in the kind of shape that allows you to do more than 12 or 15 pull-ups, you might be ready for extra resistance. Easy solutions include holding a dumbbell between your crossed ankles, or wearing a specialized weight belt, from which you can suspend weight plates.
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