Pull-ups and chin-ups are the most difficult upper body exercises you can do using your own body weight. You are essentially pulling yourself off the ground using only your upper body. They are similar because they are both compound exercises -- target multiple muscle groups at once. The difference is in their mechanics and the muscle groups they work. You should incorporate both pull-ups and chin-ups into your workout routine to avoid any muscular imbalances.
Muscles Targeted
Pull-ups mainly target your upper back -- latissimus dorsi and rhomboids. Pull-ups will help enhance a V-shape in your back and improve your grip strength. Chin-ups also target your upper back but most of the emphasis is on your upper arms -- biceps. Pull-ups are more beneficial if you want to improve your overall strength.
Hand Placement
The most noticeable difference between the two exercises is the placement of your hands. To perform a pull-up, you use a pronated grip, meaning your palms are facing away from you in an overhand grip. A chin-up can be done with two different grips: One is a supinated grip, meaning your palms are facing you while holding a single bar with an underhand grip. The other is a semi-supinated grip, meaning you hold on to two parallel bars with your palms facing each other.
Difficulty
Pull-ups are the more difficult exercise of the two. With pull-ups, your forearms and latissimus dorsi take on the most stress, and you need a sufficient amount of grip strength to complete the exercise. Because chin-ups place most of the resistance on your biceps, they are easier because your biceps are one of the strongest muscles in your body. If you cannot perform a proper pull-up, start by incorporating chin-ups into your routine until you become stronger. To increase the difficulty of either exercise, you can add resistance by adding weight to a dip belt or holding a dumbbell between your ankles.
Variations
There are minimal variations of a pull-up. The most common is simply placing your hands wider on the bar -- wide-grip pull-up. This is the most difficult way to execute a pull-up. However your range of motion may be compromised if your grip is too wide. Another variation is a narrow pronated grip where your hands are four to six inches apart with your palms facing away from you. This will put more focus on your rhomboids. Chin-ups offer a wider variety of hand placements and grips. You can do a narrow or medium parallel grip, which means the distance between your hands changes and your palms are facing each. Another variation is the mixed grip chin-up, meaning one palm is facing you and one palm is facing away from you. This grip can focus on one side of your body at a time. Since your brain will put more focus on the mechanically efficient arm, make sure you alternate hand placements during this exercise.
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