As is well known, dominated they are a multi – joint exercise widely used in routine training upper body strength.

A few days ago I wrote an article in which I reported that the muscular activation between four types of dominated (prone, supine, neutral and with rope) was very similar, and we could also see in another article the differences between a dominated standard prone and a dominated typical of CrossFit as is the kipping pull up.

This time I bring you information about a recent study that has reviewed the kinematics of the scapula and the possible risks of injury of three types of dominated:

• a) Prona dominated with medium grip (hands about shoulder-width apart)
• b) Prone dominated with wide grip (hands more than the width of the shoulders, in the lateral inclined part of the bar)
• c) Dominate supine with medium grip (hands approximately shoulder width)

Are any of these three dominated risks of injury?

Firstly, the study used more than 20 retro-reflective markers to track activity in the thorax, clavicle, humerus and forearm in the three types of chin-ups, which gives an idea that everything was measured very detail.

What was found in the study? It was proved that the supine dominated and the pronged dominated with wide grip demonstrate several kinematic patterns that are related to the increased risk of injury to the shoulder , specifically with rotator cuff diseases such as pinching .

Why this risk in these two types of dominated?

Dominated supine with medium grip (hands shoulder-width apart)

In the case of dominated with supine grip because they have an extreme internal-external glenohumeral rotation and a large deviation of the humerus from the plane of the scapula.

That is, in this type of dominated there is a significantly greater range of internal / external glenohumeral rotation, starting in an extremely external rotationposition .

Extreme external rotation with the raised arm has been related to impingement in athletic patients, with high sub-acromial pressures and with reduction of the subacromial space .

Therefore, the dominated supine potentially increases the risk of sub-acromial impingement in the suspension and initiation phase.

Prone dominated with wide grip (hands on the side sloping side of the bar)

In this case because this type of dominated has a reduced range of pro / retraction in the same plane of humerus-thoracic elevation and an abduction of the arm of 90 degrees is observed with external rotation of 45 degrees, which suggests an increased risk of sub-acromial impingement.

The high elevation of the arm during the pull-ups reduces the subacromial space and increases the pressure , increasing the risk of injury by impingement.

Therefore, the pronged dominated with ample grip may be associated with an increased risk of injury , a concern given the popularity of the kipping pull ups in the CrossFit , where there is a balancing and then the dynamic realization of the dominated.

It is likely that this dynamic nature decreases control of the scapula , particularly in the initial position.

What applications can we get?

It has been shown that there are possible links and kinematic patterns between the supine dominated and the pronged dominated with broad grip and the increased risk of injury to the shoulder , especially sub-acromial impingement.

This should make us reflect, because if our goal is to strengthen the dorsal, biceps or infraspinatus musculature, we have many more options that have a lower risk of injury , such as a domed prone with medium grip (hands width of shoulders), different types of rowing or other exercises like bicep curl .

In the case of the supine dominate, increasing the width of the grip would cause an even more extreme external rotation of the shoulder , so that there would still be an increased risk of injury. Speaking of the dominated prone, simply better to use (for safety) a medium grip to the width of the shoulders than to use wider grips.

Someone could say that he has been training the pronged dominated with wide grip or the supine dominated for a long time and has never been injured .

It is true, and you may continue to practice them and never in your life is injured , but that does not mean that those types of dominated have more risk of shoulder injury and we have many more exercise options to achieve our goals.

If you want to continue practicing them, at least use a perfect technique and do not get to muscle failure , since reaching the failure will not increase your strength and what it will do is increase the risk of injury more, since you can lose the technique in that last one or last repetitions with a lot of fatigue.

If you are not going to continue practicing them, you know that you can continue using other variants and exercises to achieve your goals (the world does not end), such as the dominated prondas with a medium grip, other types of pullups(neutral, rope pull up ), different types of oars , different exercises to strengthen the biceps , etc.

The science of training continues to advance and being updated in what the research is informing us will keep us learning and training better . We do not remain anchored always in the same concepts, since new scientific evidences regarding the training can change our perspective.