Many women are intimidated by the idea of performing a complete chin-up. While the chin-up is considered by many as one of the kings of upper-body exercises many people forego them because they cannot perform them. This is often the case for many women. The latissimus dorsi is one of the primary muscles involved in any pulling exercise. However, it is usually not a lack of strength in the latissimus dorsi that inhibits women from performing chin-ups. More often than not the inability to perform a complete chin-up is due to a strength imbalance in the arms. The elbow flexors (i.e., biceps brachii, brachialis, etc) are heavily involved in performing chin-ups and since you are only as strong as your weakest link they are usually the culprit. An easy way to assess what muscles of the arms need to be strengthened is to identify what point in the range of motion of the chin-up you lose control. Then, you can better program workouts specifically designed to strengthen the elbow flexors and rise your way to chin-up success.