The first thing you need to do, is to decide whether you want your palms to face inwards, or outwards. When you attempt to do chin ups with your palms facing inwards, you are working more on your biceps. If your palms face outwards, you are using more muscles in several muscle groups - your chest, your shoulder, and your Teres muscle.

Next, you will need to decide on the intensity of the chin up routine. The more intense the routine, the shorter the amount of rest time, and the greater the number of repetitions in each set.

Usually, a routine consists of 3 sets. In each set, depending on your needs, you will be completing a series of chin ups. For example, you can try something like 12 in set 1, 8 in set 2, and 4 in set 3. So how do you know how many chin ups to do in a single set? To determine the number of repetitions, try to do just one set of chin ups until you can't pull yourself up anymore. How many did you do? If you did 10 chin ups, you can start with 8 to 10 chin ups for your first set. If you do just 4 chin ups, you can start with 3 to 4 for your fist set.

After each set, give yourself some time to rest. The rest time is needed for the blood to transport oxygen to your muscles. If you shorten the rest time, you increase the intensity of your work out. For instance, if you are training for power and strength, you can start your second set after just 30 seconds. But if you are training for endurance, you can rest for a minute before starting your next set.

The break time also depends on your level of fitness. In the beginning, you may need a full minute rest before starting on the second set. Bit by bit, you may then reduce the rest time to 50 seconds, then 40 seconds, and so on.

As your strength and fitness level increases, you can also try to do more repetitions per set, or you can try spreading your hands wider apart. You will find that it's much harder to do one chin up with your palms further apart. This is because the posture requires you to use more of your upper body strength instead of your arms. If you just starting out, just spread your arms across your shoulder length.

To further increase the intensity of a chin up workout, try strapping weights to your waist or limbs. Then try to repeat the same work out.