Differences In Strength

Chin ups put the biceps in a stronger line of pull, so most people will usually be stronger at chin ups than they are at pull ups.

For example, if you can normally do 10 chin ups, you may only be able to do 6 pull ups. And if you’re using a lat pull-down machine with these grips or doing pull ups/chin ups with added weight, you’ll often find that you can use more weight with chin ups than you can with pull ups.

Similarly, most beginners to either exercise (or just beginners in general) will usually find that they’re able to do a chin up before they can do a pull up.

For me though it’s actually the other way around, which is definitely rare and kinda strange. It’s probably because pull ups were the only vertical pulling exercise I did during my first few years of training. For most people though, chin ups will be your stronger exercise.