Chin Ups and Pull Ups

janiejoey

janiejoey

Cathlete
Hi Gang,

My wonderful husband bought me a Chin Up bar. Thought I could do them, but, guess I was fooling myself. I put my hands on the bar, wider than shoulder width apart, and nothing. I can't even budge. How do you even begin to lift yourself up. This is a goal I want to achive. I won't guit until I do these lift ups.

Any suggestions, would be so appreciated. Can't wait to get started.

Janie

"Whoo Hoo"
-Cathe Friedrich-
 
Join the chinup checkin!!! We're a real fun group of go getters. We serve donuts everyday:) The best way to learn to do pullups and chinups is to just keep trying. Alot of us are working on negative or eccentric pullups and chinups. That's what helped me be able to do chinups- I can do sets of 3 now (well 1 or 2 sets of 3). Anyway get your self above the bar using a chair or bench, hold at the top and slowly lower down. I am sure there are others with more experience than I with this that may have some more tips. But that will get you started. Oh and be sure to let yourself recover. Negatives are HARD!! I only do them 2-3 times per week.

good luck and come on over and check out the checkin!!

catherine
 
Hi Janie,

I'm one of the regular chinup check in gals who CANNOT come close to doing a chinup or pullup of any sort. But I am working on the negatives. Below are a couple of links from a previous post in our check in, HTH.

And yes, start working on them and join our check in --- you don't have to like donuts to join.;-)

Here's a link to a website that discusses this:
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=51

Here's a link that takes you to Briee's explanation of doing eccentric or negative pullups:

http://69.0.137.118/dc/dcboard.php?az=post&forum=4&topic_id=289478&mesg_id=289478
 
Catherine,

I've joined the forum. I can tell this is going to be great.

Janie

"Whoo Hoo"
-Cathe Friedrich-
 
Hi Melody,

I've checked out the forum. Thank you so much for the links. They are a great help. I'll be printing this out and working on them. What did I get myself into this time?

Janie

"Whoo Hoo"
-Cathe Friedrich-
 
>Hi Melody,
>
>I've checked out the forum. Thank you so much for the links.
>They are a great help. I'll be printing this out and working
>on them. What did I get myself into this time?
>
>Janie
>
>"Whoo Hoo"
>-Cathe Friedrich-


Janie,

I'm still asking myself the same question. Welcome to the chinup gang.:)
 
Hi all! Just a quick hello to you all and to say hi to Janie! Welcome! Yep, you sure have gotten yourself into a pickle now! :7 I am taking a leave of absence but decided to pop in to say I miss you guys and that my injury (muscle pull) feels much better right now. I am hoping I can get back to doing my "cheat" negative chin-ups next week and will do them ONLY twice the first couple/few weeks to see how I feel. Janie, be sure to ease into them. I was just wondering if this is considered a check-in??? If so, we might want to consider starting this thread in the check-in forum. What do you all think? Happy Chinning everyone and I'll check back later.

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid8692709

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie") http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-066.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
Hi Debbie, happy to hear from you and please DO take it easy starting back.

BTW, we did start the checkin in the new forum. Janie just posted here for some get started advice.
 
Pull-ups and chin-ups are HARD!
I could never do even 1 unassisted (but I used less assistance each time). I haven't tried them for a while (though I've got a big pull-up rack!).

Try getting yourself up with some help from momentum ('jump' up and pull), then hold at the top as long as you can, then lower down as slowly as you can.
 
Also..I don't believe Kathryn....she can do chinups. She's holding out on us.

Briee (she probably just doesn't like donuts and therefore can't join the checkin):p :p
 
>Also..I don't believe Kathryn....she can do chinups. She's
>holding out on us.

Nope. Tellin' the truth. I can't do them (at least last time I tried) without my toes on the back of a kitchen chair. Now, I can do heavy lat rows, so I think my limiting factor is either in the shoulder area, or, probably, in the coordinated effort of all the muscles involved in the action.
 
I did a real fast web search on "why chin ups are hard," and got a quote which is exactly what I believe, except it was said about pull-ups (same thing, really):

"Better than sixty-five percent of our musculature resides below our waistlines. Then, there is our upper body of which the overwhelming majority of muscle mass is in our backs. For many of us this is a virtually untapped and under recognized treasure of strength. While it is true that the aforementioned pulling movements do work the back, it is also true that to a great extent they lack isolation and intensity because of the heavy emphasis on the lower bodies
contribution to pulling (which does not take place on pressing movements such as military presses, bench presses and dips which, while being compound movements, are isolated from the lower body.)

The question then, is how do we increase pure upper body pulling ability, which will in turn influence the strength and power of our body as a total unit? Exercises such as bent-over row and T-bar rows, when looked at critically (especially when the trainee uses lots of weight) tend to become momentum driven, utilizing the legs to gain advantage and thus robbing the back, and our pure upper body pulling apparatus of its full potential.

The answer is simple, yet brutal. Chin ups (underhand grip) and pull ups (overhand grip), rope climbing (without using the legs) and pegboards all allow for concentration on pure pulling strength devoid of lower body influence.

Many otherwise strong individuals have missed the mark on these critical movements. Over the years I have seen countless individuals capable of deadlifting in excess of 500 lbs, struggle to do ten dead hang pull ups. Excuses abound. Pull ups (I use this term interchangeably with chin ups) are claimed to be the province of gymnasts, acrobats, people weighing under 165 lbs. and individuals with "no real lower bodies, so it is easy for them to do pull ups."

"I'm not good at pull ups because I am heavy."

"I'm not good at pull ups because I have big legs."

"I have a big deadlift, who needs to do pull-ups?"

Pull-ups are a gut check. They are unglamorous and not often an "ego lift" for strength trainers. In a lot of cases the ability to handle ones weight on pull-ups is a good indication of one?s state of body composition. It's harder to do pull-ups if you are lugging a lot of extra fat around. Of course even that is not definitive, as we shall see in a moment. The biggest reason people are bad
at pull-ups is that they don't do them."

The same applied to push-ups.

So, Kathyrn (or anyone else), I'm afraid you can't do chin-ups because you don't do them.

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain ;-)
 
HB!

I know there isn't an exact answer but how LONG does one have to do them before we can do them? Ha! In other words, I was doing them (attempting them) for close to a month and couldn't even begin to do even a 1/4 of one??? I am taking a break as I seemed to have pulled a musle in my bicep(brachial radialis??) area from doing them 3X/week. I have to say...I could feel every muscle in my back/arms/shoulders and even core working just attempting them sooo that was a plus. BTW, did you get the message that I called the other day about me trying to flag you down in my driveway with a dish towel??? Ha! Talk about feeling like a NUT!

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid8692709

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie") http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-066.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
RE: HB!

Hi there,

I suppose practice, practice and more practice is in order. Anyway, that is what I plan to do. I will someday be able to do these. Just very carefully.

Janie
 
RE: HB!

Yep, practice, practice, practice. Also try inverted rows:

http://www.trinewbies.com/StrengthTraining/strength_training2.asp

You can also do these with your feet on the floor and not on a bench or stability ball. I have people do these to train for moving on to chin-ups before we got the gravitron in the fitness center.

DebH, next time I see you, we'll have to work on your chin-ups and you can show me what you're doing.

My champion chin-uper is a little 29 year old chick who weighs 110 lbs. and is an ecto body build. Not an amazon by any means - so if she can do them any one can!

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain ;-)
 
RE: HB!

>My champion chin-uper is a little 29 year old chick who weighs
>110 lbs. and is an ecto body build.

Tell her I'm not speaking to her.
 
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