WEEK 1
Team Dynamic:
Hi, my name is Steph and I'm your PT who can't do a pull up. Don't get me wrong, I used to be able to do them - loads as well, and a mere 6 years ago. The thing is, you stop doing pull ups, even for a week let alone 6 years, you lose it. (An aside: the reason I stopped doing pull ups is I could no longer keep up with lifting the weight gain of my pregnancy!).
So I'm challenging myself this lockdown: 30 days to 1 full pull-up. Can it be done? Eh, I may be pushing it a bit, but that won't stop me trying (and progressing!) and it definitely won't stop YOU all from holding me accountable! I'll post my home workouts here- simple ones that pack a punch. Since I am working from home, it'll be a bigger challenge to use my body weight for progression (no cable machines for those lat pulldowns, for example!).
Want to join me? What's the one exercise you've always wanted to be able to accomplish? Is it a full press up? A low squat? A headstand? 1km run? A centre split? Let's take these 30 days and dedicate 5 minutes a day towards that goal. Reach out to your PT for guidance if you need.
It's just 30 days. Let's raise (to) the bar! We got this.
WEEK 2
Week 1 under my belt, and my set-up is working... I think? Pull ups are a funny one because you can't do one until you can. Because I don't have resistance bands to change (green to orange in the studio, for example), I'm relying on how 'hard' it feels. Which, dependent on the time of day I'm doing these pull-ups, definitely varies.
Biggest surprise for me this week is... I don't feel stronger. Logically, I know pull-ups take their sweet time to build up to, but it's another mental push to continue with something so hard when I don't feel any different today than I did yesterday. The slow build will be worth it, but sometimes it's hard to remind myself of that. Thanks for keeping me in check, Team Dynamic!
WEEK 3
Another week down, and 140 more pull-ups done! Below is the routine I followed, taking out my initial cardio plan (which I've been getting via walks with the dog since my knee gave up early on in lockdown for much more).
Here are some things I've noticed:
1) I'm still nowhere near doing an unassisted pull-up
2) I can connect to the lower half of the pull-up exponentially better than I ever have been able to with a band assist. I'm fairly confident that I'll have the bottom half of a pull-up nailed before the upper 50% with this method, which is awesome because that's always been the harder part for me as my brain couldn't seem to make the right muscles work at the right time.
3) It's REALLY EASY to abuse my power and just smash through 20 pull-ups with a heavy assist from my legs, but it's also SUPER rewarding to feel that connection mentioned in no. 2. I've started using the first 10 to max capacity and then doing 2 sets x 5 reps to finish off at whatever speed I want.
These negative pull-ups in the tabata are also a bit laughable after doing 20 assisted. I don't think I've yet to make it past 5s- which does indicate I'm giving a pretty good level to my assists!
One more week (and a bit) to go! I'll check in with you guys again next week!
WEEK 4
Things I LOVED about using the chair assisted pull up method this month:
1) I mentioned before, but it's so much easier to feel that lower half back connection and transition
2) My posture has improved. I think stretching myself lengthways every day has benefits.
3) I could just KEEP GOING. If I had wanted to do a set of 20 (or even 50) I could have, I just transferred more power into my legs.
Things I didn't like:
1) I felt like I was always doing pull ups.
2) I had too much opportunity to cheat and use my legs to lift.
3) I have blisters on my hands, and it's from being on that bar for 5 minutes a day every day this month!
Overall, I reckon it would take me 3-4 months using this method to get to a pull-up, but since I'll be back in the gym, I think I'll be more likely to incorporate a banded or TRX technique to continue working back up to the pull up!
Have you all tried this method? Let me know what you think!
steph@getdynamic.co.uk