Brag Post: Two Pull-ups!

[fitfool]

Thanks to all of you who offered advice and tips on how to work up to doing pull-ups. I work from home and the pull-up bar is in the doorway of my home office. So I kept trying stuff on the bar whenever I walked by it. I tried a mishmash of the various suggestions I could do. Lots of bent-arm hangs, slow negatives (jump up and then lower myself from bar) and assisted pull-ups whenever my boyfriend was around to help push me up over the bar. At the gym, I focused on the Gravitron (for assisted pull-ups and dips), lat pull-downs, and any machines that said they helped make my back stronger.

And especially thanks to all you women who posted that you could do a pull-up (and even several of them!). It made it seem that much more possible with enough work. (http://community.livejournal.com/gymrats/1831348.html)

Questions:
1. My body just folds up when I try to lift myself up. Is it trying to doggy-paddle its way towards a kipping pull-up?

2. Does it make it easier to do a pull-up when my legs come up too? I need to concentrate to try to keep my waist straight and if I do so, I can only do one at a time so far. My boyfriend's legs come up naturally straight so he ends up in an L-shape when his chin is above the bar.

OK...maybe it's not a big deal for some of you but I've never been able to do two pull-ups in my life. I was so happy about it that I called up my sister to boast. Her husband picked up the phone.

Me: Oh Hi! I was calling to brag to my sister but I can brag to you too.
Sister's husband: Ok...Go ahead. Let's hear it.
Sister (noticing the anticipating-big-news tone in his voice): She's getting marrried?!

My sister got on the phone afterwards to congratulate me for the pull-ups too (though I don't think she was as excited as if I had gotten engaged)

Cross-posted to gymrats

Comments

[dg76.livejournal.com]

ooooh, you're my new hero!

what do you do at the gym? i want to be able to build up to doing at least one pull-up too. i'm afraid of looking like an idiot on one of those assisted pull-up machines though. i might have to suck it up and ask someone who works there.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I haven't been following a set exercise plan since I only go in about once a week on the weekends for 60-90 minutes (which usually includes chatting with this one guy who kind of adopted me and gave me the bug to try doing pull-ups and dips). I tend to wander from machine to machine as they become available and based on which parts of me feel strong enough to try them. One's I definitely tried to get in for my back included:
- Gravitron assisted pull-ups and dips
- Lat Pulldowns
- Seated Row
-----
Other exercises that show up frequently in my notebook:
- Bench presses (flat, incline, or decline)
- Leg and Knee Lifts on Captains Chair
- Leg Presses (now trying to learn to do barbell squats instead)
- Back Extensions (holding a weight plate)
- triceps pulldowns (straight, rope, angled handles)
- Dumbbell shoulder presses

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Oh and if you want to get a starting idea, try searching for "assisted pull-up machine" and see if any of the photos or videos look like what you have at your gym. Here's one