The Oh So Elusive Pull-Up.....

O.K., so for months now, I have been trying to master the art of unassisted pull ups. Yet, try as I might I can't seem to do one! For the longest time, I've been doing machine assisted pull ups with about 60 lbs of assistance (which means I am pulling up about 75lbs on my own). Every now and then I would try them unassisted but was unable to do so.

More recently, I've been noticing that my arms are building up nicely so I thought, "Pull ups? Yeah, I should be able to do a couple by now", but noooooooo, nope, nil. There I hung in the middle of the air for several seconds with my arms as straight as ever and my chin no closer to the bar than when I started. So down on the floor I hopped with a quick look around to make sure not *too* many people had witnessed my silliness. Not that anyone else should care or judge, but I guess it hurt my pride a little! I decided to try again with 50lbs instead of the usual 60 and I was pleasantly surprised that I could do 2 sets of 12 reps and relieved that there was proof that indeed I am getting at least a bit stronger!

I don't know if it's just a mental block that keeps me from being able to do unassisted pull ups or if I truly just need to keep building strength. Hell, it's probably a bit of both! Either way, one of these days I'm gonna do it and boy will that be fun to post about!

C ya!