“I can’t even do ONE chin Up! Help!“
First thing I want to say is….I started at square one too!
Building the strength to do pull ups or chin ups Takes Time and requires that you are Consistent with your Resistance Training Program! As with any and all the exercises I share with you, you will get stronger as you make your way through a progressively challenging workout plan.
~ If you skip from one workout to the next with no clear plan
~ If you are not challenging your body
~ If all you are doing is cardio Then you will not get stronger.
Next it is important to realize that if you wish to perform body weight pull ups or chin ups and fat loss is your goal – the more fat you lose, the lighter your body becomes and the more likely it will be for you to “pull” your own body weight.
What do you Need?
* Get a Bar
The one I used in my video is the Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar – was like $30. There are many versions of this.
*Use a Bar
Go to the playground and use the monkey bars or something similar.
1. Follow a Progressively Challenging Resistance Training Program
I will repeat myself here just to make it clear. You cannot expect to get stronger and master any one particular move if you neglect to improve the strength, balance and performance of your Whole Body. Challenging moves such as the Pull Up or Chin Up require more than just “back” strength. Our muscles do not move in isolation! Neglecting to keep your whole body challenged with each workout
2. Do Pull Ups
The only way to Get better at an exercise is to DO them. Same goes for Any exercise!
- Assisted
You can perform assisted chin ups a couple different ways.
:: Grab a workout partner and have them stand behind you. Your partner can either hold your feet or you can place your feet on their thighs to help push off to make it to the top of the move.
::Use A Resistance Band Attach a heavy resistance band to your pull up bar and loop it around your knees. This will provide the extra oomph you need at the bottom of the move to help you pull back up.
- Negatives
“Negative” means the slow and controlled lowering of the weight during an exercise. During chin ups or pull ups, the negative is the point when you are lowering your body back DOWN after pulling yourself up.
While pulling yourself up is 50% of the work – the other 50% is where negatives come in for you are using the same muscles to lower yourself as you would to pull yourself up.
My tip for Negatives….either perform them at the park where the height of the bar is not too high and you can easily jump to the top. Or you can just place a chair under a bar and position yourself at the top of the move and from here you will slowly lower yourself to the bottom.
Lower to the count of 5 and be sure you lower yourself evenly. Get back up and repeat. When you do these right – just 5 feels super challenging!
3. Keep Your Pull Movements Challenging
When you follow a full body resistance training workout plan, it will have Pull movements that you can hone in on to ensure you are strengthening the key players involved in chin ups and pull ups.
Rows, Inverted Rows, Lat Pull Downs, Bicep Curls – and don’t forget your core is also quite active in any type of vertical pulling movement – so be sure your workout plan actively challenges all the muscles in your core as well.
If your goal is to get lean and strong then you must follow your workout plan and your supportive nutrition plan week in and week out! When you have all the factors in place, you will see improvements in everything you do – not just “pull ups”.
If you have been dedicated to your fat loss plan and would like to see more results when it comes to an increase in strength – don’t skip the power of an effective post workout drink! I recommend Prograde Workout.
The faster your body recovers, the stronger your body becomes!
Be sure to post updates on how much YOUR Pull Improves after implementing these strategies!!
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Two questions: (1) where are your batteries? and (2) are you running on the super-duper-high-voltage kind? You are nonstop energy!!!! Either you have a mini-me, multiple clones or you are one incredibly organized and highly efficient person. How do you do everything you do in your day with Club FYM, your blog, your workouts as well as have a life? My goodness, my word, you are just phenomenal.
Thanks for everything you do.
Or….if you have access to a gym, use the pull up/chin up machine that supports part of your weight on your knees and keep taking weight off which adds your own body weight for resistance as you get stronger.
Thanks Leatte,
I am aware of this – I just work with, coach and teach women who workout at home and am trying to make Non-Gym options available.
The gym is an obvious choice – but it is not a possible choice for many of the Fit Yummy Mummy’s.
Finally – machines are not the best option, for they balance the workload out and do not help our bodies properly strength imbalances.
Thanks, Holly! And YES, I was most impressed by yesterday’s video!
One of my goals for the FTC was to be able to do 3 chin-ups. I can do 1 1/2 now, so I will implement these tips and I will be happy to announce in October that I can do at least 3 chin-ups!!
Hope you have a Happy Anniversary celebration!!
Hey Holly,
The only reason I threw that in is because I have seen so many women at gyms that did not know how any of them work. I too try to work out from home and outside as much as possible but during Minnesota winters I find myself in the gym more often.
I am impressed with your strength and hope one day to do pull ups without any assistance as well. And maybe one day I too will have those great arms and shoulders that you have as well!
I place a chair or weight bench underneath of the pull-up bar to rest the tops of my feet on and give me an extra boost to help support my body weight (if I don’t have my husband there to hold my feet for me). So, I have my hands on the pull-up bar, the tops of my feet placed on the chair or bench, and I lower myself to where my knees dip past the edge of the chair/bench, then I pull myself up using as much of my upper body as possible.
I love pullups but have only recently been able to do any decent ones! One thing I found out very recently tha I was doing wrong, was trying to pull up through my elbows, instead of properly engaging my back – like Holly does in her video.
When you see Holly do it, you can see her literally pull her shoulders in and down and lift her ribcage up.
Thanks Holly for such a great video
Thanks for the tips. I had ordered a chin up bar from ebay and got it like 2 weeks ago, but been feeling intimidated by it (and also relying on my hubby to put it together). This has arrived for me at the right time to motivate me.
Yay! This is a great pullup bar! I love mine too. It’s okay to give yourself a boost while you’re getting enough strength to do them. As soon as you can do one, try doing two in a row. If you can’t do more, stop and rest before doing two more! Next time, try doing 3 in a row. This has to be like pushups, we can do it if we put our minds to it.