Back in May I decided that I was going to get strong enough to do a pull-up by my 50th birthday. I was nowhere on this goal, you guys -- seriously, nowhere. When Joe told me to lie down under the basement table and pull myself up to it, I could only manage three reps. When he had me try a negative (a slow, controlled descent from a pull-up position), I plummeted downward as if propelled by an anvil.
But it turns out that muscles get stronger when you work them, even if they are 49-year-old muscles. I wasn't consistent about exercising during the weeks that we were taking care of Champ, but even so I was making progress. I got strong enough to pull myself from a 90° flexed-arm position to the top of the pull-up range of motion, and strong enough to pull myself up from a dead hang to about 80° of arm flexion. I'm almost there, I thought, even though I can't stitch the two halves of the movement together. I've been using the chin-up hand position (palms facing me) instead of the pull-up hand position (palms facing away), but still! Progress!
About a week ago I bought a 35-pound resistance band to get myself over the hump. I wish I'd bought it in May, but I did not. With that resistance band I could do a bunch of chin-ups, or at least a bunch by my standards. Last Friday over the course of the day I did 14 full reps with the band, going from fully extended arms to fully flexed arms, and 5 most-of-the-way reps. I thought I'd be all set to do one actual chin-up on my birthday.
Alas, I could not do an actual unassisted chin-up on my birthday. I think I was still recovering from the Friday chin-up festival, because I couldn't do one even with the resistance band. Maybe I need more rest to make those muscles grow, I thought to myself, but I probably don't need quite this much rest.
Joe says that if you eat a hundred grams of protein every day the Gains Fairy will visit you will you sleep. Maybe that's what I need to do.
Saturday is my name day. Maybe I will be able to do a chin-up then. I'll keep you posted.
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