RE: Do you even lift, AF bro?
October 27, 2015 at 3:59 pm
(This post was last modified: October 27, 2015 at 4:00 pm by Crossless2.0.)
(October 27, 2015 at 3:49 pm)SteelCurtain Wrote:(October 27, 2015 at 3:38 pm)Chad32 Wrote: Alright. I'll try pullups. Generally I've avoided it because my arms have never been strong enough to pull my body very much. I have used a lat pull machine for my back, though last time I checked their one lat pull machine was out of order.
Just try like 10 sets of 1. Then when you can do that easily, move to 5 sets of 2... etc.
Pull ups for lats/shoulders (palms away from you, arms wide apart)---if you are having trouble with this, try neutral grip pullups, usually available on the pull up tree somewhere. It's where your palms are facing each other in the middle. Should be two short little handles sticking out perpendicular to the bar.
Chin ups for biceps, (palms facing you, arms closer together, pull so your elbows are at a 90 degree angle).
Good advice.
I would add, Chad, that if you ever run across the Convict Conditioning book that alpha male mentioned and you have a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket (or, if money is an issue, put it on a holiday wish list) you should definitely check it out. Among its many virtues, each of the six bodyweight exercises discussed are broken down into ten progressive stages with specific targets to work toward at each stage before moving on. If you have difficulty with standard pull-ups, you would find that that exercise is actually 'stage five' in the pull-ups progression (stage ten would be unassisted one-arm pull-ups, to put it in perspective) and so there are four easier stages of the exercise you can work at to build the base strength needed to properly perform the stage-5 pull-ups. The trick with these CC exercises is to perform them as slowly as the author recommends (two seconds on contraction, one second hold, two seconds on extension -- no cheating, no exceptions).